Les Contes '’Hoffmann Returns To The Met Thru 10/19

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann ("The Tales of Hoffmann") returns to the Met stage in last season's acclaimed production directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, with Giuseppe Filianoti singing the title role for the first time at the Met. Ildar Abdrazakov, who sang the title role in last season's Met premiere of Verdi's Attila, makes his career role debut as the four villains. In the roles of Hoffmann's loves, three artists make their Met debuts: Hibla Gerzmava as both Antonia and Stella; Enkelejda Shkosa as Giulietta, and Elena Mosuc as Olympia (October 6 performance). Anna Christy sings the role of Olympia for the first time at the Met in the premiere cast, and Kate Lindsey reprises her admired portrayal of Nicklausse/The Muse, which she performed last season. French conductor Patrick Fournillier makes his Met debut leading the performances. Set designs are by Michael Yeargan and costume designs by Catherine Zuber, both Tony Award-winners who collaborated with Sher on his Met production of IL Barbiere di Siviglia. Lighting is by James F. Ingalls, and the choreography is by Dou Dou Huang. Performances run through October 19.

The New York Times noted the "rich and poignant" voice of Giuseppe Filianoti in 2008 when he sang Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. The tenor has sung four major Italian roles at the Met, including the Duke in Rigoletto, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, and Ruggero in La Rondine. Hoffmann, which he has sung to acclaim in Europe, will be his first venture into the French repertoire here.
When Ildar Abdrazakov starred in the Met premiere of Verdi's rarely performed Attila last season, the Times noted "the refinement and clarity of his singing, the Verdian accents, that made him so moving." The young Russian bass-baritone has already performed numerous leading roles at the Met, including Méphistophélès in both Gounod's Faust and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (opposite his wife, Olga Borodina as Marguerite), Leporello in Don Giovanni, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, which was seen worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series.

Russian soprano Hibla Gerzmava and Albanian mezzo-soprano Enkelejda Shkosa each make Met debuts in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, as Antonia and Giulietta respectively. Gerzmava won the Grand Prize of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994 and has performed at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Royal Opera Covent Garden among other major opera houses. Shkosa is a winner of the Leyla Gencer Competition in Istanbul. She has sung at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Paris Opera, among others. Romanian soprano Elena Mosuc, who makes her debut as Olympia on October 6, has sung a large variety of roles in major European houses.

Anna Christy made her Met debut in 2004 as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte and returned the following season as Hortense in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. Kate Lindsey is a graduate of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has performed several roles with the company including Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette.

Conductor Patrick Fournillier also makes his Met debut. The co-founder and music director of the Massenet Festival in Saint-Étienne, France, he has conducted at many of Europe's opera houses, including La Scala and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin.

Sher, whose Met debut production of IL Barbiere di Siviglia has been an audience favorite since it opened in 2006 and whose new production of Le Comte Ory will have its premiere later this season, has called Les Contes d'Hoffmann "a magical journey in which the title character works out different manifestations of his psyche." The ambiguities and split identities of the characters figure in Sher's vision of the piece. "For any artist, ambition and paranoia are both always present. The door keeps opening and there are many Hoffmanns, identities that keep overlapping. I think the real artistic dilemma for Offenbach is the tension between the cover and the internal state."

Offenbach died before a definitive score for Les Contes d'Hoffmann was established, though he left many sketches of possible additions and replacements which have led to different performing versions over the years. The Met production will use the same version that was used in last season's new production, with the Olympia act first, followed by the Antonia act, then Giulietta placed third.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
Les Contes d'Hoffmann will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season on the radio and the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.

The opening on September 28 will be broadcast live on the Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, as will the performances on October 6 and 12.