Renée Fleming Reprises Her Role As Title Character in Handel’s Rodelinda

Renée Fleming will return to the Met to reprise one of her most popular interpretations: the title role in Handel's Rodelinda. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket will conduct the revival of Stephen Wadsworth's production, which also stars Andreas Scholl as the exiled king Bertarido and Stephanie Blythe as his sister Eduige. English countertenor Iestyn Davies makes his Met debut as Bertarido's faithful friend Unulfo, and, in Met role debuts, Joseph Kaiser sings the usurper Grimoaldo and Shenyang the corrupt royal advisor Garibaldo. On December 7, American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo makes his Met debut as Unulfo. The December 3 matinee of Rodelinda will be transmitted live as part of The Met: Live in HD series, which is now seen in more than 1,600 movie theaters in 54 countries around the world.

Handel's opera, based on the life of a seventh-century queen of Lombardy, premiered at the Met in 2004 with Fleming in the title role. The opera, in which Rodelinda's love for her exiled husband remains steadfast despite the romantic and political machinations of his enemies, is a showcase for some of Handel's most extraordinary arias and duets. Bicket made his Met debut leading the new production premiere of Rodelinda in 2004, and has since conducted Met revivals of Handel's Giulio Cesare and Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. He is also the director of The English Concert, a Baroque orchestra that uses period instruments and tours throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. Wadsworth, whose staging of the opera has been praised for its clarity and fluidity, has also directed new productions of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride at the Met, as well as a new staging of Smetana's The Bartered Bride, co-produced with The Juilliard School.

Rodelinda is the sole Baroque heroine in Fleming's extensive Met repertory of twenty-one roles. Her recent Met performances include the Countess in the first-ever Met revival of Strauss's Capriccio; the title character in the Met premiere of Rossini's Armida; the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier; and the title characters in Massenet's Thaïs and Dvo?ák's Rusalka. Later this season, Fleming joins the MET Orchestra for a concert at Carnegie Hall, where she will sing Mahler's famous "Rückert-Lieder" song cycle.

Blythe, like Fleming, starred in Rodelinda's Met premiere and a subsequent revival in the 2005-06 season. Later this season, the versatile artist will make her Met role debut as Amneris in Verdi's Aida and sing Fricka in complete cycles of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Scholl made his Met debut as Bertarido in the 2006 revival of Rodelinda. He also starred in a high-profile 1998 Glyndebourne production of the opera, conducted by William Christie.

Davies is a prominent performer in recital and opera in his native England, specializing in the Baroque repertory. Kaiser co-starred with Fleming last season as Flamand in Strauss's Capriccio and has also sung Narraboth in Strauss's Salome, Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Shenyang has appeared at the Met as Colline in Puccini's La Bohème and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, a role he reprises later this season. Costanzo, a 2009 winner of the Met's National Council Auditions, will also create the role of Ferdinand in the world premiere of The Enchanted Island later this season.

Rodelinda Live in HD and on the Radio
The December 3 12:30 p.m. matinee of Rodelinda, hosted by soprano Deborah Voigt, will be transmitted worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series, which is now seen in 1,600 movie theaters in 54 countries.

The November 14 opening performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on November 23 and December 3. The November 14 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's Web site, www.metopera.org.
The December 3 matinee will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For More Information, Go to the Met's Web Site
For more information, including bios of the performers and production team, and general information about the Met season, please visit the Met's Web site at http://www.metoperafamily.org/

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff

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