Matthew Polenzani News

Upon the conclusion of the 20th year of its celebrated recital series, which was marked with a gala in April featuring some of opera's most prominent American and Canadian stars, the Foundation announces its 2016-17 season of events.

Fathom Events and The Metropolitan Opera present "The Met: Live in HD' 2016 Summer Encores," a series of four encore performances from past Live in HD seasons in select U.S. cinemas nationwide.

Carnegie Hall today announced that conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct all three scheduled concerts next season by The MET Orchestra in May and June 2017. Mr. Salonen steps in for James Levine, whose withdrawal from these programs was announced last week by the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall.

Mario Zeffiri will sing the title role in this evening's performance of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, replacing Matthew Polenzani, who is ill.

“The Tudor Trilogy” --putting together Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA, MARIA STUARDA and ROBERTO DEVEREUX--was fabricated to light Beverly Sills' fire as “America's Queen of Opera” at the old New York City Opera. This season, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was charged with bringing the trio of operas to the Met for the first time and, in completing this hat trick, she proved herself opera royalty indeed.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani--he of the refined singing, elegant deportment and serious nature--is having a great season at the Met, with major roles in a pair of new productions. First, he was Nadir, whose love for the priestess Leila (Diana Damrau) tempts her to give up her vows in Bizet's LES PECHEURS DE PERLES (THE PEARL FISHERS). Now he's working his mojo on no less than Elisabetta (Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England), in the new production of Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX at the Met, premiering March 24.

Sondra Radvanovsky completes her season-long quest to sing the leading roles in all three operas in Donizetti's Tudor queens trilogy on March 24, when she stars as Queen Elizabeth I in the Met premiere of Roberto Devereux. Radvanovsky gave acclaimed performances as Anne Boleyn in Anna Bolena and Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda earlier this season. Her performances in Roberto Devereux will make her the first singer since Beverly Sills in the 1970s to perform all three roles in a single New York season.

Lincoln Center and Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss announced today the 50th Mostly Mozart Festival, one of the world's major music festivals and a beloved summer New York tradition, with events taking place across Lincoln Center July 22-August 27, 2016.

The winners of the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of an audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. 

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS continues the 2015-16 Michael Palm Series of house concerts in New York City on Saturday, February 27, 2016, with a performance featuring a stellar quartet of vocalists: bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, soprano Anita Hartig, baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, and tenor Matthew Polenzani. Held at the magnificent Tribeca loft of Simon Yates and Kevin Roon, the event begins at 6:30pm with wine and hors d'oeuvres, followed by the concert at 7:30pm. Tickets may be purchased online at classicalaction.org or by calling 212-997-7717.

One more BOHEME? Yet another TOSCA? How about BARBIERE redux? Sometimes the standard repertoire of opera companies seems too standard. That's why it was good to hear that the Met was mounting Bizet's LES PECHEURS DE PERLES for the first time in a century, as a showcase for one of its top divas, Diana Damrau with tenor Matthew Polenzani, one of the company's secret treasures.

The runaway sleeper hit of this year's Metropolitan Opera season comes to Peterborough, New Hampshire this Saturday, January 16th at 1:00pm. The Met Live's production of Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles ("The Pearl Fishers") will be shown LIVE from New York on the Players' big hi-def digital screen.

The Met's acclaimed new production of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been staged by the company in a century, will be transmitted on Live in HD for the first time on Saturday, January 16 at 12:55pm ET. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and directed by Penny Woolcock, Bizet's sweeping romance tells the story of a beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand. Diana Damrau leads the cast as the priestess Leïla, opposite Matthew Polenzanias Nadir, Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga, and Nicolas Testé as the high priest Nourabad. Highlights of the score include 'Au fond du temple saint,' perhaps the best-known duet for two male voices in the operatic repertory.

A new production of Bizet's LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been seen at the Met in nearly a century, opens in a new production this New Year's Eve.

A new production of Bizet's LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been seen at the Met in nearly a century, opens in a new production this New Year's Eve.

 DALLAS, TX, December 8, 2015 – The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.

The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.

The Capitol Center for the Arts is pleased to announce that it will present 11 productions in next season's Met: Live in HD series, beginning with Verdi's Il Trovatore on Saturday, October 3, at 12:55pm. Single tickets for this series are on sale now for $26 Adults; $22 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $15 Students. Season subscriptions are also available at $234 Adults; $198 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $135 students.

?The 2015-16 season marks two milestones for the George London Foundation for Singers, which has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971:  the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition, which gives George London Awards to young singers each year; and the 20th year of its acclaimed recital series, which presents pairs of singers, both established stars and recent George London Award winners, at The Morgan Library & Museum.