Tosca – Giacomo Puccini

October 10, 2009

“Tosca combines Puccini’s glorious musical inspiration with the melodramatic vitality of one of the great Hitchcock films,” says Met Music Director James Levine, who conducts this new production. The opera tells the story of three people—a famous opera singer, a free-thinking painter, and a sadistic chief of police—caught in a net of love and politics. Soprano Karita Mattila, recently seen in this season’s Live in HD presentation of Salome, sings the title role for the first time outside her native Finland. Luc Bondy, acclaimed for his imaginative theater and opera productions, directs. The cast also includes Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi and Juha Uusitalo as Scarpia.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Luc Bondy; Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, Juha Uusitalo, Paul Plishka

Approximate running time 3 hours 30 minutes / 2 intermissions

Aida – Giuseppe Verdi

October 24, 2009

Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is both a heartbreaking love story and an epic drama full of spectacular crowd scenes. A cast of powerful voices and a grand production bring the story to life on the Met stage (and on the HD screen). Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival. Johan Botha plays Radamès, commander of the Egyptian army, and Daniele Gatti conducts. Among the score’s highlights is the celebrated Triumphal March.

Conductor: Daniele Gatti; Production: Sonja Frisell; Violeta Urmana, Dolora Zajick, Johan Botha, Carlo Guelfi, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Stefan Kocán

Approximate running time 4 hours / 2 intermissions

Turandot – Giacomo Puccini

November 7, 2009

Director Franco Zeffirelli’s breathtaking production of Puccini’s last opera is a favorite of the Met repertoire. Maria Guleghina plays the ruthless Chinese princess of the title, whose hatred of men is so strong that she has all suitors who can’t solve her riddles beheaded. Marcello Giordani sings Calàf, the unknown prince who eventually wins her love and whose solos include the famous “Nessun dorma.”

Conductor: Andris Nelsons; Production: Franco Zeffirelli; Maria Guleghina, Marina Poplavskaya, Marcello Giordani, Samuel Ramey

Approximate running time 3 hours 30 minutes / 2 intermissions

Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Jacques Offenbach

December 19, 2009

Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this new production, returning after the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville (seen live in HD in the 2006–07 season). Offenbach’s fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann is a fascinating psychological journey. Met Music Director James Levine conducts a stellar star cast including Anna Netrebko as the tragic Antonia, Elīna Garanča as the ambiguous Nicklausse, and Alan Held as the demonic four villains.

Conductor:James Levine; Production: Bartlett Sher; Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Elina Garanča, Joseph Calleja, Alan Held

Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions

Der Rosenkavalier – Richard Strauss

January 9, 2010

Strauss’s comic masterpiece of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna stars Renée Fleming as the aristocratic Marschallin and Susan Graham in the trouser role of her young lover. Music Director James Levine conducts a cast that also includes Kristinn Sigmundsson and Thomas Allen.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Nathaniel Merrill; Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen, Kristinn Sigmundsson

Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions

Carmen – Georges Bizet

January 16, 2010

One of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen “is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom,” says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production of Bizet’s drama. “It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It’s sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking.” Angela Gheorghiu plays the seductive gypsy of the title in her role debut, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.

Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Production: Richard Eyre; Barbara Frittoli, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Mariusz Kwiecien

Approximate running time 4 hours / 2 intermissions

Simon Boccanegra – Giuseppe Verdi

February 6, 2010

Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Giancarlo del Monaco; Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo, James Morris

Approximate running time 3 hours 40 minutes / 2 intermissions

Hamlet – Ambroise Thomas

March 27, 2010

The works of Shakespeare have inspired more operatic adaptations than any other writer’s. Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bring their extraordinary acting and singing skills to two of the Bard’s most unforgettable characters in this new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. For the role of Ophelia, the French composer created an extended mad scene that is among the greatest in opera.

Conductor: Louis Langrée; Production: Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser; Natalie Dessay, Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, Simon Keenlyside, James Morris

Approximate running time 3 hours 45 minutes / 1 intermission

Armida – Gioachino Rossini

May 1, 2010

This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvorˇák. Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini’s version, opposite no fewer than six tenors. Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman returns to direct this new production of a work she describes as “a buried treasure, a box of jewels.”  The fanciful and magical tale, Zimmerman says, “has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element.”

Conductor: Riccardo Frizza; Production: Mary Zimmerman; Renée Fleming, Lawrence Brownlee, Bruce Ford, José Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, Kobie van Rensburg

Approximate running time 4 hours 20 minutes / 2 intermissions