THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19290212
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19290428
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
THE FIRST EMPEROR:Dun
Original Air Date: 01/13/2007
Dun; Domingo, Futral, Groves, Tian, DeYoung
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19290744
This is Domingo’s vehicle and the broadcast and HD performance from its premiere season. Sony issued a commercial DVD. Better to watch than listen to. I enjoyed seeing the production, and while it’s not on my weekly rotation, it held my interest more than Glass’ The Voyage. The simultaneous broadcast/HD moviecast is available on commercial DVD and MOoD (Metropolitan Opera on Demand).
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 10/13/1995
Levine; Domingo, Fleming, Morris, Croft
MOD Video SID.19320316
This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 10/13/1995
Levine; Domingo, Fleming, Morris, Croft
MOD Video SID.19320532
This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 10/13/1995
Levine; Domingo, Fleming, Morris, Croft
MOD Video SID.19330101
This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.This performance is also available as a DVD from Deutsche Grammophon. This was Fleming’s first big success at the Met, and she is a splendid Desdemona.
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AIDA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 10/06/2018
Luisotti; Netrebko, Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Kelsey, Belosselskiy, Speedo Green
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19349992
In what should be a highlight of the new season, soprano Anna Netrebko sings her first Met Aida, going toe-to-toe with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris. Later in the season, a second star-studded cast takes over, with Sondra Radvanovsky and Dolora Zajick as the leading ladies.Tenors Aleksandrs Antonenko and Yonghoon Lee alternate as Radamès, and Nicola Luisotti and Plácido Domingo take the podium for the Met’s monumental production. Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington Revival a gift of Viking Cruises
CARMEN:Bizet
Original Air Date: 01/16/2010
Nezet-Seguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Tahu Rhodes
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19349993
RWW Review: Overall, I give the afternoon an A; not that there weren’t things to NOT like, but that I felt the balance of elements was extremely satisfying, and you understand why Carmen can survive anything from Spike Jones (set in a bubble gum factory decades before regie theatre was thought of) to Carmen Jones to whatever some crazy director somewhere in the EU is cooking up. What a score, even if you’re listening mostly to Choudens and Guiraud recitatives. The melodies, the characters, the everything. Almost every time I listen/watch Carmen at home, I am overwhelmed anew; in the theatre its length (no, not Wagnerian, but it isn’t short and as it used to be with 3 intervals with work the next day etc, etc. often the whole was not the sum of its parts. Today, it emphatically was. I have not yet seen the production in the house, and probably won’t be able to see the original cast when I do.
Now to the particulars. I loved Elina Garanca; her voice to me is both fruity and clear. Her middle and upper voice are technically very satisfying and if there is a little weakness at the bottom in a theare the size of the Met, she has baby blue eyes and a command of the role that clearly put her as one of my very favorite Carmens (never saw Stevens, but Resnik (Dallas, 1963 my first), Bumbry, Verrett, Borodina, De Los Angeles (Newark, and I enjoyed), Crespin, Horne, Baltsa are the ones most worthy of mention. Garanca wowed the Paramus audience besides me as well.
Alagna is such a theatre performer that you go with him even when everything is not perfect. He is a very fine Jose, had to make the high climax of the Flower song pure falsetto to avoid a crack, but overall one of my favorite Joses. That he is arguably the best with the text of any doesn’t hurt, and visually he’s quite a specimen at 47. Carmen has to give him up because he’s immature not because he isn’t the hottest guy in Seville.
Frittoli is a singer I like, having adored her Fiordiligi in the house, many
Desdemonas, and her wrenching Suor Angelica. Her vibrato is always 10% too “loose” to be ideal, but when she needs to get out a big climax, she’s right there, only Freni and Lidia Marimpietri (Dallas, 1963) have made a greater impact.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes was a late (10 am this morning) replacement for Kwiecien who was ill. Though he is often portrayed as a bari hunk, he looked skinny in the costume, and I wasn’t much impressed. The vocal if not stylistic standard is Merrill. The best Escamillos for me (all seen live) Jose van Dam, Sam Ramey, Rene Pape, Norman Treigle (also in that first Carmen). I’ve heard and seen worse Escamillos than Rhodes, MUCH worse.
Conducting. I liked Yannick Nezet-Seguin very much. The musical preparation was outstanding. He started the first act prelude like a house of fire, but as he was accompanying the singers, came into more traditional tempi; he got a nice Gallic tang out of the orchestra. Where the preparation showed was in the many numbers that mix in the quintet of smugglers with chorus and 1 or more of the principals. Elizabeth Caballero as Frasquita sounded VERY good; I want to hear more of her, but the ensemble was really terrific today.
I have to cut this short, but except for the final tableau , i found the production very satisfactory, and easily the best visual Carmen of my experience (i liked John Bury’s sets in the Peter Hall production but not a lot else). I didn’t mind the dancing (might not feel so on repeated viewings) This is the 5th Met production I’ve seen (I alas never saw the Guthrie which showcased Stevens and Tucker (plus on some occasions others, but mostly RS and RT for the whole of the 50s.”
RODELINDA:Handel
Original Air Date: 05/06/2006
Summers; Fleming, Scholl, van Rensburg, Blythe, Dumaux, Relyea
MOD Video SID.19350105
This performance in the second season of the production and Scholl’s first appearance at the Met. There was a third broadcast which includes an HD moviecast of Rodelinda with Fleming and Scholl under Bicket (whom I prefer to Summers) but the intervening 4 years do not benefit either Fleming or Scholl. This video is available also in MOoD so you can compare for yourself. I like Scholl much more than David Daniels so this is my preferred Rodelinda.
Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/04/1982
Bonynge; Sutherland, Kraus, Elvira, Morris
MOD Video SID.19350211
Most people are very familiar with the telecast from November 13, 1982 which is on MOoD. The telecast which is also available on DVD features Plishka instead of Morris, and while Sutherland (age 56) and Kraus (55) are certainly veterans they have a lot to offer. MOD is video from 11-13-82 performance with Plishka for Morris
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES:Poulenc
Original Air Date: 05/11/2019
Nézet-Séguin; Leonard, Pieczonka, Morley, Cargill, Mattila, Portillo, Croft
Live in HD SID.19359992
SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Original Air Date: 10/20/2018
Elder; Garanca, Algana, Naouri, Azizov, Belosselskiy
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19359993
RODELINDA:Handel
Original Air Date: 05/06/2006
Summers; Fleming, Scholl, van Rensburg, Blythe, Dumaux, Relyea
MOD Video SID.19350321
This performance in the second season of the production and Scholl’s first appearance at the Met. There was a third broadcast which includes an HD moviecast of Rodelinda with Fleming and Scholl under Bicket (whom I prefer to Summers) but the intervening 4 years do not benefit either Fleming or Scholl. This video is available also in MOoD so you can compare for yourself. I like Scholl much more than David Daniels so this is my preferred Rodelinda.
Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/04/1982
Bonynge; Sutherland, Kraus, Elvira, Morris
MOD Video SID.19350427
Most people are very familiar with the telecast from November 13, 1982 which is on MOoD. The telecast which is also available on DVD features Plishka instead of Morris, and while Sutherland (age 56) and Kraus (55) are certainly veterans they have a lot to offer. MOD is video from 11-13-82 performance with Plishka for Morris
CENDRILLON:Massenet
Original Air Date: 04/28/2018
de Billy; DiDonato, Coote, Kim, Blythe, Naouri
Live in HD SID.19359994
?pubId=610394115001&videoId=5839999932001
AIDA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 10/02/2018
Luisotti; Netrebko, Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Kelsey, Belosselskiy, Green
SID.19350535
In what should be a highlight of the new season, soprano Anna Netrebko sings her first Met Aida, going toe-to-toe with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris. Later in the season, a second star-studded cast takes over, with Sondra Radvanovsky and Dolora Zajick as the leading ladies.Tenors Aleksandrs Antonenko and Yonghoon Lee alternate as Radamès, and Nicola Luisotti and Plácido Domingo take the podium for the Met’s monumental production. Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington Revival a gift of Viking Cruises
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST:Puccini
Original Air Date: 10/04/2018
Armiliato; Westbroek, Eyvazov, Bosi, Lucic, Simpson, Rose, Gradus
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19359995
Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov also sings some performances. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.
Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/04/1982
Bonynge; Sutherland, Kraus, Elvira, Morris
MOD Video SID.19350637
Most people are very familiar with the telecast from November 13, 1982 which is on MOoD. The telecast which is also available on DVD features Plishka instead of Morris, and while Sutherland (age 56) and Kraus (55) are certainly veterans they have a lot to offer. MOD is video from 11-13-82 performance with Plishka for Morris
RODELINDA:Handel
Original Air Date: 05/06/2006
Summers; Fleming, Scholl, van Rensburg, Blythe, Dumaux, Relyea
MOD Video SID.19350638
This performance in the second season of the production and Scholl’s first appearance at the Met. There was a third broadcast which includes an HD moviecast of Rodelinda with Fleming and Scholl under Bicket (whom I prefer to Summers) but the intervening 4 years do not benefit either Fleming or Scholl. This video is available also in MOoD so you can compare for yourself. I like Scholl much more than David Daniels so this is my preferred Rodelinda.
LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 03/02/2019
Mazzola; Yende, Blythe, Camarena, Corbelli, Muraro
Live in HD SID.19359996
Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks—including the show-stopping tenor aria “Ah! Mes amis … Pour mon âme,” with its nine high Cs. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. And in an exciting piece of casting, stage and screen icon Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp. Enrique Mazzola conducts. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/14/2018
de Billy; Yoncheva, Beczala, Domingo, Vinogradov, Belosselskiy, Petrova
Live in HD SID.19359997
Plácido Domingo adds yet another role to his legendary Met career in this rarely performed Verdi gem, a heart-wrenching tragedy of fatherly love. Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role opposite Piotr Beczała in the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years. Bertrand de Billy conducts. Production a gift of Catherine and Ephraim Gildor Revival a gift of Rolex and Mrs. Jayne Wrightsman
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360213
This was a basically successful Met commission and beautifully cast and prepared. Best experienced with the video from a telecast the next week), which is available from Levine’s 40th anniversary DVD package and in MOoD. The video really helps the work along. . Commissioned by the Met and with a libretto by William M. Hoffman, the work imagines an opera put on by the ghost of Beaumarchais for the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the other spectral residents of Versailles. The sold-out, seven-performance premiere run featured an all-star cast that included Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Renée Fleming, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Marilyn Horne.
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360529
This was a basically successful Met commission and beautifully cast and prepared. Best experienced with the video from a telecast the next week), which is available from Levine’s 40th anniversary DVD package and in MOoD. The video really helps the work along. . Commissioned by the Met and with a libretto by William M. Hoffman, the work imagines an opera put on by the ghost of Beaumarchais for the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the other spectral residents of Versailles. The sold-out, seven-performance premiere run featured an all-star cast that included Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Renée Fleming, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Marilyn Horne.
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
MOD Video SID.19360745
This was a basically successful Met commission and beautifully cast and prepared. Best experienced with the video from a telecast the next week), which is available from Levine’s 40th anniversary DVD package and in MOoD. The video really helps the work along. . Commissioned by the Met and with a libretto by William M. Hoffman, the work imagines an opera put on by the ghost of Beaumarchais for the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the other spectral residents of Versailles. The sold-out, seven-performance premiere run featured an all-star cast that included Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Renée Fleming, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Marilyn Horne.
PORGY AND BESS
George Gershwin Dubose and Dorothy Heyward, Ira Gershwin
Robertson; Blue, Schultz, Moore, Graves, Ballentine, Owens, Walker, Speedo Green
OAD 9/23/2019 – Season Premiere, 2019-2020 Opening Night
SID.19390106
One of America’s favorite operas returns to the Met for the first time in nearly 30 years. James Robinson’s stylish production transports audiences to Catfish Row on the Charleston waterfront, vibrant with the music, dancing, emotion, and heartbreak of its inhabitants. “If you’re going to stage Gershwin’s opera, this is how,” raved the Guardian when the new production premiered in London in 2018. David Robertson conducts a dynamic cast, featuring the sympathetic duo of Eric Owens and Angel Blue in the title roles
The worldwide copyrights in the works of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for this presentation are licensed by the Gershwin family. GERSHWIN is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises. Porgy and Bess is a registered trademark of Porgy and Bess Enterprises. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; and English National Opera Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund and Douglas Dockery Thomas
MANON Massenet
Benini: Oropesa, Fabiano, Bosi, Rucinski, Polegato, Youn
OAD 9/24/2019 Season Premiere SID.19390212
Program
Exhilarating soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as the irresistible title character, the tragic beauty who yearns for the finer things in life, in Laurent Pelly’s revealing production. Tenor Michael Fabiano is the besotted Chevalier des Grieux, whose desperate love for Manon proves their undoing. Maurizio Benini conducts Massenet’s sensual score.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund
VICTORY LAP Interview with Lisette Oropesa from metopera.org
MACBETH Verdi
Armiliato; Netrebko, Pirozzi, Polenzani, Lucic, Abdrazakov
OAD 9/25/2019 Season Premiere
SID.19390319 PROGRAM
Soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation when she made her Met role debut as Lady Macbeth in 2014. Tonight, she returns to Verdi’s gripping Shakespeare adaptation. Baritone Željko Lučić, who starred in the 2007 premiere of Adrian Noble’s evocative production, sings the title role. Marco Armiliato conducts a cast that also features tenor Matthew Polenzani as Macduff and bass Ildar Abdrazakov as Banquo.
Production a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone Additional funding from Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller; Hermione Foundation, Laura Sloate, Trustee; and The Gilbert S. Kahn & John J. Noffo Kahn Endowment Fund Revival a gift of Rolex
[Note: Placido Domingo was scheduled to sing MacBeth but withdrew from his appearances in this opera and at the MET on 9-24-19]
Photos: MET OPERA
HAMLET:Thomas
Original Air Date: 03/27/2010
Langrée; Keenlyside, Petersen, Larmore, Morris, Spence
MOD Video SID.19390320
This is the only Met broadcast of the Thomas work. Keenlyside has a commercial DVD in the same production with Dessay from Barcelona 2004. Petersen was a late substitute for Dessay for the whole run. Larmoreis especially vivid as Gertrude, part of her movement into dramatic mezzo/soprano parts.