Verdi's Egyptian tragedy Aida, one of the most-performed operas in company history, will return to the Met stage October 30 for a 16-performance revival with rotating casts of acclaimed artists and rising stars. The initial performances will star Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, who made a notable Met debut in the role in 2012, as Aida; Olga Borodina in one of her best-known portrayals as the jealous princess Amneris; Marcello Giordani as the war hero Radamès, a role he first sang at the Met in 2012; Željko Lu?i? in his first-ever Met performances as Amonasro, Aida's father; Ukrainian bass Dmitri Belosselskiy in his Met role debut as the high priest Ramfis; and American bass Soloman Howard in his Met debut as the King. Italian tenor Antonello Palombi will make his Met debut as Radamès on November 22.
George Gagnidze will sing the role of Amonasro in five performances of Verdi's Aida this season, replacing the originally announced Andrzej Dobber, who has withdrawn from the performances. Gagnidze will sing Amonasro on December 26 and 29 and January 2, 5, and 10 matinee.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.
Puccini's enduring favorite, starring an exceptional trio of singing actors in the leading roles, returns to Great Performances at the Met today, March 9 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
Puccini's enduring favorite, starring an exceptional trio of singing actors in the leading roles, returns to Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 9 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.
Maybe next time around, the Metropolitan Opera's General Manager Peter Gelb will hire film director Quentin Tarantino to do a production of Puccini's TOSCA. With its sordid story, self-involved diva and torture-happy, sex-crazed police chief--based on a Sarah Bernhardt vehicle by Victorien Sardou--this is a story that the director of “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill” could sink his teeth into.
The grandeur of Italian opera Live in HD from the Met will feature Puccini's Tosca starring Patricia Racette and Sondra Radvanovsky on Saturday, November 9, at 12:55 p.m. at The Ridgefield Playhouse. Benjamin Britten stars in Alan Bennett's play The Habit of Art on Wednesday, November 20, at 6:30 p.m. Live in HD from London's National Theatre. For tickets ($25 adults, $20 seniors/members, $15 students, $18 each for all 10 in the series), call the box office at (203) 438-5795, or order online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Patricia Racette and Sondra Radvanovsky will reprise their acclaimed performances of one of the most famous roles in opera, the heroine of Puccini's Tosca, at the Met this season. Racette sings the role beginning tonight, October 29, opposite Roberto Alagna as Cavaradossi and George Gagnidze as Scarpia.
Patricia Racette and Sondra Radvanovsky will reprise their acclaimed performances of one of the most famous roles in opera, the heroine of Puccini's Tosca, at the Met this season. Racette sings the role beginning October 29, opposite Roberto Alagna as Cavaradossi and George Gagnidze as Scarpia. Radvanovsky takes the role on December 11, singing with Marcello Giordani as Cavaradossi and Gagnidze as Scarpia. Two Italian conductors, Riccardo Frizza and Marco Armiliato, lead this season's performances of Puccini's celebrated tragedy. On December 20, Portuguese soprano Elisabete Matos sings her first Met Tosca, and on December 17, Brazilian tenor Ricardo Tamura makes his Met debut as Cavaradossi. The November 9 matinee of Tosca, starring Racette, Alagna, and Gagnidze, will be transmitted live as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 1,950 theaters in 64 countries around the world.
The November 9 matinee of Tosca, starring Patricia Racette, Roberto Alagna, and George Gagnidze, will be transmitted live as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 1,950 theaters in 64 countries around the world. Thirteen million tickets have been sold to opera lovers worldwide.
On Monday, November 11, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 79th Annual Luncheon presents "Welcome Home, Jimmy!" to salute music directorJames Levine on his triumphant return to the Met podium. A perennial highlight of the opera season, the luncheon will bring together a host of artists who have collaborated with the preeminent conductor over the course of his long and celebrated Met tenure, as well as opera fans and an array of New York's society, business, and civic leaders. "Welcome Home, Jimmy!" will feature musical tributes by Dolora Zajick, "a mezzo in a class by herself" (New York Times); Thomas Hampson, "America's foremost baritone" (International Herald Tribune); and Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Eric Owens, all accompanied by the Met's Director of Music Administration, Craig Rutenberg. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Guild's education programs in New York City and throughout the country.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will feature 10 productions in the 2013-14 season, offering a significant portion of the Met season to opera lovers around the world.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will reach its widest-ever global audience in its eighth season, which begins on October 5 with a new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Met Music Director James Levine makes his highly-anticipated return to the screen with Verdi's Falstaff on December 14 and the first Live in HD performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte on April 26. The Live in HD series, the world's largest provider of alternative content, reaches more than 1,900 theaters in 64 countries, and offers subtitles in nine languages, including Swedish for the first time this season. To accommodate audience demand in Europe, more than 85 cinemas have been added to the HD network in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer's critically acclaimed new production of Verdi'sRigoletto, which moves the opera's tragic events from a decadent 16th-century Italian court to the glitzy, depraved setting of the Las Vegas strip circa 1960, will return to the Met stage on April 13. Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who made a much-heralded company debut in 2010, returns to the Met to sing the role of the Duke, presented in this production as an amoral lounge singer. Georgian baritone George Gagnidze sings Rigoletto, the Duke's world-weary jester, and rising American soprano Lisette Oropesa sings her first company performances as the innocent Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter and the Duke's victim. Venezuelan bass Enrico Giuseppe Iori makes his Met debut as the assassin-for-hire Sparafucile, and Spanish mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera sings the role of his seductive sister, Maddalena. Italian conductor Marco Armiliato returns to lead five performances of Verdi's towering drama. Mayer's production also features the work of debuting artists Christine Jones (set design), Susan Hilferty (costume design), Kevin Adams (lighting design), andSteven Hoggett (choreography).
The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will feature 10 productions in the 2013-14 season, offering a significant portion of the Met season to opera lovers around the world.