Teresa Stratas News

Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel returns to the Met beginning December 14 as this year's special holiday presentation.

A new production of Bizet's Carmen, directed by Richard Eyre and starring El?na Garan?a in the title role and Roberto Alagna as Don José, premieres at a New Year's Eve gala performance. Garan?a makes her Met role debut as the gypsy femme fatale, reuniting with Alagna following their recent success in these parts at London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

A new production of Bizet's Carmen, directed by Richard Eyre and starring El?na Garan?a in the title role and Roberto Alagna as Don José, premieres at a New Year's Eve gala performance. Garan?a makes her Met role debut as the gypsy femme fatale, reuniting with Alagna following their recent success in these parts at London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel returns to the Met beginning December 14 as this year's special holiday presentation.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel returns to the Met beginning December 14 as this year's special holiday presentation.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles.

The Met's new production of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, premieres on December 3.

Patricia Racette is the first soprano since Teresa Stratas 20 years ago to sing all three leading soprano roles in Puccini's Il Trittico at the Met. Comprised of three one-act operas, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, Il Trittico returns to the Met in the production by Jack O'Brien that was a popular and critical hit at its premiere in 2007.

Broadway musical theatre icon Carol Lawrence will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Sunday, October 18, 2009 at a 3:00 pm Gala concert in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, followed by Cocktails and Dinner at 6:30 pm at the New York Athletic Club.

Leo Janacek's final opera, From the House of the Dead, has its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 12 in a new production by celebrated director Patrice Chereau, making his U.S. opera debut.

Franco Zeffirelli's glittering production of Puccini's Turandot returns on October 28 with Maria Guleghina in the title role and Marcello Giordani as Calàf, both singing these demanding roles for the first time in their Met careers. Marina Poplavskaya and Samuel Ramey make company role debuts as Liù and Timur respectively, and conductor Andris Nelsons makes his Met debut.

Broadway musical theatre icon Carol Lawrence will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Sunday, October 18, 2009 at a 3:00 pm Gala concert in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, followed by Cocktails and Dinner at 6:30 pm at the New York Athletic Club.

Robert Lepage's imaginative production of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, which premiered last season to sold out houses, returns to the Met on October 23. Three stars sing their roles for the first time at the Met: Olga Borodina as Marguerite, Ramón Vargas as Faust, and Ildar Abdrazakov as Méphistophélès.

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.

A memorial service has been set for American conductor and musical theatre archivist John McGlinn. The public service will take place at Merkin Hall (129 West 67th Street) at 2pm on McGlinn's birthday, September 18.

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.

A memorial service has been set for American conductor and musical theatre archivist John McGlinn. The public service will take place at Merkin Hall (129 West 67th Street) at 2pm on McGlinn's birthday, September 18.

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.