For gorgeous melody, spellbinding coloratura, and virtuoso vocal fireworks, I Puritani has few equals. In a live broadcast at the Torch Theatre this January, Met Opera fans will be delighted by the first new Met production of Bellini’s final masterpiece in nearly 50 years.

In this striking staging by Charles Edwards, who makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer, there’s huge anticipation for I Puritani that arrives in cinemas worldwide.

Brought to audiences in three acts, I Puritani sets the scene in England, around 1650. Plymouth, a Puritan stronghold, is threatened by siege from the Royalist troops. Distant voices herald the wedding day of Elvira, daughter of Gualtiero, the fortress’s commander. Riccardo enters lamenting that his promised bride, Elvira, loves another man—a Stuart partisan. Her father will not force her to marry against her will, it seems, so Riccardo’s friend Sir Bruno urges him to devote his life to leading the parliamentary forces.

Elvira tells her uncle, Giorgio, that she would rather die than marry Riccardo. Her uncle reassures her that he has persuaded her father to let her marry her lover, Arturo. Although Arturo is a Royalist, he is heralded as he approaches the castle.

Everyone gathers for the wedding celebration and Arturo greets his bride. He learns that King Charles’s widow, Queen Enrichetta, is a prisoner in the castle and soon to be taken to trial in London. Alone with the queen, Arturo offers to save her even if it means his death....

The Met has assembled a world-beating quartet of stars, conducted by Marco Armiliato, for the demanding principal roles. Soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee are Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War, with baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo, betrothed to Elvira against her will, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Elvira’s sympathetic uncle, Giorgio.

Sung in Italian with Met titles in English, the composer, Vincenzo Bellini and Librettist Carlo Pepoli brings joy to the screen.

I Puritani, a live broadcast by the MET Opera can be seen on the Torch Theatre screen on Saturday 10 January at 6pm. Ticket prices: Full £20 / Cons £18 and Under 26 - £9. Book tickets via the website torchtheatre.co.uk / Box Office: 01646 695267 or click here.