2017-18 Live Broadcasts

RIGOLETTO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/20/2019
Luisotti; Sierra, Zaharia, Hymel, Frontali, Kocán
SID.19120321

PROGRAM

RIGOLETTO {893}
Giuseppe Verdi–Francesco Maria Piave/Victor Hugo

Rigoletto……………Roberto Frontali
Gilda……………….Nadine Sierra
Duke of Mantua……….Francesco Demuro
Maddalena……………Ramona Zaharia
Sparafucile………….Stefan Kocán
Monterone……………Robert Pomakov
Borsa……………….Eduardo Valdes
Marullo……………..Jeongcheol Cha
Count Ceprano………..Paul Corona
Countess Ceprano……..Samantha Hankey
Giovanna…………….Jennifer Roderer
Page………………..Catherine MiEun Choi-Steckmeyer
Guard……………….Earle Patriarco

Conductor……………Nicola Luisotti

Production…………..Michael Mayer
Set Designer…………Christine Jones
Costume Designer……..Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer…….Kevin Adams
Choreographer………..Steven Hoggett
Stage Director……….Gregory Keller

This production of Rigoletto is set in Las Vegas, 1960.
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
Original Air Date: 03/23/2019
Elder; Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Naouri, Konieczny, Groissböck
SID.19120640
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.

Program 032319-samson

Conductor Sir Mark Elder
Samson Gregory Kunde
Abimélech Tomasz Konieczny
The high priest of dagon Laurent Naouri
First philistine  Eduardo Valdes
Second philistine Jeongcheol Cha
A philistine messenger Scott Scully
An old hebrew Günther Groissböck
Dalila Anita Rachvelishvili

First Intermission
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Anita Rachvelishvilil
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Gregory Kunde and Laurent Naouri
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Tomasz Konieczny and Günther Groissböck
-Mary Jo Heath interviews maestro Carlo Rizzi

Second Intermission
-Mary Jo Heath interviews chorus master Donald Palumbo
-TOLL BROTHERS – METROPOLITAN OPERA QUIZ
Guest Artist: Erin Morley; Host: Gerald Martin Moorel Panelists: Ken Benson, Brad Cresswell and Peter Kazaras
Pianist: Howard Watson