Metropolitan Opera to Present LA BOHEME with Rotating Casts, Begin. 1/14

Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, will return to the repertory this season with 14 performances featuring a number of popular Met artists and rising stars in the leading roles. The opera opens January 14 with Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo, Maija Kovalevska as Mimì, Alexey Markov as Marcello, and Irina Lungu in her company role debut as Musetta. On March 19, Vittorio Grigolo returns to the role of his Met debut as Rodolfo, leading a cast that also includes Massimo Cavalletti in his first Met performances of Marcello and two debuting sopranos: Romanian Anita Hartig as Mimì and American Jennifer Rowley as Musetta. Susanna Phillips will reprise her Musetta on April 2 and 5, and Barbara Frittoli will sing Mimì on April 10, 14, and 18. Joshua Hopkins and Patrick Carfizzi share the role of Schaunard this season; Christian Van Horn, Nicolas Testé, and Oren Gradus sing Colline; and Donald Maxwell and Philip Cokorinos sing Benoit and Alcindoro. Stefano Ranzani will conduct all of this season's performances of La Bohème, which will be seen in Franco Zeffirelli's popular 1981 production. The April 5 matinee, starring Grigolo, Hartig, Phillips, Cavalletti, Carfizzi, Gradus, and Maxwell, will be transmitted live as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 theaters in 64 countries around the world.

Maija Kovalevska made her Met debut as Mimì in 2006 and returned to sing the role in the company's 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons. Her other Met roles have included Euridice in the new production premiere of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, Liù in Puccini's Turandot, and the Countess in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Anita Hartig has sung Mimì at La Scala, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Welsh National Opera and, later this season, Paris Opera. This season, she also sings Micaëla in Carmen, Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at Vienna State Opera; and Liù in Turandot at Bavarian State Opera.

Barbara Frittoli first sang Mimì at the Met in her debut season, 1995-96, and returned to the role in 2011 on the company's tour of Japan. She has starred in ten other operas at the Met, including the title role in the 2007 new production premiere of Puccini's Suor Angelica. Last season, she added two new roles to her company repertory as Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi's Don Carlo and Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito.

Irina Lungu made an unexpected Met debut last month as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, replacing a colleague at short notice. She also sang Gilda in a new production at the Aix-en-Provence festival earlier this year and at the Teatro Regio in Turin. Her other performances this season include Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata in Turin, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, and Musetta at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Jennifer Rowley makes her Met debut as Musetta, a role she has sung with Norwegian National Opera and Toledo Opera. Her other recent performances include Anna in Puccini's rarity Le Villi at the Spoleto Festival, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Finland's Savonlinna Festival, and the title role in Donizetti's Maria di Rohan at the Caramoor Festival.

Susanna Phillips made her Met debut in 2008 as Musetta, a role she has sung with the company more than 25 times. This season at the Met, she stars as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte and as Rosalinde in the new production of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus, opening on New Year's Eve.

Joseph Calleja first sang Rodolfo at the Met in the 2010-11 season. He made his company debut in 2006 as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and his Met repertory includes five other roles: the title role in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, which he sang in the opera's 2009 new production premiere; the title role in Gounod's Faust; Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor; Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth; and Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore.

Vittorio Grigolo made his Met debut in 2010 as Rodolfo and returned last season to sing the Duke in Rigoletto. He has sung Rodolfo at La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. On Sunday, March 9, Grigolo will perform a solo recital on the Met stage consisting of songs and arias by Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and others.

Alexey Markov first sang Marcello in the Met's 2011-12 season. The role is one of six he has sung with the company, a list that also includes Prince Andrey Bolkonsky in Prokofiev's War and Peace; Shchelkalov in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov; Tomsky in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades; di Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore; and Valentin in Faust.

Massimo Cavalletti made his Met debut in 2011 singing Schaunard in La Bohème. He sings Marcello for the first time with the company this season, having performed the role at the Zurich Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, and the Salzburg Festival.

Stefano Ranzani first conducted at the Met in the 2009-10 season, when he led a revival of Puccini's Il Trittico. He has conducted La Bohème at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Strasbourg Opera, Avenches Opera Festival, and Las Palmas Opera. His other engagements this season include Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at La Scala; Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani in Piacenza, Modena, and Reggio Emilia; Rigoletto at Bavarian State Opera; Puccini's Tosca at Berlin State Opera; and Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Helsinki Opera.

La Bohème will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world on Saturday, April 5 at 12:55 p.m. as part of the Met's Live in HD series. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato hosts the transmission. Since the Live in HD series launched in 2006, nearly 14 million tickets have been sold to opera lovers worldwide. The Met: Live in HD is now seen in more than 2,000 theaters in 64 countries around the world.

The January 14 opening performance of La Bohème will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on April 2, 5, and 14.

The January 14 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

The April 5 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

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