MEFISTOFELE : Boito
Original Air Date: 11/19/2018
Cast: Colaneri; Meade, Fabiano, Van Horn, Check
SID.18470000
Live Broadcast * Program
The spectacular Robert Carsen production returns to the Met for the first time since 2000, with bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the diabolical title character, tenor Michael Fabiano as Faust, and soprano Angela Meade as Margherita. Mefistofele is the celebrated and only completed opera by Arrigo Boito—who famously collaborated with Verdi on the libretti for Otello and Falstaff.
Production co-owned by the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco
OperaProduction a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Robertson, Jr. and Mrs. and
Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr.
Additional funding by the Rose and Robert Edelman Foundation, Inc.
Puccini
Original Air Date: 01/16/1982
Levine; Stratas, Carreras, Scotto, Stilwell, Morris
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18470315
Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/01/1980
Patanè; Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Peters, Payne
MOD Video SID.18470317
Puccini
Original Air Date: 01/16/1982
Levine; Stratas, Carreras, Scotto, Stilwell, Morris
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18470427
IL TRITTICO : Puccini
Original Air Date: 11/23/2018
Cast: de Billy; Wagner, Blythe, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Muraro, Opolais, McKay, Blythe, Mkhitaryan, Blythe, Ayan, Domingo, Muraro
SID.18470000
Live Broadcast
Jack O’Brien’s epic production of Puccini’s triple bill features first-class casting: tenor Marcelo Álvarez and soprano Amber Wagner are the illicit lovers of Il Tabarro; soprano Kristine Opolais sings the shattering title role of Suor Angelica; and the ageless Plácido Domingo takes an unusual comedic turn in the baritone title role of Gianni Schicchi. The performances mark the centennial of the work’s world premiere at the Met. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
Production a gift of Karen and Kevin Kennedy
Additional funding from the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa, The Annenberg Foundation, Hermione Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller, and M. Beverly and Robert G. Bartner
Puccini
Original Air Date: 01/16/1982
Levine; Stratas, Carreras, Scotto, Stilwell, Morris
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18470746
Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/01/1980
Patanè; Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Peters, Payne
MOD Video SID.18470749
Zandonai
Original Air Date: 04/07/1984
Levine; Scotto, Domingo, MacNeil, Lewis
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18480212
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES : Bizet
Original Air Date: 11/28/2018
Cast: Villaume; Yende, Camarena, Kwiecien, Testé
Media: Live Broadcast SID.18480000
Penny Woolcock’s breathtaking production, a highlight of the 2015–16 season, makes its much awaited return with an all-star cast. Soprano Pretty Yende is the beautiful priestess Leïla, with tenor Javier Camarena and baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as rivals for her forbidden love. Emmanuel Villaume conducts Bizet’s sensual score.
Co-production originally created by English National Opera
Production a gift of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa
Additional funding from The Annenberg Foundation; Mr. William R. Miller, in memory of Irene D. Miller; and American Express
Zandonai
Original Air Date: 04/07/1984
Levine; Scotto, Domingo, MacNeil, Lewis
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18480428
Zandonai
Original Air Date: 04/07/1984
Levine; Scotto, Domingo, MacNeil, Lewis
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18480531
MEFISTOFELE : Boito
Original Air Date: 11/08/2018
Cast: Rizzi; Meade, Fabiano, Van Horn, Check
SID.18480000
Live Broadcast –Program 120118-mefistofele
First Intermission
Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Michael Fabiano
Host Mary Jo Heath interviews General Manager Peter Gelb
Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Chorus Master Donald Palumbo
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Christian Van Horn
Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Jennifer Check and Angela Meade
Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is interviewed by Host Mary Jo Heath
The spectacular Robert Carsen production returns to the Met for the first time since 2000, with bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the diabolical title character, tenor Michael Fabiano as Faust, and soprano Angela Meade as Margherita. Mefistofele is the celebrated and only completed opera by Arrigo Boito—who famously collaborated with Verdi on the libretti for Otello and Falstaff.
Production co-owned by the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco
OperaProduction a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Robertson, Jr. and Mrs. and
Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr.
Additional funding by the Rose and Robert Edelman Foundation, Inc.
LA TRAVIATA : Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/04/2018
Cast: Nézet-Séguin; Damrau, Flórez, Kelsey
Live Broadcast Program
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in his debut as Met Opera Music Director, conducts Michael Mayer’s richly textured new production, featuring a dazzling 18th-century setting that changes with the seasons. Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine, Violetta, and tenor Juan Diego Flórez returns to the Met for the first time in five seasons to sing the role of Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover. Baritone Quinn Kelsey is Alfredo’s father, Germont, who destroys their love. Later performances feature Anita Hartig, Stephen Costello, Artur Ruciński, and Plácido Domingo.
Production a gift of Eva-Marie and Ray Berry / The Paiko Foundation
Major additional funding from Mercedes T. Bass, Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone, and Rolex
Gounod
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18490317
Bizet
Original Air Date: 01/16/2010
Nezet-Seguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Tahu Rhodes
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18490422
Bizet
Original Air Date: 01/16/2010
Nezet-Seguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Tahu Rhodes
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18490427
Gounod
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18490533
IL TRITTICO : Puccini
de Billy; Wagner, Blythe, Álvarez, Gagnidze, Muraro, Opolais, McKay, Blythe, Mkhitaryan, Blythe, Ayan, Domingo, Muraro
Live Saturday Matinee Broadcast – Program 120818-Trittico
First Intermission
Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Amber Wagner
TOLL BROTHERS – METROPOLITAN OPERA QUIZ
Guest Artist: Morris Robinson
Host: Gerald Martin Moore
Panelists: Suzanne Martinucci, Rob Marx, and Jonathan Tolins
Feature: Puccini/Il Trittico Musical Language w/host Mary Jo Heath
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Kristine Opolais about Suor Angellica; Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Stephanie Blythe Suor Angellica and Gianni Schicchi; Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Diana Damrau about La Traviata; Feature: Domingo – 50th Anniversary at the Met; Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Plácido Domingo
Jack O’Brien’s epic production of Puccini’s triple bill features first-class casting: tenor Marcelo Álvarez and soprano Amber Wagner are the illicit lovers of Il Tabarro, with baritone George Gagnidze as the spurned husband; soprano Kristine Opolais sings the shattering title role of Suor Angelica, alongside mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the Principessa; and the ageless Plácido Domingo takes an unusual comedic turn in the baritone title role of Gianni Schicchi. The performances mark the centennial of the work’s world premiere at the Met. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
Production a gift of Karen and Kevin Kennedy
Additional funding from the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa, The Annenberg Foundation, Hermione Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller, and M. Beverly and Robert G. Bartner
Bizet
Original Air Date: 01/16/2010
Nezet-Seguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Tahu Rhodes
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18490743
Gounod
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18500101
LA BOHÈME : Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/10/2018
Cast: Gaffigan; Car, Phillips, Grigolo, Dupuis, Arrey, Rose, Maxwell
LIVE Broadcast PROGRAM
“A thrilling La Bohème … radiating warmth … luxury cast” (New York Times). Puccini’s timeless masterpiece of love and loss features two casts of young stars. Sopranos Nicole Car (in her highly anticipated Met debut) and Ailyn Pérez share the role of the ill-fated Mimì, opposite tenors Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano as the ardent poet Rodolfo. After a celebrated Met debut as Mimì in 2017, Angel Blue returns as the spitfire Musetta, and Etienne Dupuis (in his Met debut) and Lucas Meachem share the role of Marcello. James Gaffigan conducts.
Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington
SIMON BOCCANEGRA Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/29/1984
Levine; Milnes, Tomowa-Sintow, Moldoveanu, Plishka, Clark
SID.18500210
The main attraction here is Tomowa-Sintow who has only 7 Met broadcasts. This performance is also available on DVD. This performance lacks a certain spark, but the singing is very solid.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/29/1984
Levine; Milnes, Tomowa-Sintow, Moldoveanu, Plishka, Clark
SID.18500529
The main attraction here is Tomowa-Sintow who has only 7 Met broadcasts. This performance is also available on DVD. This performance lacks a certain spark, but the singing is very solid.
OTELLO : Verdi
Dudamel; Yoncheva, Johnson Cano, Skelton (cancelled), Tanner (role debut), Dolgov, Lucic, Morris
SEASON PREMIERE – Live Broadcast
SYNOPSIS – PROGRAM
MET OPERA PRESS RELEASE: Carl Tanner will sing the title role in Verdi’s Otello in tonight’s season premiere performance, replacing Stuart Skelton, who is ill. American tenor Carl Tanner makes his Met role debut as Otello. He made his Met debut as Dick Johnson in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West in 2010, followed by performances as Radamès in Verdi’s Aida and Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Recent performances have included Radamès at Washington National Opera, Otello at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and Luigi in Puccini’s Il Tabarro at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He was seen earlier this season singing the title role of Otello at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and at the Savonlinna Festival in Finland.
Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel makes his Met debut leading Verdi’s towering Shakespearean masterpiece, in the first revival of Bartlett Sher’s gripping 2015 production. The cast includes dynamic tenor Stuart Skelton in the title role*, star soprano Sonya Yoncheva as the devoted but doomed Desdemona, and outstanding baritone Željko Lučić as the treacherous Iago.
*(cancelled for opening night, replaced by Carl Tanner)
Production a gift of Jacqueline Desmarais, in memory of Paul G. Desmarais Sr.
Revival a gift of Rolex
LA TRAVIATA : Verdi
Cast: Nézet-Séguin; Damrau, Flórez, Kelsey
Live in HD
First Intermission
Backstage Pass: HD Host Anita Rachvelishvili interviews Juan Diego Floréz
TOLL BROTHERS – METROPOLITAN OPERA QUIZ
Guest Artist: Bartlett Sher Host: Gerald Martin Moore; Panelists: Neal Goren, Roger Pines, and Melanie Spector
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass: HD Host Anita Rachvelishvili interviews Diana Damrau
Backstage Pass: HD Host Anita Rachvelishvili interviews Quinn Kelsey
Radio Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Erin Morley about Magic Flute
Backstage Pass: General Manager Peter Gelb interviews Music Director Yannick Nézet-SéguinRAM
19th-century setting that changes with the seasons. Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine, Violetta, and tenor Juan Diego Flórez returns to the Met for the first time since 2015 to sing the role of Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover. Baritone Quinn Kelsey is Alfredo’s father, Germont, who destroys their love. Later performances feature Anita Hartig, Stephen Costello, Artur Ruciński, and Plácido Domingo.
Production a gift of The Paiko Foundation
Major additional funding from Mercedes T. Bass, Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone, and Rolex
SIMON BOCCANEGRA Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/29/1984
Levine; Milnes, Tomowa-Sintow, Moldoveanu, Plishka, Clark
SID.18500747
The main attraction here is Tomowa-Sintow who has only 7 Met broadcasts. This performance is also available on DVD. This performance lacks a certain spark, but the singing is very solid.
Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/14/1985
Levine; Raimondi, Battle, Vaness, Allen, von Stade
MOD VideoMOD Audio SID.18510213
This performance surfaced in its video format both on MOoD, and in the Levine 40th anniversary DVD box. This is a Ponnelle production, and has its usual pluses and minuses. Vaness misses just a bit of superstar quality (her Fiordiligi and Donna Anna are more distinctive).
Raimondi is not my favorite singer, but Levine is at his best in Mozart and the ensemble is very strong. I’ve enjoyed re-acquainting myself with this performance over the last year and have played it several times. This is his first season of Figaro at the Met, an opera he would conduct more than 77 times in 3 new productions (Ponnelle, Jonathan Miller, Richard Eyre.). Amazingly 3 of the matinee broadcasts have not been done again.
For the record: March 21, 1992 features Upshaw , Schuman, Von Stade, Furlanetto, Hampson, Moll December 5, 1998 features Bonney/Guyer, Lott, Mentzer, Croft, Terfel Feb. 12, 2005 features Rost, Watson, Perez, Relyea, Kwiecien.
One run of Nozze with Levine was not broadcast and that featured Dorothea Roschmann and Anja Harteros in their Met debuts. I remember these performances very well, and in the current Gelb/Sirius era, we would have had at least one if not a couple of these on the radio, The 1992 would be especially welcome for the Furlanetto/Hampson combination (which is also on their complete DG recording).
THE MAGIC FLUTE : Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/29/2018
Cast: Bicket; Morley, Lewek, Bliss, Ryan, Gunn, Walker, Robinson
SID.18510000
Now a holiday tradition, Julie Taymor’s beloved production of Mozart’s enchanting fairy tale returns in its abridged, English-language version for families. Soprano Erin Morley, last seen at the Met as a brilliant Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, is the empowered Pamina, and tenor Ben Bliss is the valiant Tamino. Baritone Nathan Gunn is the comic birdcatcher Papageno, and soprano Kathryn Lewek reprises her hair-raising rendition of the malevolent Queen of the Night. Harry Bicket conducts.
On Saturday, December 29, all ticket holders for the 1 PM matinee of The Magic Flute are invited to a free pre-performance open house beginning at 11 AM. Met artists and craftspeople lead a variety of hands-on activities and demonstrations for the whole family.
Abridged production of The Magic Flute a gift of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Bill Rollnick and Nancy Ellison Rollnick
Original production of Die Zauberflöte a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis
Additional funding from John Van Meter, The Annenberg Foundation, Karen and Kevin Kennedy, Bill Rollnick and Nancy Ellison Rollnick, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller, Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman, and Mr. and Mrs. Ezra K. Zilkha
Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/14/1985
Levine; Raimondi, Battle, Vaness, Allen, von Stade
MOD VideoMOD Audio SID.18510532
This performance surfaced in its video format both on MOoD, and in the Levine 40th anniversary DVD box. This is a Ponnelle production, and has its usual pluses and minuses. Vaness misses just a bit of superstar quality (her Fiordiligi and Donna Anna are more distinctive).
Raimondi is not my favorite singer, but Levine is at his best in Mozart and the ensemble is very strong. I’ve enjoyed re-acquainting myself with this performance over the last year and have played it several times. This is his first season of Figaro at the Met, an opera he would conduct more than 77 times in 3 new productions (Ponnelle, Jonathan Miller, Richard Eyre.). Amazingly 3 of the matinee broadcasts have not been done again.
For the record: March 21, 1992 features Upshaw , Schuman, Von Stade, Furlanetto, Hampson, Moll December 5, 1998 features Bonney/Guyer, Lott, Mentzer, Croft, Terfel Feb. 12, 2005 features Rost, Watson, Perez, Relyea, Kwiecien.
One run of Nozze with Levine was not broadcast and that featured Dorothea Roschmann and Anja Harteros in their Met debuts. I remember these performances very well, and in the current Gelb/Sirius era, we would have had at least one if not a couple of these on the radio, The 1992 would be especially welcome for the Furlanetto/Hampson combination (which is also on their complete DG recording).
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST : Puccini
Armiliato; Westbroek, Kaufmann, Bosi, Lucic, Simpson, Rose, Gradus
Original Air Date: 10/27/2018; Broadcast Air Date 12/22/2018
SID.18510000
First Intermission
Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Eva-Maria Westbroek
Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Maestro Marco Armiliato
Second Intermission
HD Host Susanna Phillips interviews Jonas Kaufmann
Host Mary Jo Heath interviews Stuart Skelton about Otello
Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov portrays Dick Johnson for opening night (Oct 4, 8, 12) Jonas Kaufmann returns to the MET for performances on Oct 17, 20, 23, and 27. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.
NYTimes Review: Jonas Kaufmann, Back at the Met, Is Good, Not Great by Anthony Tommasini Oct. 18, 2018
Observer Review: Puccini’s Wild West Opera Will Shatter Your Heart (Even With the Met’s Subpar Staging) by James Jorden • 10/08/18
BWW Review: Kaufmann Returns to the Met with a ‘Heigh-ho Silver’ in Puccini’s FANCIULLA DEL WEST
