The MET Opera Announces That Elina Garanca Will Sing In La CERENTOLA As Of 5/1

El?na Garan?a sings the title role of La Cenerentola, Rossini's charming version of the Cinderella story, for the first time with the company beginning May 1. The Latvian mezzo-soprano made her highly acclaimed Met debut last season as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Two other artists who have made a specialty of singing bel canto repertory are making Met role debuts: Lawrence Brownlee as Don Ramiro and Alessandro Corbelli as Don Magnifico. Simone Alberghini as Dandini and John Relyea as Alidoro return to the roles of their Met debuts in 2005 and 2000, respectively. Maurizio Benini conducts the opera for the first time in his Met career. The production is by Cesare Lievi; sets and costumes are by Maurizio Balò; the lighting designer is Gigi Saccomandi, and Daniela Schiavone is the choreographer. Performances run through May 9.

El?na Garan?a, who sings the title role of La Cenerentola for the first time at the Met, made her company debut last season as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Of that occasion, the New York Times critic said, "Ms. Garan?a is the real thing. Svelte, graceful and with a sense of humor... The lyric passages sang out; the episodes of racecourse delivery were fully in hand." She will appear next season as Nicklausse in Bartlett Sher's new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine, a performance that will be transmitted as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Garan?a's repertoire includes Adalgisa in Norma (Bavarian State Opera), Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden), Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena (Finnish National Opera), Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito (Paris Opera), Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (Berlin's Deutsche Oper), and Charlotte in Werther (Vienna State Opera).

Lawrence Brownlee, who sings Don Ramiro for the first time at the Met, made his company debut in 2007 as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. "His lyric voice falls on the ear with unusual sweetness, even in its upper reaches," the Associated Press critic wrote. "He has mastered the bel canto technique of fast runs, trills and ornamentation that Rossini requires, and stopped the show with his acrobatics." The Ohio-born tenor returns as Almaviva next season, and will also sing Rinaldo in the Met premiere of Armida, with Renée Fleming in the title role of a new production by Mary Zimmerman. Armida will be transmitted around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Brownlee performs with major companies in the United States and abroad in a repertoire that includes not just Almaviva (San Diego Opera, Vienna State Opera) and Ramiro (Houston Grand Opera, La Scala), but, among others, Narciso in Il Turco in Italia (Deutsche Oper, Berlin), Arturo in I Puritani (Seattle Opera), and Tonio in La Fille du Régiment (Hamburg State Opera).

Simone Alberghini returns as Dandini, which he sang in his Met debut in 2005. The Italian bass-baritone, who won first prize in Plácido Domingo's Operalia competition in 1994, has a repertoire that ranges from Mozart to Martin?. He is best known, however, for his interpretations of such roles as Dandini, which he has also sung with Washington National Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival; Talbot in Maria Stuarda (Bologna Opera); Mustafà in L'Italiana in Algeri (Seattle Opera); Giorgio in I Puritani (Bologna Opera); and Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Los Angeles Opera).

Alessandro Corbelli made his 1997 Met debut in this production of La Cenerentola, but as Dandini, not Don Magnifico. Since then, Met audiences have heard the Italian baritone in a number of bel canto buffo roles. Last season he was Sergeant Sulpice in Laurent Pelly's new production of La Fille du Régiment, which was transmitted in The Met: Live in HD series. He has also appeared as Taddeo in L'Italiana in Algeri and as Dr. Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'Amore. In 2007, he played the title role in Gianni Schicchi, part of Jack O'Brien's new production of Il Trittico, which was alsoseen worldwide Live in HD. Corbelli will return as Gianni Schicchi next season.

In 2000, John Relyea made his Met debut as Alidoro. "A tall, dashing, young bass-baritone from Ontario brought his hearty voice and easy authority to the role," said the New York Times. "This is the kind of Met debut fledgling singers dream about." In nine years, Relyea has sung 12 roles at the Met, from the satanic-Méphistophélès this season in Robert Lepage's new production of La Damnation de Faust-to the comic title character in Le Nozze di Figaro, which he reprises next season. Relyea has appeared five times in The Met: Live in HD series, including this season in La Damnation de Faust, last season as Raimondo in the gala opening night performance of Mary Zimmerman's production of Lucia di Lammermoor and as Banquo in Adrian Noble's new production of Macbeth, and in the 2006-07 season as Don Basilio in Bartlett Sher's production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and as Giorgio in I Puritani. In addition, he sang Garibaldo in the Met's 2004 premiere of Handel's Rodelinda, directed by Stephen Wadsworth. Among his other roles are Masetto in Don Giovanni and Colline in La Bohème. Relyea has also appeared with the MET Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and the MET Chamber Ensemble in Weill Recital Hall.

Maurizio Benini conducts La Cenerentola for the first time at the Met. Earlier this season, he conducted L'Elisir d'Amore, the opera in which he made his debut with the company in 1998. He has appeared frequently at the Met, largely in the bel canto repertoire and in works of Verdi. Last season, Benini was on the podium for Norma, and next season he returns to conduct Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which he also led at the production's premiere in the 2006-2007 season, when it was transmitted worldwide Live in HD. The maestro, who is a native of Faenza, Italy, conducted Otto Schenk's new production of Don Pasquale (2006), as well as performances of Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Faust.

Live broadcasts around the world

La Cenerentola is being heard by millions of people around the world this season in movie theaters, on the radio, and via the Internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners. The May 9 matinee is the last performance of the season to be transmitted as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Thomas Hampson hosts the transmission, which is being sent to Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. Gary Halvorson is the HD director for La Cenerentola. The Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM channel 78 is broadcasting the premiere on May 1 as well as the performance on May 6. The performances on May 1 and 6 will also be available via RealNetworks internet streaming at the Met's web site, www.metopera.org.

Under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, the Met has a series of bold initiatives underway that are designed to broaden its audience and revitalize the company's repertory. The Met has made a commitment to presenting modern masterpieces alongside the classic repertory, with highly theatrical productions featuring the greatest opera stars in the world.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2008-09 season pays tribute to the company's extraordinary history on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, while also emphasizing the Met's renewed commitment to advancing the art form. The season features six new productions, 18 revivals, the final performances of Otto Schenk's production of Wagner's Ring cycle conducted by Levine, and two gala celebrations; the galas include the season-opening performance featuring Renée Fleming as well as a 125th anniversary celebration on March 15. New productions include the company premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic as well as the Met's first staged production of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust since 1906, Massenet's Thaïs, Puccini's La Rondine, Verdi's Il Trovatore, and Bellini's La Sonnambula.

The Met's recently announced 2009-10 season will feature eight new productions, four of which are Met premieres. Opening night will be a new production of Tosca starring Karita Mattila, conducted by Levine and directed by Luc Bondy. The four Met premieres are: Janá?ek's From the House of the Dead, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Patrice Chéreau, both in Met debuts; Verdi's Attila, conducted by Riccardo Muti in his Met debut; Shostakovich's The Nose, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed and designed by William Kentridge in his Met debut; and Rossini's Armida with Renée Fleming, directed by Mary Zimmerman. Other new productions are Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, conducted by Levine and directed by Bartlett Sher; Carmen with Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and directed by Richard Eyre, both in Met debuts; and Thomas's Hamlet with Natalie Dessay and Simon Keenlyside, conducted by Louis Langrée.

Building on its 77-year-old radio broadcast history - currently heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network - the Met now uses advanced media distribution platforms and state-of-the-art technology to attract new audiences and reach millions of opera fans around the world.

The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Met: Live in HD series reached more than 935,000 people in the 2007-08 season, more than the number of people who saw performances in the opera house. These performances began airing on PBS in March 2008, and nine of these HD performances are now available on DVD. The most recent, The Magic Flute, was released by the Met and is available at the newly renovated Met Opera Shop. The other eight are on the EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, and Decca labels. In the 2008-09 season, the HD series expanded to feature 11 live transmissions, starting with the Met's Opening Night Gala and spanning the entire season. The HD productions are seen this season in over 850 theaters in 36 countries around the world. Five new productions are featured, including the Met premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic. The Opening Night transmission was seen in the Americas only; the remaining ten high-definition productions are shown live worldwide on Saturdays through May 9 with encores scheduled at various times.

Live in HD in Schools, the Met's new program offering free opera transmissions to New York City schools in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, reached more than 7,000 public school students and teachers during the 2007-08 season. This season, Live in HD in Schools expanded to reach schools in 18 cities and communities nationwide.

Continuing its innovative use of electronic media to reach a global audience, the Metropolitan Opera recently introduced Met Player, a new subscription service that makes its extensive video and audio catalog of full-length performances available to the public for the first time online, and in exceptional, state-of-the-art quality. The new service currently offers 140 historic audio recordings, and more than 50 full-length opera videos are available, including over a dozen of the company's acclaimed The Met: Live in HD transmissions, known for their extraordinary sound and picture quality. New content, including HD productions and archival broadcasts, are added monthly.

Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Radio is a subscription-based audio entertainment service broadcasting both an unprecedented number of live performances each week throughout the Met's entire season, as well as rare historical performances, newly restored and remastered, spanning the Met's 77-year broadcast history.

In addition to providing audio recordings through the new Met on Rhapsody on-demand service, the Met also presents free live audio streaming of performances on its website once every week during the opera season with support from RealNetworks®.

The company's groundbreaking commissioning program in partnership with New York's Lincoln Center Theater (LCT) provides renowned composers and playwrights with the resources to create and develop new works at the Met and at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. The Met's partnership with LCT is part of the company's larger initiative to commission new operas from contemporary composers, present modern masterpieces alongside the classic repertory, and provide a venue for artists to nurture their work.

The Met has launched several audience development initiatives such as the company's Open House Dress Rehearsals, which are free and open to the public. This season's first was for La Damnation de Faust on November 4, and the second was for La Sonnambula on February 27. Just prior to beginning the current season, the Met presented a free performance of the Verdi Requiem on September 18, in tribute to the late Luciano Pavarotti. Other company initiatives include the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met which exhibits contemporary visual art; the new $25 Weekend Tickets program; the immensely successful Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Rush Ticket program; and an annual Holiday Series presentation for families. This season's special Holiday Presentation was Julie Taymor's production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, an abridged, English-language version of the opera which received four special matinee performances and one holiday evening performance as a way for families to celebrate the holiday season.