Barbara Frittoli News

On New Year's Eve, the Metropolitan Opera unveiled a new production of Cilea's ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, with a high-powered, audience-pleasing cast--headed by Anna Netrebko--in a production by Met favorite David McVicar, appealingly designed and costumed, and played elegantly by the Met orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda's sweeping baton.

To commemorate the start of Yannick Nézet-Séguin's new position as the Jeanette Lerman Neubauer Music Director, the Met is releasing an audio compilation of performance highlights on iTunes, as well as a series

According to Opera News, Siberian Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky has died at age 55, following a battle with brain cancer. His family released a statement highlighting Hvorostovsky's accomplishments and celebrating his life.

Award-winning Bulgarian-American Pianist ANI GOGOVA will be bringing her program "Fantasies, Fairytales & Nightmares" - music by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Medtner, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti and Kostov to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall today, January 27, 2017 at 8pm.  Ms. Gogova, acclaimed for her innovative approach to classical music has been hailed for her "dazzling artistic presence" and "masterful poetic expression."   

Award-winning Bulgarian-American Pianist ANI GOGOVA will be bringing her program "Fantasies, Fairytales & Nightmares" - music by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Medtner, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti and Kostov to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Friday, January 27, 2017 at 8pm.  Ms. Gogova, acclaimed for her innovative approach to classical music has been hailed for her "dazzling artistic presence" and "masterful poetic expression."   

The Met Opera invites you to Gay Night at La Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Opera's indomitable double bill returns in Sir David McVicar's searing production from the 2014–15 season. Tenor Yonghoon Lee and mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana star in Cavalleria Rusticana, the tragedy of ancient codes and illicit love, Sicilian style. In Pagliacci (the second half of the pair of verismo potboilers), tenor Roberto Alagna is the murderous clown Canio and soprano Barbara Frittoli is his philandering wife. Use code MENEVENTCAV and get orchestra balance seats for only $99* (reg $115) plus a Gay Reception during the first intermission at the Grand Tier Bar (near the windows overlooking the fountain). Just bring your ticket to TheMenEvent representative at the party to get your drink ticket valid for a free glass of sparkling wine.

The Met Opera invites you to Gay Night at La Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Opera's indomitable double bill returns in Sir David McVicar's searing production from the 2014–15 season. Tenor Yonghoon Lee and mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana star in Cavalleria Rusticana, the tragedy of ancient codes and illicit love, Sicilian style. In Pagliacci (the second half of the pair of verismo potboilers), tenor Roberto Alagna is the murderous clown Canio and soprano Barbara Frittoli is his philandering wife. Use code MENEVENTCAV and get orchestra balance seats for only $99* (reg $115) plus a Gay Reception during the first intermission at the Grand Tier Bar (near the windows overlooking the fountain). Just bring your ticket to TheMenEvent representative at the party to get your drink ticket valid for a free glass of sparkling wine.

Jonas Kaufmann has canceled his performances in this season's new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut due to illness.

The popular verismo double bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci returns to the Met beginning January 21.

New York, NY (November 11, 2015) – Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the Met stage on Monday, November 23 for the first of seventeen performances throughout the season. The November and December performances, conducted by Paolo Carignani,will star Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, opposite American soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta in her first Met performances since 2005. Romanian baritone Levente Molnár makes his Met debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro. 

Barbara Frittoli will sing the role of Mimì in the first six performances of Puccini's La Bohème at the Met this season: November 23, 27, 30, December 5 matinee, 9, and 12.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza each summer, will return with 10 screenings of performances featuring the company's leading artists in a varied selection of operas by Bartók, Bizet, Gounod, Mozart, Offenbach, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi, running on consecutive nights from August 29 through September 7.

What a great idea it was for the Met to mount revivals of Verdi's ERNANI and DON CARLO at the same time! It offers an opportunity to compare two operas that have much in common--and a production well worth seeing.

Verdi's sweeping historical tragedy Don Carlo will return to the Met stage March 30for an eight-performance revival conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the dynamic maestro who led the 2010 Met premiere ofNicholas Hytner's critically acclaimed production. Yonghoon Lee will reprise his portrayal of the conflicted title hero, withFerruccio Furlanetto as his father and rival, the imposing Philip II; Barbara Frittoli as his lover, Elisabeth de Valois;Ekaterina Gubanova as Elisabeth's tormented lady-in-waiting, Princess Eboli; Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rodrigo, Don Carlo's friend and ally; and James Morris as the menacing Grand Inquisitor.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Luca Salsi will sing the role of Rodrigo in this season's performances of Verdi's Don Carlo, replacing Simon Keenlyside, who has withdrawn from the run due to illness.

Ticket holders may enjoy a special $45 prix-fixe menu at Bernard's (20 West Lane, Ridgefield), or a free glass of wine with dinner, the day of this event when tickets are presented; reservations suggested. The Live in HD Series are underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Anita and Nicholas Donofrio, Liz and Steven Goldstone, Marilyn and Joe Kreitz, Joanne and John Patrick, Starbucks Coffee, Sabina and Walter Slavin, Taylor Zemo Foundation, The Ridgefield Press and Whistle Stop Bakery.

Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who has earned praise for his elegant and expressive vocalism in performances at the Met and other opera houses around the world, will perform a solo recital on the Met stage on Sunday, March 9 at 4 p.m. He will be joined by pianist Vincent Scalera for the recital, which will feature songs and arias by Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Tosti, Leoncavallo, Gastaldon, De Curtis, and D'Annibale. A complete listing of the program appears below.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

To experience the grand spectacle of opera, which embraces the best of the performing arts, there is no need to go to the big city when you can see Puccini's La Boheme on Sunday, April 6, at 5 p.m. and Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte on Saturday, April 26, at 12:55 p.m., in the comfortable, intimate Ridgefield Playhouse. Close-ups and interesting camera angles afforded uniquely thru the power of an HD broadcast and exclusive behind-the-scenes tours and interviews make going to the opera a pleasure. For dinner-and-an-opera, Bernard's (22 West Lane, Ridgefield) is offering a special $45 prix-fixe menu, or a free glass of wine with dinner before or after these events, when tickets are presented; reservations suggested beginning at 5 p.m. Visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org for video previews of the Met Live in HD Series. This series is underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Anita and Nicholas Donofrio, Liz and Steven Goldstone, Marilyn and Joe Kreitz, Joanne and John Patrick, Starbucks Coffee, Sabina and Walter Slavin, Taylor Zemo Foundation, The Ridgefield Press and Whistle Stop Bakery.

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.