Diana Damrau News

A trio of bel canto stars--Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau, and Joyce DiDonato--headline the Met's first-ever production of Le Comte Ory, Rossini's final comic masterpiece.

A trio of bel canto stars--Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau, and Joyce DiDonato--headline the Met's first-ever production of Le Comte Ory, Rossini's final comic masterpiece.

Gramophone's Artist of the Year Joyce DiDonato returns to the Metropolitan Opera to make her role debut as Isolier in Rossini's Le comte Ory, which opens tonight, Thursday, March 24. Directed by Bartlett Sher, this new production stars Diana Damrau as Countess Adele and Juan Diego Florez as the title character.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans today to return to Japan for a three-week tour in June 2011, presenting 13 performances of three fully staged operas in Tokyo and Nagoya.

Flurry of Last-Minute Cast Changes as Metropolitan Opera Company Arrives in Japan To Begin Tour of Tokyo and Nagoya

Tenor superstar Juan Diego Florez, widely regarded as the world's greatest bel canto tenor performing today, tonight adds another new production at the Metropolitan Opera to his long list of accomplishments.

Last night, March 24, the stars came out to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera gala premiere of Rossini's Le Comte Ory at Lincoln Center.

Tenor superstar Juan Diego Florez, widely regarded as the world's greatest bel canto tenor performing today, tonight adds another new production at the Metropolitan Opera to his long list of accomplishments.

Gramophone's Artist of the Year Joyce DiDonato returns to the Metropolitan Opera to make her role debut as Isolier in Rossini's Le comte Ory, which opens tonight, Thursday, March 24. Directed by Bartlett Sher, this new production stars Diana Damrau as Countess Adele and Juan Diego Florez as the title character.

The Metropolitan Opera will present its first-ever performances of Rossini's final comic opera, Le Comte Ory, in a production by Bartlett Sher premiering March 24.

The Metropolitan Opera will present its first-ever performances of Rossini's final comic opera, Le Comte Ory, in a production by Bartlett Sher premiering March 24.

A singer could scarcely be hotter than Joyce DiDonato right now: recently named Artist of the Year by Gramophone magazine, the mezzo-soprano has a new Virgin/EMI album just out (Diva, Divo, released Jan 25); is currently starring in the lead role of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at Houston Grand Opera; and soon embarks on an eight-city U.S. recital tour (Feb 8 - March 6), capping it with her main-stage Carnegie Hall recital debut.

Earlier this season at the Metropolitan Opera, Joseph Calleja's performance as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème prompted the Associated Press to admire his 'voice unlike anyone else on the operatic scene today.' As the review continued: 'A rapid vibrato gives his sound an alluring sweetness, and in recent years he has refined his technique so that the quality is consistent throughout his range, up to high C.' Now, following performances earlier this season as Rodolfo and as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto, the Maltese tenor returns to New York to take on his third Italian role of the Met season. From February 24 through March 19, he sings Edgardo opposite Natalie Dessay in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The March 19 performance will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world, as part of the 'Met: Live in HD' series. In addition, Joseph Calleja's exclusive record label, the newly re-launched Decca Classics, has announced plans to release the tenor's next solo album, titled The Maltese Tenor, later this year.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2011-12 season will feature the world's leading singers, conductors, and stage directors in seven new productions, including a world premiere, a Met premiere, and the first complete performances of a new Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Lepage.

Artist Francesco Vezzoli has created a unique work inspired by Rossini's comic opera Le Comte Ory that will be displayed inside and outside the Metropolitan Opera in the weeks leading up to the opera's Met premiere. Vezzoli's piece, entitled La Comtesse Ory (After Velázquez), incorporates several of the artist's signatures: needlepoint, Renaissance imagery, stylized tears, and religious iconography. The original work, currently on view on the Grand Tier level of the Met, will be reproduced as a banner and displayed on the façade of the opera house beginning February 8.

A singer could scarcely be hotter than Joyce DiDonato right now: recently named Artist of the Year by Gramophone magazine, the mezzo-soprano has a new Virgin/EMI album just out (Diva, Divo, released Jan 25); is currently starring in the lead role of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at Houston Grand Opera; and soon embarks on an eight-city U.S. recital tour (Feb 8 - March 6), capping it with her main-stage Carnegie Hall recital debut.

Hot on the heels of winning Gramophone magazine's 2010 Artist of the Year award, the vibrant mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will release her third Virgin/EMI solo album - Diva, Divo - on January 25.

Joseph Calleja, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 as Verdi's Duke of Mantua, returns to the role at the Met in a January 11-27 run of Rigoletto.

Joseph Calleja, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 as Verdi's Duke of Mantua, returns to the role at the Met in a January 11-27 run of Rigoletto.