Diana Damrau News

Washington National Opera has released its calendar of Spring 2010 events.

Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez star in La Fille du Régiment, Donizetti's comedy about the tough-hearted young woman who was rescued and raised by the 21st regiment of the French army, and her romance with a hapless soldier-suitor.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

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.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles.

Ann Murray and Meredith Arwady will sing the role of the Marquise de Berkenfield in La Fille du Régiment, replacing Felicity Palmer who has withdrawn from the run for personal reasons. Ann Murray will sing the performances on February 6, 10, and 13 matinee, and Meredith Arwady those on February 16, 19, and 22.

Bartlett Sher?s hit production of Rossini?s comic masterpiece, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (?The Barber of Seville?), returns to the Met stage on October 3. Joyce DiDonato stars in the role of Rosina, with Barry Banks in his first Met performances as Count Almaviva and Rodion Pogossov in his company role debut as Figaro. John Del Carlo sings the role of Dr. Bartolo, and Orlin Anastassov makes his Met role debut as Don Basilio. Maurizio Benini conducts.

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for Washington National Opera's 2009-10 season will go on sale to the public on Sunday, August 2, 2009 via an online pre-sale at www.dc-opera.org; tickets will be available in-person and over the phone beginning at 10 a.m.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for Washington National Opera's 2009-10 season will go on sale to the public on Sunday, August 2, 2009 via an online pre-sale at www.dc-opera.org; tickets will be available in-person and over the phone beginning at 10 a.m.

Zeljko Lucic will sing the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto this evening, replacing Roberto Frontali who is ill. Earlier this season, Lu?i? sang the role of Germont in La Traviata, and next week he begins a series of performances of Il Trovatore, in which he sings Count Di Luna.

Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Fl?rez, who created a sensation last season in La Fille du R?giment, star in a new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula opening March 2, directed by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Evelino Pid?. Dessay takes the role of the sleepwalker Amina, with Fl?rez as her betrothed Elvino, and Michele Pertusi as the Count who almost ruins their wedding. Performances run through April 3, with Barry Banks singing Elvino at the final performance. Zimmerman returns with the creative team that collaborated on her hit production of Lucia di Lammermoor, which opened the 2007-08 season: Daniel Ostling, set designer; Mara Blumenfeld, costume designer; T.J. Gerckens, lighting designer; and Daniel Pelzig, choreographer.

Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Fl?rez, who created a sensation last season in La Fille du R?giment, star in a new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula opening March 2, directed by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Evelino Pid?. Dessay takes the role of the sleepwalker Amina, with Fl?rez as her betrothed Elvino, and Michele Pertusi as the Count who almost ruins their wedding. Performances run through April 3, with Barry Banks singing Elvino at the final performance. Zimmerman returns with the creative team that collaborated on her hit production of Lucia di Lammermoor, which opened the 2007-08 season: Daniel Ostling, set designer; Mara Blumenfeld, costume designer; T.J. Gerckens, lighting designer; and Daniel Pelzig, choreographer.

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).

Verdi's popular masterpiece Rigoletto returns to the repertory on January 24 with baritone Roberto Frontali making his Met role debut as the hunchback jester and conductor Riccardo Frizza in his company debut. They are joined by Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda and Giuseppe Filianoti as the Duke of Mantua, both of whom are also singing their roles for the first time at the Met. Viktoria Vizin makes her Met debut as Maddalena, and Mikhail Petrenko sings his first Sparafucile with the company. Georgian bass George Gagnidze makes his Met debut on January 27 in the title role and sings the following five performances through February 12. Piotr Beczala, whose performances as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor last fall drew wide acclaim, sings the Duke on February 12. A second run of performances begins April 1 and features the first Met Gilda of Diana Damrau, who earlier this season created a sensation with her interpretation of the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor. She will be partnered with Joseph Calleja as the Duke and Roberto Frontali as Rigoletto. Frontali returns for the April performances which run through April 17. Tamara Mumford sings Maddalena and Raymond Aceto is Sparafucile in the April cast. About the performers

Two of opera's leading sopranos - both acclaimed for their dramatic and vocal skills - sing the demanding title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor for the first time at the Met this season. In the opening performance, October 3, 2008, Diana Damrau - who last season became the first soprano to achieve the feat of singing both leading soprano roles in Mozart's Die Zauberflote, Pamina and the Queen of the Night, in the same Met season - sings the role of Lucia for the first time in her career. Polish tenor Piotr Beczala is her beloved Edgardo in his Met role debut.

Metropolitan Opera on SIRIUS Satellite Radio channel 78 launches its regular live broadcasts of the company's 2008-09 season with the Opening Night Gala starring Renée Fleming, which airs on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. The third season of Met Opera Radio on SIRIUS features four live broadcasts weekly as the Met celebrates its 125th anniversary with six new productions, including the company premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic, 18 revivals, and the season grand finale of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, conducted by Music Director James Levine.

Two new productions of operas by Rossini and Puccini will be helmed, respectively, by The Light in the Piazza's Bartlett Sher and Dirty Rotten Scoundrel's Jack O'Brien as part of the Metropolitan Opera's 2006-2007 season