Roberto Alagna News

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.

The Met has announced that soprano Angela Gheorghiu has withdrawn from the first six performances of a new production of Bizet's Carmen for personal reasons. Gheorghiu will be replaced by El?na Garan?a, who sang the title role of La Cenerentola at the Met last spring to great acclaim; that production was transmitted to movie theaters worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series.

The Metropolitan Opera will present a free outdoor Summer HD Festival featuring ten of its award winning productions from the popular The Met: Live in HD series. The HD performances will be shown on a giant screen in front of the opera house in Lincoln Center Plaza for ten consecutive nights Saturday, August 29 through Monday, September 7.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

The Metropolitan Opera will offer a free weekend of unlimited access to Met Player, the subscription service that makes much of the company's extensive video and audio catalog of full-length performances available to the public online, in exceptional, state-of-the-art quality. The free preview begins at 5pm ET on Friday, May 1, and runs through midnight on Sunday, May 3.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

Donizetti's comic masterpiece L'Elisir d'Amore returns to the Met with Angela Gheorghiu reprising her acclaimed portrayal of Adina and three tenors singing the role of Nemorino for the first time with the company: Massimo Giordano, Rolando Villazón, and Joseph Calleja. Other members of the cast also making role debuts include Franco Vassallo as Belcore and Simone Alaimo as the quack Doctor Dulcamara.

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 125th anniversary year with a unique gala performance on March 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., featuring Met stars in recreations of historic classic productions and high points in the company's past. Music Director James Levine conducts the evening of 26 staged scenes that, with the use of projections, and scenic and costume recreations, will evoke the Met's illustrious history.

Two star tenors, Roberto Alagna and Jos? Cura, take on the challenge of singing the lead roles in both Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci when the classic double-bill returns to the Met's repertory. At the season premiere on March 19, Alagna sings Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana for the first time on any stage and Canio in Pagliacci in his Met role debut. Waltraud Meier joins him in the Mascagni work as Santuzza, along with Charles Taylor as Alfio. Leoncavallo's opera also features Nuccia Focile as Nedda, Alberto Mastromarino in his Met debut as Tonio, and Christopher Maltman in his company role debut as Silvio.

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).

After an absence of 82 years, Puccini's bittersweet romance La Rondine returns to the Met in a new production with a gala premiere performance on New Year's Eve. La Rondine stars Angela Gheorghiu as Magda, the Parisian socialite, and Roberto Alagna as Ruggero, her lover. Lisette Oropesa, Marius Brenciu, in his Met debut, and Samuel Ramey are the other principal singers. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Today, November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 125th anniversary year with a unique gala performance on March 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., featuring Met stars in recreations of historic classic productions and high points in the company's past. Music Director James Levine conducts the evening of 26 staged scenes that, with the use of projections, and scenic and costume recreations, will evoke the Met's illustrious history.

On November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.

Metropolitan Opera on SIRIUS Satellite Radio channel 78 launches its regular live broadcasts of the company's 2008-09 season with the Opening Night Gala starring Renée Fleming, which airs on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. The third season of Met Opera Radio on SIRIUS features four live broadcasts weekly as the Met celebrates its 125th anniversary with six new productions, including the company premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic, 18 revivals, and the season grand finale of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, conducted by Music Director James Levine.

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

National CineMedia (NCM) LLC, operator of the largest digital in-theatre network in North America for cinema advertising and alternative entertainment and events, and the Metropolitan Opera are proudly partnering to bring a third season of the critically-acclaimed The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD series transmitted live, in high-definition, to more than 440 movie theatres and performing arts centers in the United States.

Tickets for the third season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, go on sale to the general public on Friday August 22.

The Zeffirelli production of Aida, which was recorded in front of a live audience at Milan's La Scala in High Definition television format with Dolby Digital sound, was the premier performance in the venerable opera house's 2006-2007 Season. The production features the costumes of Maurizio Mellenotti and stars Roberto Alagna as Radames, Ildiko Komlosi as Amneris and Violeta Urmana in the title role. Riccardo Chailly conducts La Scala's orchestra, chorus and ballet company. This is the production in which Roberto Alagna angrily left the stage during the opera's second performance; the recording was made on opening night - the only one Alagna completed.

The Metropolitan Opera Presents Free Concert on Friday, June 20: 'Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park'