Alan Held News

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts calendar of events for the fall months has just been released. All events are subject to change without notice.

Washington National Opera (WNO), under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, presents two concert performances of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung, November 7 and 15 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

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.

Tickets for the fourth season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's popular, award-winning series of live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, are now on sale at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater.

The Metropolitan Opera's Opening Night Gala performance of Puccini's Tosca, which kicks off the Met season on Monday, September 21, at 6:30 p.m., will be transmitted onto multiple screens in Times Square and to a large screen at Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza where the live performance will be experienced by thousands of people for free.

Tickets for the fourth season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's popular, award-winning series of live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, are now on sale to the general public in the U.S. The 2009-10 season, featuring nine live opera transmissions, kicks off on Saturday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m. ET with a new production of Puccini's Tosca starring Karita Mattila.

The Metropolitan Opera's fourth season of free final dress rehearsals begins on September 17 with its new, opening night production of Puccini's Tosca starring Karita Mattila. Met Music Director James Levine conducts, and noted European theater director Luc Bondy makes his Met debut with this production.

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.

In the Met's new staging of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Joseph Calleja will sing the title role, replacing Rolando Villazón, and Alan Held will sing the roles of the four villains, replacing René Pape.

Washington National Opera, under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, opens its monumental production of Siegfried, running for five performances, May 2 to 17 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Washington National Opera, under the leadership of General Director Placido Domingo, opens its monumental production of Siegfried, running for five performances, May 2 to 17 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. In this new production, a company premiere conducted by Michael Gittler, acclaimed director Francesca Zambello sets Wagner's tale within the context of the American experience.

Washington National Opera, under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, opens its monumental production of Siegfried, running for five performances, May 2 to 17 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Washington National Opera, under the leadership of General Director Placido Domingo, opens its monumental production of Siegfried, running for five performances, May 2 to 17 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. In this new production, a company premiere conducted by Michael Gittler, acclaimed director Francesca Zambello sets Wagner's tale within the context of the American experience.

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).

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.