Dmitri Hvorostovsky to Star in Michael Mayer's RIGOLETTO at the Met, Beg. 11/11

Dmitri Hvorostovsky will sing his first Met performances of the title role in Verdi's Rigolettobeginning November 11, in the first revival of Michael Mayer's hit production, set in the decadent world of 1960s Las Vegas. Matthew Polenzani makes his company role debut as the womanizing Duke, and two rising singers make Met debuts as the innocent Gilda: Russian soprano Irina Lungu and Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva. Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado makes his Met debut leading the revival. The December 7 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network to inaugurate the 83rd season of the popular Saturday broadcast series.

In recent seasons, Dmitri Hvorostovsky has sung Rigoletto at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; the Vienna State Opera; and the Ravinia Festival. He starred as Anckarström in last season's new production of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera at the Met and reprised his acclaimed Rodrigo in a revival of Verdi's Don Carlo. His company repertory includes numerous Verdi roles: Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Don Carlo in Ernani, the title character in Simon Boccanegra, and di Luna in Il Trovatore. His other Met appearances have included the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Valentin in Gounod's Faust, the title role in Don Giovanni, Prince Andrey in Prokofiev's War and Peace, Belcore in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, and Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, the role of his debut.

Matthew Polenzani sang Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte earlier this season under the baton of Met Music Director James Levine, a performance he will reprise in the spring for a series of performance including an international Live in HD transmission. Polenzani starred as Nemorino in last season's opening night new production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore and as Leicester in the Met premiere of Donizetti'sMaria Stuarda. He has sung more than 250 performances in 31 roles at the Met. In recent seasons, these have included Alfredo in the new production premiere of Verdi's La Traviata (2010), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. He is the winner of both the Beverly Sills Artist Award and the Richard Tucker Award.

Irina Lungu most recently sang Gilda in a new production at the Aix-en-Provence festival earlier this year. She has also sung the role at the Teatro Regio in Turin. This January, she will sing her first Met performances of Musetta in La Bohème. 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.

Sonya Yoncheva sang Gilda earlier this summer at the Arena di Verona. Her other performances this season include the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Paris Opera; Violetta in La Traviata at the Palau de les Artes Reina Sofia in Valencia; and Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Štefan Kocán and Oksana Volkova will repeat their acclaimed performances as the corrupt siblings Sparafucile and Maddalena, which they sang in last season's new production premiere. Earlier this season, Volkova sang Olga in the opening night new production premiere ofEugene Onegin. Kocán's other roles at the Met this season are Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin and Khan Konchak in the upcoming new production premiere of Mussorgsky's Prince Igor.

Pablo Heras-Casado conducted a new production of Rigoletto last season at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. His recent opera engagements have included Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani at the Frankfurt Opera, L'Elisir d'Amore at the Baden-Baden Festival, and both Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride and John Adams's Nixon in China at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. He is the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and has also led performances at the Mostly Mozart and Salzburg Festivals.

Rigoletto Radio Broadcasts:

The November 11 opening performance of Rigoletto will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on November 18 and December 7.

The November 11 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

The December 7 matinee performance at 12:30 p.m. will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For more information on this season's performances of Rigoletto, visit the Met's website at www.metopera.org.

Pictured: A scene from Act I of Michael Mayer's production of Verdi's "Rigoletto." Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.