RIGOLETTO : Verdi
Wednesday – 03/20/2019 – 8 pm EDT
Luisotti; Sierra, Zaharia, Hymel, Frontali, Kocán
Verdi’s tragic jester returns in Michael Mayer’s neon-bedecked, Las Vegas–themed production. Baritones Roberto Frontali and George Gagnidze share the title role, and soprano Nadine Sierra reprises her portrayal of Gilda, the role that helped launch her now-blossoming Met career. Tenors Vittorio Grigolo, Francesco Demuro, Matthew Polenzani, and Stephen Costello share the role of the lascivious Duke, and Nicola Luisotti conducts.
SAMSON ET DALILA : Saint-Saens
Saturday – 03/23/2019 – 1 pm EDT
Elder; Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Naouri, Konieczny, Groissböck
Following triumphant performances in Aida and Adriana Lecouvreur earlier this season, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a ‘commanding … exhilarating’ (New York Times) performance as the seductive Dalila, opposite tenor Gregory Kunde, who sings Samson with ‘strong, focused tone and genuine nobility’ (New York Times). Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2014 for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, makes his Met debut directing a vivid staging of Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic, featuring a monumental setting for the last-act Temple of Dagon, where the hero crushes his Philistine enemies. Sir Mark Elder conducts the first new Met production of the work in 20 years.
