Pretty Yende and Matthew Polenzani Star in Donizetti's Romantic Comedy L'ELISIR D'AMORE

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore returns to the Met on January 16 for ten performances through to February 17, starring South African sopranoPretty Yende as wealthy landowner Adina, and American tenor Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino, the poor villager hopelessly in love with her. Italian bass Ildebrando D'Arcangelo sings the role of Dulcamara, the quack doctor who sells the 'magic elixir of love', and Italian baritone Davide Luciano plays the visiting sergeant, Belcore. Venezuelan maestro Domingo Hindoyan makes his company debut conducting Bartlett Sher's 2012 staging. The February 10 matinee performance will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, now reaching more than 2,000 movie theaters in 73 countries around the world.

Pretty Yende adds a new role to her Met repertory as Adina, a role she has sung at La Scala and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Later this season, also at the Met, she will sing the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. She made a surprise company debut in 2013 when she stepped in at short notice to sing her first-ever performances of Countess Adèle in Rossini's Le Comte Ory opposite Juan Diego Flórez. Since then she has sung Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Elvira Walton in Bellini's I Puritani, and Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

Matthew Polenzani previously sang Nemorino in Bartlett Sher's production when it opened the Met's 2012-13 season. He has sung over 350 performances with the company since his debut in 1997 as Boyar in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. Other Met credits include the title role of Mozart's Idomeneo, Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte, the title character in Offenbach's Les Contes d' Hoffmann, the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, and role debuts as Nadir in the Met new production premieres of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles and in the title role of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo makes his company role debut as Dulcamara, a role he has previously sung at the Vienna State Opera and Baden-Baden Festival. He made his Met debut as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, followed by singing Leporello in Don Giovanni, and the title role of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Davide Luciano has previously sung the role of Belcore at Deutsche Oper Berlin where he is a member of the ensemble. His other credits include Donizetti roles such as Lord Cecil in Maria Stuarda and the Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at Teatro Real in Madrid.

Maestro Domingo Hindoyan has previously led L'Elisir d'Amore, at the Berlin State Opera. He has conducted at several of the world's leading opera houses including Dresden State Opera, Berlin State Opera, and Zurich Opera.

L'Elisir d'Amore Live in HD and Radio Broadcasts

The February 10 matinee performance of L'Elisir d'Amore will be transmitted live around the world at 12:00 p.m. ET hosted by Susanna Phillips. The transmission will be seen in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 73 countries around the world.

The January 16 performance of L'Elisir d'Amore will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 75, and the same performance will also be streamed live on the Met's web site, www.metopera.org.

The February 10 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For More Information

For more information on L'Elisir d'Amore, including casting by date, please click here.

Photo: Pretty Yende as Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia will sing Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore in the 2017-18 season. Photo by: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera