James Levine News

When Erwin Schrott took on the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The New York Times wrote: 'The surprise was the riveting Giovanni: the seductively handsome young Uruguayan bass Erwin Schrott, who boasts a strong, dusky voice and chiseled physique. Exuding charisma, he galvanized the audience with his unabashedly narcissistic portrayal.' Now Schrott, who sang the role when the Met toured Japan in 2006, is bringing his portrayal to the Met stage for the first time beginning Saturday, September 27.

Soprano Karita Mattila, who electrified Met audiences in the title role of Richard Strauss's Salome in 2004, returns as the voluptuous Judean princess this season, beginning September 23.

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.

The Metropolitan Opera opens its 2008-09 season on September 22 with a gala performance that kicks off its 125th anniversary, starring Renée Fleming in three fully-staged scenes, including some of her most acclaimed portrayals. Costumes for Fleming have been specially created for each of the scenes in the Opening Night Gala by three of the world's legendary fashion designers: John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

National CineMedia (NCM) LLC, operator of the largest digital in-theatre network in North America for cinema advertising and alternative entertainment and events, and the Metropolitan Opera are proudly partnering to bring a third season of the critically-acclaimed The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD series transmitted live, in high-definition, to more than 440 movie theatres and performing arts centers in the United States.

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

The Metropolitan Opera will perform Verdi's Requiem Mass on Thursday, September 18 at 5:00 p.m. in commemoration of the first anniversary of the death of Luciano Pavarotti, who died on September 6, 2007.

Three of the world's top fashion designers will create costumes for Renée Fleming for the Metropolitan Opera's opening night gala on Monday, September 22.

Composer Tan Dun's epic opera The First Emperor, which had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera last season, returns to the stage on Saturday, May 10, for the first of three performances.

The Metropolitan Opera Presents Free Concert on Friday, June 20: 'Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park'

The Metropolitan Opera's critically-acclaimed live high-definition satellite transmissions will be seen on public television in a fourteen-part series, beginning on March 30. Great Performances at the Met, presented by Thirteen/WNET New York, will feature the broadcast premieres of all eight presentations from the 2007-08 season of 'The Met: Live in HD,' as well as the six shows from the 2006-07 season. A special prime time showing of Hansel and Gretel on March 26 will precede the series, which will air every Sunday afternoon at 12:00 p.m./EST for 14 weeks in selected public television markets. In New York, the programs will be a part of Thirteen/WNET's new SundayArts programming showcase, beginning on Sunday, March 30 with Richard Jones's new English-language production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment), starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez, is the final broadcast of the series on Sunday, June 29.

Janice Baird will sing the role of Isolde in this evening's performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde replacing Deborah Voigt, who is ill. Ms. Baird made her Met debut as Isolde on March 14, substituting for Voigt who withdrew due to illness during Act II. James Levine conducts, and Ben Heppner sings his first Tristan of the season. Voigt is still scheduled to sing the final performance of the run on Friday, March 28.

Robert Dean Smith will make his Met debut on Saturday, March 22, singing the role of Tristan in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. The performance, which begins at 12:30 p.m/ET, will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Ben Heppner, who was originally slated to sing that performance, is still recovering from an illness, and is scheduled to sing on Tuesday, March 25 and Friday, March 28.

The Met's March 22 live HD transmission of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE will use innovative live editing techniques to bring viewers into the onstage action in engaging new ways. For this transmission of Wagner's great love story, conducted by Music Director James Levine, the Met will use multiple-frame effects, so that audiences worldwide will see as many as six frames on the screen at once. This editing technique allows for close-ups, wide angles, and reaction shots to be shown on screen simultaneously-all cued to the music.

Gary Lehman will make his Met debut on Friday, March 14, singing the role of Tristan in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, replacing Ben Heppner, who is ill.

In a unique partnership between two prestigious musical institutions, the Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School will join forces for a joint training program to identify and train the finest young opera singers and accompanists, preparing them for careers in the world's great opera houses.

Finnish soprano Karita Mattila sings the title role of Puccini's Manon Lescaut which will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1PM EST on February 16, 2008.

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) continues its 20th Anniversary season by presenting Bastianello and Lucrezia, two newly commissioned comic operas by composers John Musto and William Bolcom with libretti by Mark Campbell. The concerts will take place on Tuesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 13 at 8PM, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, West 57th Street and 7th Avenue.

A legendary performance of Puccini's La Boheme, starring opera luminaries Renata Scotto as Mime and Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo, will be broadcast in an encore presentation over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:30PM EST on January 19, as a tribute to the life of the late tenor.