Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 7pm
At Niagara’s Historic “Seneca Theatre”
in the heart of downtown
Niagara Falls, Canada
Canadian Opera Company presents operatic favourite, “Il Trovatore,” with a world-class cast in debut performances
August 16, 2012
Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company’s 2012/2013 season opens with the quintessential Italian opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, featuring internationally renowned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas and acclaimed Canadian baritone Russell Braun in role debut performances. A staple of the operatic repertoire, Il Trovatore has mesmerized audiences since its premiere in 1853 with its fiery, melodramatic tale of the vengeful gypsy Azucena, her son Manrico’s romance with the noblewoman Leonora, and his rivalry with Conte di Luna. Last performed by the COC in 2005, Il Trovatore returns with director Charles Roubaud’s acclaimed production from Opéra de Marseille and celebrated conductor Marco Guidarini leading the COC Orchestra and Chorus through Verdi’s rich score. Il Trovatore is sung in Italian with English SURTITLES™ and runs for 10 performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on Sept. 29, Oct. 2, 5, 10, 13, 19, 21, 25, 28, and 31, 2012.
It’s been said that all it takes for a successful performance of Il Trovatore are four of the greatest singers in the world to fulfil the demanding roles of Manrico, Conte di Luna, Azucena and Leonora. The COC has brought together a world-class cast to helm Verdi’s thrilling tale of love, hate and revenge. Ramón Vargas, one of the leading tenors of our time, who last appeared with the COC for the company’s 60th anniversary concert, returns to make his mainstage and role debut as the rebel troubadour Manrico. He’s joined in the role by Italian tenor Riccardo Massi, who’s quickly gathering international acclaim following debut performances at La Scala, Glyndebourne Festival, Staatsoper Berlin and Metropolitan Opera. Massi makes his COC debut when he sings Manrico on Oct. 28 and 31, 2012. Cast as Manrico’s rival, the Conte di Luna, is internationally acclaimed Canadian baritone Russell Braun. He, too, marks a role debut with this production, returning to the company after dazzling COC audiences and critics alike in 2012’s Love from Afar and 2011’s Iphigenia in Tauris. Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Manistinamakes her COC debut as the gypsy Azucena, bringing her vocal power and dramatic command to a role she reprises following performances at Gran Teatre del Liceu and Opéra national de Bordeaux. South African soprano Elza van den Heever makes her COC debut as the lovelorn Leonora, following a season of triumphant performances with Hamburgische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Opéra National de Bordeaux.
Ukrainian bass Dmitry Beloselsky, a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre who is quickly making a name for himself with performances at the Metropolitan Opera and Salzburg Festival, appears with the COC for the first time as di Luna’s officer, Ferrando. COC Ensemble Studio mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, recently heard in last spring’s Gianni Schicchi and the Ensemble Studio performance of Semele, is Leonora’s confidante, Inez; rising young Mexican-American tenor Edgar Ernesto Ramírez has his COC debut as Manrico’s aide, Ruiz; COC Ensemble Studio graduate bass Robert Gleadow, recently heard as the Speaker in 2011’s The Magic Flute, is the Old Gypsy; and new COC Ensemble Studio tenor Owen McCausland makes his company mainstage debut as the Messenger.
De-Virginizing Our Ears: Will Listening Ever Be The Same??
Remember the first time you heard Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, or the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, when you heard the voice of a great singer–say, Pavarotti, when you first heard the weeping of Jacqueline Du Pré’s cello in the the Elgar Concerto, or the swelling of Rachmaninov’s orchestra in the 18th Variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini? Do you remember how you felt, how the music, the sonorities, the frequencies, and the sensations affected your emotions, seeped into your psyche, and dug themselves in your guts?
Several years ago, while I was in still in University, I took a course on “Listening to Music,” which isn’t what it sounds like…a chronological survey of Classical Music. Classical Music yes, but not the typical barrage of “hits” that are usually offered to music majors for credit. This was an upper level PhD course that focused on the cognitive differences between hearing and listening. Although I’ve taken many music courses in my lifetime, this one particularly stuck with me and has been the focus of my thoughts for the last while.
Hearing something for the first time–and for me, especially, hearing a singer for the first time–is like opening Pandora’s box. In many cases, it becomes an addiction. You just can’t get enough of that sound, nor can you find a way to get as close to it as you’d like. These are defining moments for musicians and aficionados. For some, these are the moments that change our lives and direct us down a path from which we’ll never stray: the pursuit of musical excellence, if that is even attainable.
This type of “hearing” is what I call the “Virgin Experience:” that first moment of illumination, of discovery..and in some cases self-discovery that remains with us indefinitely. While this moment is precious, desired, and even cherished, it is also a big downer because while we experience the magnificence of something new, we realize that we will never again experience this moment. We’ll never hear this music or this voice in the same way again. We are de-virginized.
And, what happens after this “de-virginzing?” Well, this is where that university course came into play. Much of the literature we read focused on the dichotomy of listening and hearing. While actually classifying the two as different, the puzzle became how to recreate for ones’ self that moment of “awe: that unknowingness, that sense of being lost in the music for the first time and not knowing where it was going to take you. Many times, I have attempted to recreate that moment for myself. It is difficult, especially when listening to pieces that I’ve studied intently or voices I’ve listened to a million times over. On an aside and in regard to the voice, I found it much easier to recreate this sensation with singers because the instrument is human. It is impossible to listen to Pavarotti or Gigli, or Tebaldi, Callas, or Cigna, without having a sense of awe over the greatness of their human instrument. Instrumental music, however, poses a problem.
In an attempt to confront this difficulty, I related our hearing and listening to music to how other forms of art are observed. Music creates a difficulty that is different from literature, for example. When we read a novel, we rarely go back again and again to revisit it…sometimes 100 times or more (that is not to say that we don’t revisit Dante or Shakespeare or other magnificent literary works; we do, but not on the repetitive scale that we do with music). The repeated act of listening to music affects the element of surprise and imagination that is often necessary in order to truly comprehend a work of art. In the same way, we can look at an artwork, say the “Cenacolo” or Michelangelo’s Moses and see something new each time we observe it, but essentially the element of surprise is lacking because we can only experience the “virgin” viewing once.
So, what do we do? What would it take to recreate the initial experience we had? Can we? The answer lies in the difference between listening and hearing, and it is a vast difference. The first time we hear a voice or a piece of music we are in fact “hearing” it.” Every other time after that, we are listening to something we have already heard. In his book “The Power of Sound: How to be Healthy and Productive Using Music and Sound, Joshua Leeds makes an important distinction: the difference between a psychological and neurological perception. For example, a song or melody associated with childhood, a teen-age romance, or some peak emotional experience, creates a memory-based psychological reaction. There is also a physiological reaction. He writes, “Slightly detune tones can cause brain waves to speed up or slow down, for instance. Additionally, sound tracks that are filtered and gated–a sophisticated engineering process–create a random sonic event. This triggers an active listening response and thus tonifies the auditory mechanism, including the tiny muscles of the middle ear[...] Thanks to research on the neurological component of sound, a growing school of thought, values the examination of both neurological and psychological effects of resonance on the human body.
After considering Leed’s ideas, I recalled when I was 15 years old and my high-school music teacher played us the trio from Der Rosenkavalier for the first time. I remember having no idea where the meandering harmonies and melody were headed, but when Strauss’ magnificent buildup to that unexpected moment of complete release occurred, I remember having to sit straight on the floor because I could no longer stand up. The music, the voices, the harmonies, had not only affected my mind and my soul, but physically affected my body, too. Now, when I listen to the Rosenkavalier Trio, I remember that moment more than anything and how I felt. Do I still feel weak in the knees? Absolutely, but the problem is that now that I EXPECT that moment and expectation, once you really know a piece of music well, is what mars the surprise element.
In the end, I suppose what all this means is that we cannot truly recreate that virgin experience, but that we should always look forward to hearing new things for the first time because those moments are sacred. It also means that as musicians, singers, or music lovers, we have come to know many of these works intimately and that is a good thing. As long as we recall what we felt when we had that initial, un-recreatable moment, we can understand what the composer intended the listener to experience; just that: the moment that music or melody first hits you, in your unknowing state, filled with surprise, awe, and mystery. When we listen to it afterwards, for years to come, that first “hearing” may come to mean more than all the hundreds of times we’ve heard it and will continue to hear it in our future.
The Last Verista’s Pick of the Week on Met Opera Radio (Sirius/XM):
Monday, March 5, 2012
6:00am: Wagner: Das Rheingold
3/27/1993-Levine; Morris, Schwarz, Wlaschiha, Langridge, Gjevang, Hölle, Koptchak, Hong, Horton Murray, Held, Pampuch, Guyer, Bunnell, White
9:00am: This Month at The Met
Juan Diego Florez, Gerald Finley, Thomas Hampson, Donald Palumbo, Peter Gelb
12:00pm: Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani
3/20/1982-Levine; Scotto, Ochman, Elvira, Raimondi
3:00pm: Puccini: Tosca
1/6/1979-Conlon; Verrett, Pavarotti, MacNeil
7:30pm: Donizetti: L’Elisir d’amore (SEASON PREMIERE – LIVE FROM THE MET)
Renzetti; Flórez, Damrau, Corbelli, Kwiecien
12:00am: Verdi: Don Carlo
4/15/1961- Verchi; Corelli, Curtis-Verna, Sereni, Dalis, Hines, Uhde, Arroyo, Sgarro, Wall, Carelli, Nagy
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
6:00 AM ET 9:00 AM ET 12:00 PM ET 3:00 PM ET 7:00 PM ET
6:00am: Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
2/27/1965-Varviso; Alexander, Scovotti, Cvejic, Amara, Dooley
9:00am: Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
12/15/1973-Maag; Moffo, Alva, Shane, Hines, Gramm, Di Franco
12:00pm: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
3/3/2007-Luisi; Hampson, Gheorghiu, Giordani, Furlanetto
3:00pm: Handel: Samson
3/1/1986-Rudel; Vickers, Mitchell, Te Kanawa
7:30pm: Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina (LIVE FROM THE MET) Petrenko; Abdrazakov, Borodina, Kotscherga, Didyk, Galouzine, Gagnidze
12:00 AM ET Beethoven: Fidelio
1/7/1984-Tennstedt; Marton, Vickers, Mazura, Plishka, Peters,Atherton
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
6:00am: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
12/18/1999-Levine; Heppner, Eaglen, Ketelsen, Dalayman, Pape
9:00am: Massenet: Thaïs
1/28/1978-Pritchard; Sills, Gibbs, Milnes, Morris
12:00pm: This Month at The Met
Juan Diego Florez, Gerald Finley, Thomas Hampson, Donald Palumbo, Peter Gelb
3:00pm: Gounod: Faust
1/5/1991-Fulton; Leech, Soviero, Morris, Quilico, Quittmeyer
6:00pm: R. Strauss: Salome
2/12/1977-Leinsdorf; Rysanek, Ulfung, Varnay, Bailey, Riegel
9:00pm: Wagner: Das Rheingold
3/27/1993-Levine; Morris, Schwarz, Wlaschiha, Langridge, Gjevang, Hölle, Koptchak, Hong, Horton Murray, Held, Pampuch, Guyer, Bunnell, White
Thursday, March 7, 2012
6:00am: Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani
3/20/1982-Levine; Scotto, Ochman, Elvira, Raimondi
9:00am: Puccini: Tosca
1/6/1979-Conlon; Verrett, Pavarotti, MacNeil
12:00pm: Verdi: Don Carlo
4/15/1961- Verchi; Corelli, Curtis-Verna, Sereni, Dalis, Hines, Uhde, Arroyo, Sgarro, Wall, Carelli, Nagy
3:00pm: Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
12/15/1973-Maag; Moffo, Alva, Shane, Hines, Gramm, Di Franco
6:00pm: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
3/3/2007-Luisi; Hampson, Gheorghiu, Giordani, Furlanetto
9:00pm: Handel: Samson
3/1/1986-Rudel; Vickers, Mitchell, Te Kanawa
12:00 AM ET Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
2/27/1965-Varviso; Alexander, Scovotti, Cvejic, Amara, Dooley
As Salome
Friday, March 9, 2012
6:00am: R. Strauss: Salome
2/12/1977-Leinsdorf; Rysanek, Ulfung, Varnay, Bailey, Riegel
9:00am: Beethoven: Fidelio
1/7/1984-Tennstedt; Marton, Vickers, Mazura, Plishka, Peters, Atherton
12:00pm: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
12/18/1999-Levine; Heppner, Eaglen, Ketelsen, Dalayman, Pape
6:00pm: This Month at The Met
Juan Diego Florez, Gerald Finley, Thomas Hampson, Donald Palumbo, Peter Gelb
9:00pm: Massenet: Thaïs
1/28/1978-Pritchard; Sills, Gibbs, Milnes, Morris
12:00am: Gounod: Faust
1/5/1991-Fulton; Leech, Soviero, Morris, Quilico, Quittmeyer
Saturday, March 10, 2012
6:00am: Verdi: Don Carlo
4/15/1961- Verchi; Corelli, Curtis-Verna, Sereni, Dalis, Hines, Uhde, Arroyo, Sgarro, Wall, Carelli, Nagy
9:00am: Handel: Samson
3/1/1986-Rudel; Vickers, Mitchell, Te Kanawa
12:00pm: Mozart: Don Giovanni (LIVE FROM THE MET)
Davis; Finley, Rebeka, Terfel, Dehn, Polenzani, Leonard, Shenyang
6:00pm: Wagner: Das Rheingold 3/27/1993-Levine; Morris, Schwarz, Wlaschiha, Langridge, Gjevang, Hölle, Koptchak, Hong, Horton Murray, Held, Pampuch, Guyer, Bunnell, White
9:00pm: Puccini: Tosca
1/6/1979-Conlon; Verrett, Pavarotti, MacNeil
12:00pm: This Month at The Met
Juan Diego Florez, Gerald Finley, Thomas Hampson, Donald Palumbo, Peter Gelb
Sunday, March 11, 2012
6:00am: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
3/3/2007-Luisi; Hampson, Gheorghiu, Giordani, Furlanetto
9:00am: Gounod: Faust
1/5/1991-Fulton; Leech, Soviero, Morris, Quilico, Quittmeyer
12:00pm: Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
2/27/1965-Varviso; Alexander, Scovotti, Cvejic, Amara, Dooley
3:00pm: Beethoven: Fidelio
1/7/1984-Tennstedt; Marton, Vickers, Mazura, Plishka, Peters, Atherton
6:00pm: Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
12/15/1973-Maag; Moffo, Alva, Shane, Hines, Gramm, Di Franco
9:00pm: The Met on Record: La Bohème (1947)
Antonicelli; Sayao, Tucker, Benzell, Valentino, Cehanovsky, Moscona
12:00am: Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani
3/20/1982-Levine; Scotto, Ochman, Elvira, Raimondi
Rising Soprano, Latonia Moore to make Metropolitan Opera Debut as Aida
Latonia Moore makes her Met debut as Aida at 1pm, March 3rd, 2012
Every now and again, the opera world gets to marvel in the thrill of excitement when a young singer makes their debut…but not any debut. A debut at the Metropolitan Opera is probably the most exciting of them all. In a few hours, young soprano Latonia Moore will make her debut in a role that established many a great singer; Zinka Milanov, Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, and Aprile Millo: Verdi’s magnificent Aida. In this historical and political opera, Verdi created three roles that are powerhouses of vocal prowess: Aida, Amneris, and in my mind, Amonasro, even more than Radames. This afternoon, Ms. Moore will sing Aida to Stephanie Blythe’s Amneris, Marcello Giordani’s Radames, and Lado Ataneli’s Amonasro. The performance will be conducted by Marco Armiliato. In Bocca al Lupo to Latonia!
Born in Houston and raised in Texas, Latonia Moore began her study at the University of North Texas, originally planed to study Jazz. Fortunately for opera lovers, one of her teachers convinced her to study classical music. She continued as a student of Bill Schuman at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia where she graduated in 2005.
She has won:
- Richard Tucker Foundation Grant (2005),
- first price and audience award at Concours International d’Opéra in Marseille (2003)
- special price “Kammeroper der Internationalen Hans Gabor Belvedere Gesangswettbewerbe” (2003)
- first price and adiance award “Internationalen Gesangswettbewerbs der italienischen Oper Dresden (2002)
- Metropolitan Opera’s National Auditions (2000)
Here is a link to a “Sneak Peak” of Latonia’s singing from La Cieca on Parterre Box
“Un Peu De Couleur Français”: Debussy’s Influence On Italian Opera
In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting an article in honour of Claude Debussy’s anniversary year here on TLV. While we await the 2013 anniversary celebrations for both Verdi and Wagner, I thought it might be fascinating to pay some attention to Debussy and how he did or didn’t influenced Italian Opera. With his unmistakable colour palate and propensity toward the combination of tones (clusters and blurring), Debussy initiated the use of mixed chords and colours that found their way into the works of Italian composers, most notably Giacomo Puccini. In addition to the multi-part article, I will also be posting a new Audio link that will present some of Debussy’s music and excerpts from Italian works where his style is most vividly recognizable. Stay tuned for more on TLV!
The Artist’s Struggle: In Honour of Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
When someone of significant talent and stature dies, the world stops to look. The world stopped to look at Whitney Houston on February 11, 2012. Some of you might be wondering why I would post a memorial to this artist who had nothing to do with opera. Well, this blog is not specifically about opera, although that’s what I tend to write about the most. It is about music, about artist, and about consciousness. Frankly put: Whitney Houston had one of the greatest voices in the world, she excelled at her craft, and she was a true Diva in the elegant and classic sense of the word. My heart broke after hearing the news of her passing and for me it felt much like when Luciano Pavarotti passed away, or Joan Sutherland. The feeling of loss, of that voice leaving, ceasing to vibrate, was just as great.
Why is it that now, after all her very public suffering, we have stopped to look at what we now realize was great; what we now realize was in our midst and perhaps taken out of the equation due to Ms. Houston’s own battles and struggles. Let’s not be trite people! If we think that the great opera singers of the past didn’t have their issues and their struggles with personal or psychological issues, addiction, or relationships, we can think again. Even in Chopin’s day, artists struggled. Isn’t it really the struggle of the artist that lures us most unequivocally into their world? And what kind of artists would we be if we didn’t struggle? I continue to see examples of the media’s perception, that which they project on Ms. Houston’s life as a “screw up,” as a “drug-addict,” as an “erratic woman.” I am not saying that Whitney was without blame. She made certain choices that absolutely affected her voice and her public image, however this is not the time to flaunt those choices and the media ought to be ashamed of itself. Interestingly enough, centuries ago, Beethoven, Puccini, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann (to name but a few)were perceived in the same way, based on their behaviour and on their choices, on what they couldn’t help but display to a society that had NO IDEA what truly brewed within them.
A stunning woman all of her life, and perhaps even more lovely in her 40s than in her youth (at least in my opinion), Ms. Houston gave. She was blessed with a magnificent voice, a type we may never hear again in this lifetime or ever. But as much as she gave, the public always wanted more, didn’t we? We always push, we always seem to get a thrill over watching the artist’s struggle, don’t we? Look at yourself and ask, “How thrilling is it to go to the Met and watch (fill in the blank with the name of your favourite artist) sing (fill in the name of the most difficult aria you can think of) and hope that they don’t crack or waiver or go out of pitch, or fall on their face?” Artists walk a tight rope every time they get on a stage, especially in opera where the luxury of auto-tuning and PA systems don’t really exist. We’re so quick to judge and we even pay money to go and judge.
And so what if Whitney was unhappy. So what if she struggled with her own demons. So what if she got tired after 20 years of travelling the world and singing with that amazing instrument to screaming audiences. How soon we forgot that instrument and instead judged according to her habits, her weakness. And don’t we all have our own weaknesses, or are we invincible and Ms. Houston, unfortunately, wasn’t as strong as the rest of us? I’m sure you can tell that my tone here is slightly angered and frustrated and it is not directed at the majority of people who felt like they lost a childhood friend, it is directed at those who continue to look at her and see a bottle of pills or a bottle of wine and somewhere behind that mirage is the glimmer of the voice. It’s kind of like that drinking and driving commercial where they continue to put a beer glass in the way of the windshield while someone is driving. As glass after glass is placed in front of the other, the vision in front of the car is impaired and this is what I feel happened to Whitney Houston. Because the media kept placing glass after glass in front of us, on TV, in magazines, newspapers, gossip blogs, etc…the vision in front of us got blurred and we soon dismissed it.
I wonder what it would have taken for Whitney to receive the kind of attention she’s getting now, had she remained alive? It is quite sad that her new movie “Sparkle” was due to come out in August because apparently she was great in it and she certainly looked magnificent in the interviews that have already been broadcast.
And what if she was your sister, friend, mother, daughter? For most of us who grew up with her, she was a friend. I spoke to many people over the weekend who were in mourning as if they had been part of her life. I felt the same. I sobbed. Sobbed outright when when her voice began “If I…should stay…” as those men lifted her glowing casket into the air in front of her bereaved mother and daughter. In my mind, I kept thinking, “As good as she was, she was a human being and she suffered more than anyone should have to.” None of us knew what this sensitive soul actually felt and whether or not she felt she was good enough. Kevin Costner’s tribute hit the nail on the head and his words rang truths that everyone should keep in mind the next time they want to “judge” an artist.
The next time you go to an opera and watch a singer get on stage to deliver their best, think about the fact that they are a human being and that they have a life that might be filled with struggle but they still choose to get on that stage and sing for you. Sure, music criticism exists and it has existed as a craft and and art for centuries now. Constructively criticizing performances based on excellence and authenticity to the style is one thing, standing in judgement of the human being in front of you, is not. Whitney Houston was on her way back, wanted to have our attention, wanted to give again, had seemed to conquer her struggles at least for awhile, and yet too late. Whatever happened to this dear soul doesn’t matter. What matters is what she ALWAYS gave, that she always had our attention, and for those of us who loved her, she always had our hearts.
Who could forget this?
Wherever she is now, she will never be forgotten and in the months to come we will learn what caused her death, perhaps why, and be reminded of her beautiful presence when “Sparkle” is released in the movie theatres. As Twitter and various blogs continue to pour in with condolences, grief, and shock, eventually that will die down. Eventually, only a few people will show up to a cemetery that has now barred its entrance to the general public in order to offer some peace to a family that lost a loved one. Eventually, the name Whitney Houston will become legendary but how we choose to remember her TODAY, in the time that she lived, seems more relevant than how she will be remembered in the future. God Bless this yet young woman who gave us her heart and on February 11th broke ours. I think if we all had a wish, we would love to have her back. Perhaps this will teach us to love and show our adoration to those artists who remain and continue to give. Remember that the next time you go to a concert and absolutely the next time you go to the opera.
Whitney Houston
The Last Verista’s “Pick of the Week” for Jan 29-Feb 5, 2012 on Met Opera Radio (Sirius/XM): Millo/Pavarotti “Il Trovatore”
Monday, January 30, 2012
6:00am: Verdi: Il Trovatore
1/21/1989-Levine; Pavarotti, Millo, Milnes, Cossotto, Plishka
9:00am: R. Strauss: Salome
3/18/1972-Böhm; Rysanek, Stolze, Dalis, Stewart, MacWherter
12:00pm: Britten: Billy Budd
4/4/1992-Mackerras; Hampson, Clark, Morris, Held, Courtney
3:00pm: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
1/28/1961-Leinsdorf; Siepi, Peters, Borg, Amara, Miller, Flagello
6:00pm: Gounod: Roméo et Juliette
1/25/1986-Cambreling; Malfitano, Shicoff, Plishka, Harris, Schexnayder
9:00pm: Puccini: La Bohème
3/19/1977-Levine; Scotto, Pavarotti, Niska, Wixell, Monk, Plishka
12:00am: Janácek: Jenufa
12/26/1992-Conlon; Benacková, Heppner, Rysanek, Trussel, Christin, Guyer, Wells, Skok, Kelly, JCourtney, Castle, Uecker, Di Franco
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
6:00am: Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
3/27/1982-Chailly; Domingo, Welting, Troyanos, Eda-Pierre, Morris, Howells, Sénéchal
9:00am: Verdi: Nabucco
4/5/2003-Levine; Ataneli, Neves, Casanova, White, Ramey, Waite, Kowaljow, Valdes
12:00pm: Donizetti: La Favorita
3/11/1978-López-Cobos; Verrett, Pavarotti, Milnes, Giaiotti
3:00pm: Mozart: Idomeneo
12/21/1991-Levine; Heppner, Upshaw, Mentzer, Vaness, Kazaras
6:00 PM ET Wagner: Götterdämmerung (LIVE FROM THE MET) Luisi; Voigt, Gould, König, Meier, Harmer, Paterson,Owens
12:00 AM ET Verdi: Messa da Requiem
2/20/1982-Levine; Price, Quivar, Domingo, Cheek
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
6:00am: Gounod: Faust
3/17/2007-Benini; Vargas, Swenson, Abdrazakov, Yun
9:00am: Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera
2/28/1959-Schippers; Stella, Peerce, Merrill, Madeira, Hurley
12:00pm: Wagner: Lohengrin
3/21/1998-Levine; Heppner, Voigt, Polaski, Ketelsen, Halfvarson
6:00pm: Britten: Billy Budd
4/4/1992-Mackerras; Hampson, Clark, Morris, Held, Courtney
9:00pm: Verdi: Il Trovatore
1/21/1989-Levine; Pavarotti, Millo, Milnes, Cossotto, Plishka
12:00pm: R. Strauss: Salome
3/18/1972-Böhm; Rysanek, Stolze, Dalis, Stewart, MacWherter
Thursday, February 2, 2012
6:00am: Janácek: Jenufa
12/26/1992-Conlon; Benacková, Heppner, Rysanek, Trussel, Christin, Guyer, Wells, Skok, Kelly, JCourtney, Castle, Uecker, Di Franco
9:00am: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
1/28/1961-Leinsdorf; Siepi, Peters, Borg, Amara, Miller, Flagello
12:00pm: Gounod: Roméo et Juliette
1/25/1986-Cambreling; Malfitano, Shicoff, Plishka, Harris, Schexnayder
3:00pm: Puccini: La Bohème 3/19/1977-Levine; Scotto, Pavarotti, Niska, Wixell, Monk, Plishka
6:00pm: Verdi: Ernani (SEASON PREMIERE – LIVE FROM THE MET) Armiliato; De Biasio, Meade, Furlanetto, Hvorostovsky
12:00am: Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
3/27/1982-Chailly; Domingo, Welting, Troyanos, Eda-Pierre, Morris, Howells, Sénéchal
Friday, February 3, 2012
6:00am: Wagner: Lohengrin
3/21/1998-Levine; Heppner, Voigt, Polaski, Ketelsen, Halfvarson
12:00pm: Gounod: Faust
3/17/2007-Benini; Vargas, Swenson, Abdrazakov, Yun
3:00pm: Donizetti: La Favorita
3/11/1978-López-Cobos; Verrett, Pavarotti, Milnes, Giaiotti
6:00pm: Verdi: Nabucco
4/5/2003-Levine; Ataneli, Neves, Casanova, White, Ramey, Waite, Kowaljow, Valdes
9:00pm: Mozart: Idomeneo
12/21/1991-Levine; Heppner, Upshaw, Mentzer, Vaness, Kazaras
12:00pm: Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera
2/28/1959-Schippers; Stella, Peerce, Merrill, Madeira, Hurley
Saturday, February 4, 2012
6:00am: Britten: Billy Budd
4/4/1992-Mackerras; Hampson, Clark, Morris, Held, Courtney
9:00am: Puccini: La Bohème
3/19/1977-Levine; Scotto, Pavarotti, Niska, Wixell, Monk, Plishka
12:00pm: Donizetti: Anna Bolena (LIVE FROM THE MET) Armiliato; Netrebko, Gubanova, Abdrazakov, Costello, Mumford
6:00pm: Verdi: Messa da Requiem
2/20/1982-Levine; Price, Quivar, Domingo, Cheek
9:00pm: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
1/28/1961-Leinsdorf; Siepi, Peters, Borg, Amara, Miller, Flagello
12:00am: Gounod: Roméo et Juliette
1/25/1986-Cambreling; Malfitano, Shicoff, Plishka, Harris, Schexnayder
Sunday, February 5, 2012
6:00am: Donizetti: La Favorita
3/11/1978-López-Cobos; Verrett, Pavarotti, Milnes, Giaiotti
9:00am: Verdi: Il Trovatore
1/21/1989-Levine; Pavarotti, Millo, Milnes, Cossotto, Plishka
12:00pm: Janácek: Jenufa
12/26/1992-Conlon; Benacková, Heppner, Rysanek, Trussel, Christin, Guyer, Wells, Skok, Kelly, JCourtney, Castle, Uecker, Di Franco
3:00pm: R. Strauss: Salome
3/18/1972-Böhm; Rysanek, Stolze, Dalis, Stewart, MacWherter
6:00pm: Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
3/27/1982-Chailly; Domingo, Welting, Troyanos, Eda-Pierre, Morris, Howells, Sénéchal
This Month at The Met
Jay Hunter Morris, Peter Gelb, Fabio Luisi, Diana Damrau, Stephanie Blythe, Quiz encore hosted by Matthew Polenzani, Angela Meade
9:00pm: Verdi: Nabucco
4/5/2003-Levine; Ataneli, Neves, Casanova, White, Ramey, Waite, Kowaljow, Valdes
The Last Verista’s “Pick of the Week” on Met Opera Radio for January 25-29, 2012: Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier” with Richard Tucker and Zinka Milanov
Richard Tucker as Chenier
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
6:00am Wagner: Parsifal 4/14/1979-Levine; Vickers, Ludwig, Weikl, Talvela, Shinall, Plishka
12:00pm: Verdi: Don Carlo
11/11/1950-Stiedry; Björling, Rigal, Merrill, Barbieri, Siepi, Hines
Fedora Barbieri as Princess Eboli
3:00pm: R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
1/29/2000-Levine; Graham, Fleming, Hawlata, Murphy, Ketelsen
7:30pm: Various: The Enchanted Island (LIVE FROM THE MET) Christie; Daniels, DiDonato, Domingo, de Niese, Pisaroni, Oropesa, Costanzo
The Met’s “Enchanted Island”
12:00am: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
4/7/1973-Levine; Prey, Horne, Di Giuseppe, Corena, Tozzi
Thursday, January 26, 2012
6:00am: R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos 4/14/2001-Levine; Voigt, Margison, Petrova, Mentzer, Brendel, Oswald
9:00am: Handel: Giulio Cesare
4/17/1999-Nelson; Larmore, McNair, Blythe, Daniels, Asawa
Jennifer Larmore as Giulio Cesare
12:00pm: Verdi: La Traviata
4/21/1962-Strasfogel; Moffo, Morell, Sereni
3:00pm: Mozart: Don Giovanni
12/24/1994-Hager; Morris, Sweet, Olsen, Schuman, Perry, Hong, D’Arcangelo
6:00pm: Berg: Lulu
4/2/1988-Levine; Malfitano, Mazura, Troyanos, Hamilton, Foldi
9:10pm: Verdi: I Lombardi
1/15/1994-Levine; Flanigan, Pavarotti, Beccaria, Plishka
12:00am: Giordano: Andrea Chenier
12/28/1957-Cleva; Tucker, Milanov, Warren, Elias, Lipton, Amparan
The magnificent Zinka Milanov
Friday, January 27, 2012
6:00am: Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
4/7/1973-Levine; Prey, Horne, Di Giuseppe, Corena, Tozzi
9:00am: Puccini: Madama Butterfly
1/8/1994-Fulton; Soviero, Leech, Deng, Allen, Anthony, Courtney, Schaldenbrand, Hoffman, Aceto
12:00pm: Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
12/29/1984-Levine; Milnes, Tomowa-Sintow, Moldoveanu, Plishka, Clark
3:00pm: Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
2/24/2007-Gergiev; Hvorostovsky, Fleming, Vargas, Zaremba, Aleksashkin
6:00pm: Wagner: Götterdämmerung (SEASON PREMIERE – LIVE FROM THE MET)
Luisi; Voigt, Morris, König, Meier, Harmer, Paterson, Owens
Deborah Voigt in Gotterdammerung
12:00am: R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
1/29/2000-Levine; Graham, Fleming, Hawlata, Murphy, Ketelsen
Saturday, January 28, 2012
6:00 AM ET Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor 2/19/1966-Varviso; Peters, Kónya, Guarrera, Díaz, Nagy, Ordassy, Marek
9:00am: Mozart: Don Giovanni
12/24/1994-Hager; Morris, Sweet, Olsen, Schuman, Perry, Hong, D’Arcangelo
1:00pm: Puccini: Tosca (LIVE FROM THE MET) Franck; Racette, Álvarez, Morris
6:00pm: Giordano: Andrea Chenier
12/28/1957-Cleva; Tucker, Milanov, Warren, Elias, Lipton, Amparan
9:00pm: Handel: Giulio Cesare
4/17/1999-Nelson; Larmore, McNair, Blythe, Daniels, Asawa
12:00am: Verdi: Don Carlo
11/11/1950-Stiedry; Björling, Rigal, Merrill, Barbieri, Siepi, Hines
Sunday, January 29, 2012
6:00am: Verdi: La Traviata 4/21/1962-Strasfogel; Moffo, Morell, Sereni
9:00am: Berg: Lulu
4/2/1988-Levine; Malfitano, Mazura, Troyanos, Hamilton, Foldi
12:00pm: Verdi: I Lombardi
1/15/1994-Levine; Flanigan, Pavarotti, Beccaria, Plishka
3:00pm: Wagner: Parsifal
4/14/1979-Levine; Vickers, Ludwig, Weikl, Talvela, Shinall, Plishka
9:00pm: The Met on Record: Mozart: Così fan tutte (1952)
Stiedry; Steber, Tucker, Guarrera, Thebom, Peters, Alvary
12:00am: R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos
4/14/2001-Levine; Voigt, Margison, Petrova, Mentzer, Brendel, Oswald
Milanov’s Farewell at the Met
