Met's 2012-2013 season officially announced

News

The Met’s 2012-13 Season Features Seven New Productions (Including Two Met Premieres) and 21 Revivals.

February 23, 2012

 Anna Netrebko stars in her second Met Opening Night Gala,a new production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore directed by Bartlett Sher

 Thomas Adès conducts the Met premiere of his opera The Tempest,staged by Robert Lepage

 David McVicar directs two new productions: the Met premiere ofDonizetti’s Maria Stuarda and an inventive staging of Handel’s Giulio Cesare

 Verdi’s bicentennial is celebrated with new productions of Rigoletto,directed by Michael Mayer and conducted by Michele Mariotti, and Un Ballo in Maschera, directed by David Alden and conducted byMet Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi

 For Wagner’s bicentennial, the Met presents a new Parsifal,directed by François Girard and conducted by Daniele Gatti,and three complete Ring cycles conducted by Luisi

 The seventh season of The Met: Live in HD series will feature 12 live transmissions,beginning October 13 with L’Elisir d’Amore

New York, NY (February 23, 2012)—An abundance of Verdi and Wagner, in celebration of their 200^th birthdays, will be featured in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012-13 season, which will showcase the world’s greatest singers, conductors, and directors in seven new productions—two of them Met premieres—and 21 revivals, including three complete Ring cycles. Twelve of the season’s Saturday matinees will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met’s increasingly popular, award-winning Live in HD series.

In chronological order, the new productions begin on September 24, opening night of the season, with a staging of Donizetti’s comic masterpiece L’Elisir d’Amore, directed byBartlett Sher, conducted by Maurizio Benini, and starring Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani. L’Elisir d’Amore will be Netrebko’s second consecutive Met opening night, following last September’s Anna Bolena.

On October 23, Thomas Adès will conduct the Met premiere of his opera The Tempest, the highly regarded new work that received its world premiere in 2004 at London’s Royal Opera House. It will be directed by Robert Lepage and star Simon Keenlyside as Prospero.

Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the first of the season’s two new Verdi productions, a staging of Un Ballo in Maschera directed by David Alden, starring Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, opening on November 8.

This season’s New Year’s Eve gala will be the Met premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, the second in the composer’s trio of historical operas on Tudor queens. The production is by David McVicar, who directed last season’s Met premiere of the first work in the trilogy, Anna Bolena, and who will stage Roberto Devereux in a future season. Maestro Benini conducts Joyce DiDonato as the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, oppositeElza van den Heever in her Met debut as Elizabeth I.

On January 28, conductor Michele Mariotti, who makes his Met debut this season, leads the premiere of a new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, directed by Tony Award winnerMichael Mayer in his Met debut and starring Željko Lučić, Diana Damrau, and Piotr Beczala.

Acclaimed French-Canadian director François Girard makes his Met debut with a new staging of Wagner’s Parsifal on February 15, with Daniele Gatti conducting Jonas Kaufmann in his Met role debut as the title character. The cast also includes Katarina Dalayman, Peter Mattei, and René Pape.

On April 4, McVicar premieres his second new production of the season, Handel’s Giulio Cesare, in a staging that won acclaim when it premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2005. David Daniels stars as Caesar, opposite Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra, with Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducting.

The 2012-13 season was announced by Met General Manager Peter Gelb. “We’re staying true to our course of renewing the core repertoire, while also introducing works new to the Met,” said Gelb. “We remain dedicated to upholding the Met’s tradition of high musical standards through our casting of the finest singers in the world.”

Click here to watch preview videos about this season’s new productions.

New Productions                 
(* Met debut)L’Elisir d’Amore – Gaetano DonizettiPremiere: September 24
Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: Bartlett Sher
Set Designer: Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designed By: Jennifer Tipton
Cast: Anna Netrebko (Adina), Matthew Polenzani (Nemorino), Mariusz Kwiecien (Belcore), Ambrogio Maestri/TBA (Doctor Dulcamara)
Live in HD: October 13

The season opens on September 24 with a new production of Donizetti’s comic gem L’Elisir d’Amore, directed by Bartlett Sher and conducted by Maurizio Benini. Anna Netrebko, starring in her second consecutive Met opening night, makes her Met role debut as the beautiful landowner Adina, with Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino, the simple peasant who falls in love with her. Mariusz Kwiecien sings Adina’s arrogant fiancé, Sergeant Belcore, and Ambrogio Maestri will sing the role of the magic potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara. “L’Elisir d’Amore is kind of two operas at the same time,” Sher says. “It’s an opera that’s a great entertainment, and it’s an opera that has something else happening underneath. It’s informed by when in Italian history it was written—you can see the early stirrings of a cry for independence.”       

The Tempest – Thomas AdèsMet PremierePremiere: October 23
Conductor: Thomas Adès*
Libretto: Meredith Oakes
Production: Robert Lepage
Set Designer: Jasmine Catudal*
Costume Designer: Kym Barrett*
Lighting Designer: Michel Beaulieu*
Video Designer: David Leclerc*
Cast: Audrey Luna (Ariel), Isabel Leonard (Miranda), Iestyn Davies (Trinculo), Alek Shrader* (Ferdinand), Alan Oke (Caliban), William Burden (King of Naples), Toby Spence (Antonio), Simon Keenlyside (Prospero)
Live in HD: November 10

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, L'Opéra de Québec, and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna

In collaboration with Ex Machina

British composer Thomas Adès makes his company debut conducting the Met premiere of his opera The Tempest, which has been widely praised as a modern masterpiece. Robert Lepage’s innovative production recreates the interior of the La Scala opera house as the magical island venue for the otherworldly arts of Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan. Simon Keenlyside sings Prospero, as he did to critical acclaim in the opera’s world premiere at Covent Garden. “The Tempest is an extraordinary, exquisite composition,” Lepage says. “The opera captures the magic of Shakespeare’s last play. It is a box full of magic tricks, which makes it a gift for me and for the designers.” The opera also stars Isabel Leonardas Prospero’s daughter, Miranda; Toby Spence as his brother, Antonio; Audrey Luna as the spirit Ariel; Iestyn Davies as the jester, Trinculo; Alek Shrader in his Met debut as the noble Ferdinand; Alan Oke as the monstrous Caliban; and William Burden as the King of Naples. The libretto, by Meredith Oakes, features new text set to the story of Shakespeare’s play.

Un Ballo in Maschera - Giuseppe VerdiPremiere: November 8
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: David Alden
Set Designer: Paul Steinberg*
Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designer: Adam Silverman*
Choreographer: Maxine Braham*
Cast: Karita Mattila (Amelia), Kathleen Kim (Oscar), Dolora Zajick/Stephanie Blythe (Ulrica), Marcelo Álvarez/Roberto De Biasio (Gustavo III), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Anckarström)
Live in HD: December 8

Verdi’s vivid drama of jealousy and vengeance returns to the Met in a new production by acclaimed opera director David Alden in his first Met appearance in more than 20 years.Fabio Luisi conducts his first Met performances of the opera, which stars Karita Mattila in her Met role debut as Amelia, Marcelo Álvarez and Roberto De Biasio as Gustavo III,Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Anckarström, Dolora Zajick and Stephanie Blythe as the fortuneteller Ulrica, and Kathleen Kim as the page Oscar. Alden, whose production is set in a dreamlike, early 20^th-century Swedish environment, says that “Un Ballo in Maschera is one of Verdi’s greatest and most brilliant scores, with a variety of different colors. It alternates between the light and the intensely melodramatic. Verdi pulls it all together with unbelievable theatrical energy. Ballo is theatrical dynamite.”

Maria Stuarda - Gaetano DonizettiMet PremierePremiere: December 31
Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: David McVicar
Set & Costume Designer: John MacFarlane
Lighting Designed By: Jennifer Tipton
Choreographer: Leah Hausman
Cast: Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda), Elza van den Heever* (Elisabetta), Francesco Meli (Leicester), Joshua Hopkins (Cecil), Matthew Rose (Talbot)
Live in HD: January 19, 2013

David McVicar, who staged last season’s Met premiere of Anna Bolena, directs the company premiere of the second opera in Donizetti’s famous trilogy of operas about Tudor-era queens. “Donizetti’s three Tudor operas are very different in tone, mood, and musical content,” McVicar says. “With Maria Stuarda being a different kind of opera than last season’s Anna Bolena, which we presented with a great deal of historical accuracy, we’ve gone for a visual style which is freer. Rather than reflecting history, it reflects the romantic nature of this retelling of the story and the sweeping romantic nature of Donizetti’s music.” Joyce DiDonato sings the title role of the defiant Mary, Queen of Scots. South African soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met debut as Mary’s formidable rival, Queen Elizabeth I. Maurizio Benini conducts a cast that also includes Francesco Melias the Earl of Leicester, Joshua Hopkins as Cecil, and Matthew Rose as Talbot.

Rigoletto - Giuseppe VerdiPremiere: January 28, 2013
Conductor: Michele Mariotti/Marco Armiliato
Production: Michael Mayer*
Set Designer: Christine Jones*
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty*
Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams*
Choreographer: Steven Hoggett*

Cast: Diana Damrau/Lisette Oropesa (Gilda), Oksana Volkova*/Nancy Fabiola Herrera (Maddalena), Piotr Beczala/Vittorio Grigolo (Duke of Mantua), Željko Lučić/George Gagnidze (Rigoletto), Štefan Kocán/Enrico Giuseppe Iori* (Sparafucile)

Live in HD: February 16, 2013

Rising Italian conductor Michele Mariotti leads the new production premiere of Rigoletto, directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer in his Met debut. Mayer’s approach transports the story from 16^th-century Italy to Las Vegas in 1960, with a cast led by Željko Lučić in the title role, Diana Damrau as his daughter, Gilda, Piotr Beczala as the Duke of Mantua, Štefan Kocán as the assassin Sparafucile, and Oksana Volkova in her Met debut as Sparafucile’s seductive sister, Maddalena. “I’ve tried to imagine a recent world that captures the decadence of the Duke’s palace, where the participants are in pursuit of power, money, and beauty,” Mayer says. “Las Vegas in the ‘60s is such a world, where a kind of prankster energy could go bad—it’s the epitome of the kinds of events that happen in Rigoletto.” A second cast, conducted by Marco Armiliato, is led by Vittorio Grigolo, who made a heralded Met debut in September 2010 as Rodolfo in La Bohème, as the Duke of Mantua. George Gagnidze sings Rigoletto, Lisette Oropesa sings Gilda, Nancy Fabiola Herrera sings Maddalena, and Enrico Giuseppe Iori makes his Met debut as Sparafucile.

Parsifal - Richard WagnerPremiere: February 15, 2013
Conductor: Daniele Gatti/Asher Fisch
Production: François Girard*
Set Designer: Michael Levine
Costume Designer: Thibault Vancraenenbroeck*
Lighting Designer: David Finn*
Video Designer: Peter Flaherty*
Choreographer: Carolyn Choa
Dramaturg: Serge Lamothe*

Cast: Katarina Dalayman (Kundry), Jonas Kaufmann (Parsifal), Peter Mattei (Amfortas), Evgeny Nikitin (Klingsor), René Pape (Gurnemanz)

Live in HD: March 2, 2013

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra National de Lyon, and the Canadian Opera Company

Jonas Kaufmann makes his Met role debut as the title character in Parsifal, conducted byDaniele Gatti and directed by noted film and opera director François Girard in his Met debut. “Parsifal is not just an opera—it’s a mission. At the end of his life, Wagner was trying to reconcile all the aspects of his spirituality. It’s a sacred piece in the history of music,” Girard says. The cast also features Katarina Dalayman as Kundry, the mysterious woman who tempts Parsifal to betray his mission; Peter Mattei in his role debut as Amfortas, ruler of the Knights of the Holy Grail; René Pape in one of his greatest roles, the wise old knight Gurnemanz; and Evgeny Nikitin as the magician Klingsor.

Giulio Cesare - George Frideric HandelPremiere: April 4, 2013
Conductor: Harry Bicket
Production: David McVicar
Set Designer: Robert Jones
Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Choreographer: Andrew George
Cast: Natalie Dessay (Cleopatra), Alice Coote (Sesto), Patricia Bardon (Cornelia), David Daniels (Giulio Cesare), Christophe Dumaux (Tolomeo), Guido Loconsolo* (Achilla)

Live in HD: April 27, 2013

David McVicar’s second new production of the season is this dynamic staging of Giulio Cesare, a hit at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2005, which incorporates elements of Baroque theater and 19^th-century British imperialism to illuminate the opera’s themes of love, war, and empire building. “Giulio Cesare is a kaleidoscope of an opera—a semi-comic, semi-tragic adventure story. You get romance, you get drama, you get moments of political wheeling-and-dealing, complex family relationships—as well as real emotion and tragedy,” McVicar says. “It’s a miracle, and it has enabled me to express everything I feel is important about opera.” David Daniels stars as Caesar, opposite Natalie Dessay in her Met role debut as the bewitching Cleopatra, Alice Coote as Sesto, Patricia Bardon as Cornelia, Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo, and Guido Loconsolo in his Met debut as Achilla.

Casting News

Major Met Debuts

Notable Met debuts this season, in chronological order, include Italian conductor Michele Mariotti (September 28) leading Carmen; Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio as Leonora in Il Trovatore (September 29); English composer Thomas Adès, conducting his opera The Tempest (October 23); American tenor Alek Shrader as Ferdinand in The Tempest (October 23); English soprano Lucy Crowe as Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito(November 16); Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role of Aida(November 23); English bass David Soar as Masetto in Don Giovanni (November 28); South African soprano Elza van den Heever as Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda (December 31); Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais as Magda in La Rondine (January 11); Italian bass-baritone Nicola Ulivieri as The Tutor in Le Comte Ory (January 17); Belarusian mezzo-soprano Oksana Volkova as Maddalena in Rigoletto (January 28); Russian sopranoEkaterina Scherbachenko as Micaëla in Carmen (February 9); American tenor Andrew Richards as Don José in Carmen (February 9); Russian tenor Alexey Dolgov as Cassio inOtello (March 11); Austrian soprano Martina Serafin as Sieglinde in Die Walküre (April 13); Italian bass Enrico Giuseppe Iori as Sparafucile in Rigoletto (April 13); and Swedish tenor Lars Cleveman in the title role of Siegfried (April 20).

Met Role Debuts 

Many of the world’s greatest singers will add important new roles to their Met repertories in this season’s revivals. Among the most notable Met role debuts are (in chronological order): Iréne Theorin in the title role and Hibla Gerzmava as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot;Kate Royal as Micaëla and Yonghoon Lee as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen; Angela Meade as Leonora, Stephanie Blythe as Azucena, and Franco Vassallo and Alexey Markov as di Luna in Verdi’s Il Trovatore; Krassimira Stoyanova as Desdemona, José Cura in the title role, and Thomas Hampson as Iago in Verdi’s Otello; Mojca Erdmann as Susanna, Maija Kovalevska as the Countess, and Gerald Finley as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro; Ildar Abdrazakov in the title roles of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni; Barbara Frittoli as Vitellia, Elīna Garanča as Sesto, andGiuseppe Filianoti in the title role of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito; Susan Graham as Dido and Marcello Giordani as Aeneas in Berlioz’s Les Troyens; Nino Machaidze as Countess Adèle and Nathan Gunn as Raimbaud in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory; Ramón Vargas in the title role of Verdi’s Don Carlo; Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role of Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, opposite Marcello Giordani as Paolo; Diana Damrau as Violetta and Plácido Domingo as Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata; Piotr Beczalain the title role and John Relyea as Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust; Mark Delavanand Greer Grimsley as Wotan in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen; and Isabel Leonardas Blanche de la Force and Patricia Racette as Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.

Acclaimed Portrayals Reprised

Many stars will reprise some of their most acclaimed roles from recent seasons, including (in chronological order): Maria Guleghina in the title role of Turandot; Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role of Carmen; Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora in Il Trovatoreand Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo; Dolora Zajick as Azucena in Il Trovatore; Renée Fleming as Desdemona and Johan Botha in the title role of Otello; Olga Borodina as Amneris and Roberto Alagna as Radamès in Verdi’s Aida; Deborah Voigt as Cassandra in Les Troyens and Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen; Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of Le Comte Ory; Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rodrigo in Don Carlo; Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite in Faust; and Katarina Dalayman as Brünnhilde, Jay Hunter Morris as Siegfried, and Eric Owens as Alberich inDer Ring des Nibelungen.

Conducting News

Many of the world’s leading conductors are part of the 2012-13 season. Fabio Luisi, who was appointed the Met’s Principal Conductor in September 2011, conducts the new production of Un Ballo in Maschera, three Ring cycles, revivals of Les Troyens and Aida, and a concert with the MET Orchestra on December 2 at Carnegie Hall. Michele Mariotti makes his Met debut conducting Carmen and returns later in the season for the new production premiere of Rigoletto. Two conductors who have rarely performed at the Met, Daniele Gatti and Lorin Maazel, return to lead Parsifal and Don Carlo, respectively. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of La Traviata, and Edward Gardner (Don Giovanni) and David Robertson (Le Nozze di Figaro) conduct their first Met Mozart performances. Harry Bicket returns to lead a revival of La Clemenza di Tito and the new production premiere of Giulio Cesare. Semyon Bychkov leads Otello, which he conducted to acclaim in the 2007-08 season, and the October 14 MET Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall. Maurizio Benini conducts the opening night production of L’Elisir d’Amore, the Met premiere of Maria Stuarda, and a revival of Le Comte Ory. Alain Altinoglu, who conductedFaust last season, returns to lead Gounod’s opera again, and Louis Langrée adds an opera to his Met repertory with a revival of Dialogues des Carmélites. Marco Armiliato conductsRigoletto and a rare revival of Francesca da Rimini. Yves Abel leads the family presentation of The Barber of Seville, Ion Marin returns to the Met to conduct La Rondine, and Plácido Domingo conducts some performances of Otello for the first time at the Met.

As previously announced, the Met’s Music Director James Levine will not conduct in the 2012-13 season, as he takes time to recover from surgery.

The Met: Live in HD 2012-13

The 2012-13 season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 12 international movie theater transmissions of selected Saturday matinees. The HD season opens on October 13 withL’Elisir d’Amore and continues with Otello (October 27), The Tempest (November 10), La Clemenza di Tito (December 1), Un Ballo in Maschera (December 8), Aida (December 15),Les Troyens (January 5), Maria Stuarda (January 19), Rigoletto (February 16), Parsifal(March 2), Francesca da Rimini (March 16) and Giulio Cesare (April 27), offering a microcosm of the entire Met season.

The enormously successful Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series of live transmissions into movie theaters, which enters its seventh season in 2012-13, currently reaches more than 1,700 theaters in 54 countries. The Met launched its groundbreaking series in 2006 and quickly became the world’s leading alternative cinema content provider. More than 9.6 million tickets have been sold since the series’ inception. Close to 3 million tickets are expected to be sold in the current season alone.

Tickets for the 12 transmissions in the 2012-13 Live in HD season will go on sale in September in the U.S. and Canada, with Met Members offered priority before tickets are made available to the general public. International ticket sales dates and details on ordering tickets for the 2012-13 Live in HD series vary from country to country and will be announced separately by individual distributors.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg. Transmission of The Met: Live in HD in Canada is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline and Paul G. Desmarais Sr.

Within months of their initial live transmissions, the Live in HD programs are shown on PBS. The PBS series, Great Performances at the Met, is produced in association with PBS and WNET, with support from Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

New Holiday Presentation: The Barber of Seville

A new holiday presentation- an abridged two-hour version of Rossini's The Barber of Seville- opens on December 18.  Adapted by Barlett Sher from his full-length hit production that opened at the Met in 2006, the opera will be performed with a new libretto in English by J.D. McClatchy.  The family presentation will star Isabel Leonard as Rosina, 2008 National Council Auditions Winner Alek Shrader as Count Almaviva, Rodion Pogossov as Figaro,John Del Carlo as Dr. Bartolo, and Jordan Bisch as Don Basilio.  Yves Abel will conduct seven performances, including a weekday matinee; all performances will feature special reduced ticket prices.  Previous Met holiday presentaions have included an English-language adaptation of Julie Taymor's production of The Magic Flute and Richard Jones's production of Hansel and Gretel.

Repertory

The Met’s 2012-13 season will feature 21 revivals, including the new holiday presentation ofThe Barber of Seville and three complete Ring cycles.

Several works that have not been heard at the Met in some years will return to the repertory this season. Fabio Luisi will conduct Berlioz’s epic Les Troyens in the first revival of Francesca Zambello’s 2003 production. Marcello Giordani sings the role of the hero Aeneas, with Deborah Voigt as the cursed prophetess Cassandra and Susan Graham as Dido, the heartbroken queen of Carthage.

Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, in Piero Faggioni’s 1984 production, returns to the Met for the first time in more than 25 years. Marco Armiliato conducts Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role, opposite Marcello Giordani as Paolo and Mark Delavan as Gianciotto.

Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites will close the season, with Louis Langrée conducting John Dexter’s gripping production, last seen at the Met in 2003. The cast includes Isabel Leonard as Blanche de la Force, Patricia Racette as Madame Lidoine, and Felicity Palmer as Madame de Croissy.

Five Verdi revivals will help the Met commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the great Italian composer’s birth. Fabio Luisi conducts his first Met performances of Aida, with debuting Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska and Hui He sharing the title role, Olga Borodina as Amneris, and Marco Berti and Roberto Alagna as Radamès.

Lorin Maazel returns to the Met to conduct Don Carlo, featuring Ramón Vargas in his first Met performances of the title role, with Sondra Radvanovsky as Elisabeth de Valois, Anna Smirnova as Eboli, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rodrigo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II.

The towering masterpiece Otello returns to the repertory, with Johan Botha and José Cura sharing the demanding title role and Renée Fleming and Krassimira Stoyanova alternating as Desdemonda. Thomas Hampson and Falk Struckmann will make their Met role debuts as Iago, Otello’s disloyal ensign. Semyon Bychkov and Plácido Domingo conduct Verdi’s Shakespearean tragedy.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of La Traviata, with Diana Damrau and Saimir Pirgu in Met role debuts as Violetta and Alfredo. Plácido Domingo will add another role to his vast Met repertory as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s disapproving father. Germont will be the second baritone role Domingo has sung at the Met, following his triumph in the title role of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in the 2009-10 season.

David McVicar’s critically praised staging of Il Trovatore returns for 12 performances, all conducted by Daniele Callegari. The role of Leonora is shared by four sopranos: Carmen Giannattasio in her Met debut and Angela Meade in her house role debut, and Patricia Racette and Sondra Radvanovsky reprising their acclaimed portrayals heard in past Met seasons. Marco Berti sings the title role, opposite Franco Vassallo and Alexey Markov as di Luna and Dolora Zajick and Stephanie Blythe (in her Met role debut) as the gypsy Azucena.

Three Mozart revivals will be heard at the Met this season. La Clemenza di Tito’s three central roles are cast with stars making house role debuts. Barbara Frittoli sings Vitellia, Elīna Garanča is Sesto, and Giuseppe Filianoti takes the title role; Harry Bicket conducts.

Michael Grandage’s production of Don Giovanni returns, led by Edward Gardner and featuring a charismatic young cast in house role debuts. Ildar Abdrazakov sings the title role, Erwin Schrott is Leporello, and Charles Castronovo is Don Ottavio; Susanna Phillips (Donna Anna), Emma Bell (Donna Elvira), and Ekaterina Siurina (Zerlina) are the women they love and lust after.

Abdrazakov also sings his first Met performances of the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, opposite Mojca Erdmann as Susanna, Maija Kovalevska as the Countess, and Gerald Finley as the Count. David Robertson conducts the opera for the first time at the Met.

Bizet’s repertory favorite Carmen will return for a run of 13 performances in Richard Eyre’s hit production, led by debuting conductor Michele Mariotti. Anita Rachvelishvili sings the title role opposite Yonghoon Lee and Andrew Richards as Don José; Kate Royal and Ekaterina Scherbachenko as Micaëla; and Kyle Ketelsen and Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Escamillo.

Franco Zeffirelli’s spectacular production of Puccini’s Turandot returns, with Dan Ettinger conducting Maria Guleghina and Iréne Theorin as the cold-blooded princess and Hibla Gerzmava and Takesha Meshé Kizart as the slave girl Liù. Marco Berti, Marcello Giordani, and Walter Fraccaro share the role of Calàf, who risks his head to win Turandot’s hand, and James Morris and Samuel Ramey sing Timur.

Recent new productions of Gounod’s Faust, Puccini’s La Rondine, and Rossini’s Le Comte Ory enter the repertory this season. Marina Poplavskaya reprises her acclaimed Marguerite in Des McAnuff’s staging of Faust, with Piotr Beczala singing the title character in his house role debut. Kristine Opolais makes her Met debut as Magda, the tragic heroine of La Rondine, with Giuseppe Filianoti as Ruggero, the man she loves. Juan Diego Flórez will reprise his tour-de-force performance as the rakish title character in Bartlett Sher’s production of Le Comte Ory; this season, the lonely countess he conspires to seduce will be sung by Nino Machaidze in a house role debut.

Ring Cycles

The year 2013 is also the bicentennial of Wagner’s birth. In addition to the new production ofParsifal, the Met will present three complete cycles of the composer’s epic masterwork,Der Ring des Nibelungen, in April and May, conducted by Fabio Luisi in Robert Lepage’s stunning, technologically advanced production. The casts include Deborah Voigt and Katarina Dalayman as Brünnhilde; Jay Hunter Morris and Lars Cleveman as Siegfried; Mark Delavan and Greer Grimsley as Wotan; Hans-Peter König as Fafner, Hunding, and Hagen; Stephanie Blythe as Fricka; Eric Owens as Alberich; Martina Serafin in her Met debut as Sieglinde; and Simon O’Neill as Siegmund. The cycles will be the 111^th, 112^th and 113^thpresented at the Met since the first cycle in the Western Hemisphere was performed at the house in 1889. The Ring cycle is made possible by a generous gift from Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff.

Ticket Prices There will be an increase in ticket prices for the new season, averaging 4.2% on subscriptions and 7.6% on single tickets. Nearly 500 tickets in certain sections, including the orchestra, dress circle, balcony, and family circle, will decrease in price. The least expensive tickets will be priced at $20, a lower price than in past seasons. More than one-third of the Met’s seats will be available for less than $100.

Live Opening Night Screenings and Open Rehearsals  

In keeping with a tradition begun on Opening Night in 2006, the September 24 premiere ofL’Elisir d’Amore will be transmitted live to numerous large screens in Times Square and on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza. Attendance will be free at both locations; information on ticket distribution will be released at a later date.

The Met will continue its popular Open Rehearsal program, launched in 2006, which provides free dress rehearsal tickets to both students and members of the general public. The Open Rehearsals in the 2012-13 season will be L’Elisir d’Amore (September 20),Rigoletto (January 25), and La Traviata (March 11).

The MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

The MET Orchestra continues its highly acclaimed annual series at Carnegie Hall with three concerts. Semyon Bychkov will conduct the October 14 concert, featuring soprano soloist Eva-Maria Westbroek in Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder.” The program also includes the Overture and Bacchanale from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie.

Fabio Luisi conducts the December 2 concert, which features pianist Yefim Bronfman and the Orchestra’s concertmaster David Chan. The program will include Sofia Gubaidulina’s Violin Concerto, “In tempus praesens”; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”; and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

The final concert of the season, on May 19, will feature pianist Evgeny Kissin. The program will consist of Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4; Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 86; and Grieg’s Piano Concerto. The conductor for this concert will be announced at a later date.

New DVD releases

Three recent Live in HD transmissions will be released on DVD in the coming months. Two will be released on the Deutsche Grammophon label on April 3, 2012: David McVicar’s production of Il Trovatore, conducted by Marco Armiliato and starring Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, Marcelo Álvarez as Manrico, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as di Luna; and the centennial revival of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, conducted by Nicola Luisotti and starring Deborah Voigt as Minnie, Marcello Giordani as Dick Johnson, and Lucio Gallo as Jack Rance.

Also on April 3, EMI will release a DVD of the Met premiere production of Le Comte Ory, directed by Bartlett Sher, conducted by Maurizio Benini, and starring Juan Diego Flórez in the title role, Diana Damrau as Countess Adèle, and Joyce DiDonato as Isolier.

The Met on the Radio and the Web

The Met’s 82^nd consecutive Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast season kicks off on December 8 with a live broadcast of Un Ballo in Maschera and continues through the May 11 matinee of Götterdämmerung. The broadcast season will once again be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. Margaret Juntwaitreturns for her ninth season as host and Ira Siff returns for his sixth season as commentator for the broadcasts, which feature a range of dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz. The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season will be sponsored by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury homebuilder®, with generous long-term support from the Annenberg Foundation and the Vincent A. Stabile Endowment for Broadcast Media, and through contributions from listeners worldwide.

Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 74 will present its seventh season as the country’s premier subscription radio channel dedicated to opera. Up to three live performances will be broadcast each week during the season, beginning with the Met’s Opening Night performance of L’Elisir d’Amore on September 24, in addition to historic broadcasts from the Met’s vast collection. Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM is available to subscribers in the United States and Canada. The subscription requires a satellite radio or is available via the internet or the Dish Network satellite television service.

The Met will continue to stream one live performance per week during the 2012-13 season on its website at metopera.org. The Met website also features artist interviews, video and audio clips, photo galleries, and other information about Met productions and initiatives.

The Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater “Opera/Music Theater Commissions” Program

The Met/LCT Opera/Music Theater Commissions program continues in 2012-13 with a focus on two promising projects that are currently being written in preparation for workshop productions in the coming year, and the continued development of the first work to be produced from this program, Nico Muhly’s Two Boys, set to a libretto by Craig Lucas. This is scheduled to premiere at the Met in the fall of 2013.

Scott Wheeler is composing the score to the late Romulus Linney’s libretto adaptation of his play The Sorrows of Frederick. Despite Linney’s death in January of last year, Wheeler continues to work on the piece. He expects to finish a workshop version of the score by the end of the Met season, with a workshop production of the piece planned for fall 2012.                       

Composer Jeanine Tesori and playwright Tony Kushner are collaborating on a project that will expand upon their one-act opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, which premiered at Glimmerglass Opera in August 2011. The one-act version dealt with the fight between an ailing Eugene O’Neill and his wife, Carlotta, during a raging snowstorm. Tesori and Kushner will expand this story to encompass more elements of the couple’s tempestuous relationship during the last years of O’Neill’s life, as he faced the realization that he could not complete his final masterpieces.

Muhly’s Two Boys, commissioned by the Met after being developed through workshops as part of the Met/Lincoln Center Opera/Music Theater Commissions program, received its world premiere at ENO’s London Coliseum in June 2011 in a co-production between the Met and English National Opera, directed by Bartlett Sher. Following those performances, the Met has been working with the creative team on further revisions in preparation for the Met premiere.

The Met/LCT Opera/Music Theater Commissions program is funded by a generous gift to the Met from the Francis Goelet Charitable Trusts.

Educational and Audience Development Initiatives

The Met’s popular MetTalks series of panel discussions with the stars and creative teams of new productions will return for a third season in 2012-13.

The Met’s HD Live in Schools program will continue for its sixth season, offering free opera transmissions to New York City schools in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. The program now enters its fifth season nationally, partnering with 25 school districts across the country to bring the Met’s live HD transmissions to students and teachers. The Met’s HD education program includes backstage visits for students, where they learn how costumes and scenery are constructed, Q&As with artists, access to final dress rehearsals, and teacher training workshops. Program and curriculum guides are created for in-school use in conjunction with HD screenings. The Met: HD Live in Schools is made possible by Bank of America.

MetOperaStudents, the Met’s popular initiative for older students, will return in 2012-13. The program brings exclusive offers, including sharply discounted tickets, to full-time college and graduate students age 29 and under, in addition to access to select final dress rehearsals, Opera Shop discounts, and invitations to special events such as MetTalks with Met directors and stars.

The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met

        During the 2012-13 season, the contemporary art space located in the Met’s south lobby will present two new exhibitions, one timed to the Met premiere of The Tempest and the other to the new production premiere of Rigoletto. Admission is free and Gallery Met is open to the public six days a week; the hours are Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. through the last intermission, and Saturdays from noon through the last intermission of the evening performance. For more information, visit metopera.org/gallerymet.

# # #

2012-13 Season

Repertory and Casting

Casting as of February 20, 2012* Met Debut

METROPOLITAN OPERA PREMIERE

THE TEMPEST                  
Metropolitan Opera Premiere: October 23, 2012A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, L'Opéra de Québec, and the Wiener Staatsoper, ViennaIn collaboration with Ex Machina

Composer                                 Thomas Adès
Libretto by                                Meredith Oakes

Conductor                                 Thomas Adès*
Production                                Robert Lepage
Set Designer                             Jasmine Catudal*
Costume Designer                     Kym Barrett*
Lighting Designer                      Michel Beaulieu*
Video Designer                         David Leclerc*

Ariel                                         Audrey Luna
Miranda                                    Isabel Leonard
Trinculo                                    Iestyn Davies
Ferdinand                                  Alek Shrader*
Caliban                                     Alan Oke
King of Naples                          William Burden
Antonio                                     Toby Spence
Prospero                                   Simon Keenlyside

(October 23, 27, 31, November 3 mat, 6, 10 mat, 14, 17 mat)

Production a gift of Mrs. Bert S. Turner and Robert L. Turner

METROPOLITAN OPERA PREMIERE

MARIA STUARDA           
Metropolitan Opera Premiere: New Year’s Eve Gala, December 31, 2012

Composer                                 Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by                                Giuseppe Bardari

Conductor                                 Maurizio Benini
Production                                David McVicar
Set & Costume Designer           John Macfarlane
Lighting Designed by                 Jennifer Tipton
Choreographer                          Leah Hausman

Elisabetta                                  Elza van den Heever*
Maria Stuarda                           Joyce DiDonato
Leicester                                  Francesco Meli
Cecil                                         Joshua Hopkins
Talbot                                       Matthew Rose

(December 31, January 4, 8, 12,15, 19 mat, 23, 26)

Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund

NEW PRODUCTIONS

L’ELISIR D’AMORE                                            
Opening Night Gala Premiere: September 24, 2012

Composer                                 Gaetano DonizettiLibretto by                                Felice Romani

Conductor                                 Maurizio Benini
Production                                Bartlett Sher
Set Designer                             Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer                     Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designed by                 Jennifer Tipton

Adina                                       Anna Netrebko
Nemorino                                  Matthew Polenzani
Belcore                                     Marius Kwiecien
Doctor Dulcamara                     Ambrogio Maestri/TBA

(September 24, 27, October 1, 5, 10, 13 mat, January 30, February 2, 6, 9 mat)

Production a gift of the Monteforte Foundation, Inc., in honor of Wim Kooyker

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA       
Premiere: November 8, 2012

Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Antonio Somma

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                David Alden
Set Designer                             Paul Steinberg*
Costume Designer                     Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designer                      Adam Silverman*
Choreographer                          Maxine Braham*

Amelia                                      Karita Mattila
Oscar                                       Kathleen Kim
Ulrica                                       Dolora Zajick/Stephanie Blythe
Gustavo III                               Marcelo Álvarez/Roberto De Biasio
Anckarström                             Dmitri Hvorostovsky

(November 8, 12, 15, 19, 24, 27, 30, December 4, 8 mat, 14)

Production a gift of the Betsy and Edward Cohen/Areté Foundation Fund for New Productions and Revivals

RIGOLETTOPremiere: January 28, 2013

Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Francesco Maria Piave

Conductor                                 Michele Mariotti/Marco Armiliato
Production                                Michael Mayer*
Set Designer                             Christine Jones*
Costume Designer                     Susan Hilferty*
Lighting Designer                      Kevin Adams*
Choreographer                          Steven Hoggett*

Gilda                                         Diana Damrau/Lisette Oropesa
Maddalena                                Oksana Volkova*/Nancy Fabiola Herrera
Duke of Mantua                        Piotr Beczala/Vittorio Grigolo
Rigoletto                                   Željko Lučić/George Gagnidze
Sparafucile                                Štefan Kocán/Enrico Giuseppe Iori*

                                               

(January 28, 31, February 4, 8, 12, 16 mat, 19, 23, April 13, 16, 20, 24, 27, May 1)

Production a gift of the Hermione Foundation, Laura Sloate, Trustee; and Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone

Additional funding from Marina Kellen French

Parsifal                          
Premiere: February 15, 2013A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra National de Lyon, and the Canadian Opera Company

Composer                                 Richard Wagner
Libretto by                                Richard Wagner

Conductor                                 Daniele Gatti/Asher Fisch
Production                                François Girard*
Set Designer                             Michael Levine
Costume Designer                     Thibault Vancraenenbroeck*
Lighting Designer                      David Finn*
Video Designer                         Peter Flaherty*
Choreographer                          Carolyn Choa
Dramaturg                                Serge Lamothe*

Kundry                                     Katarina Dalayman
Parsifal                                     Jonas Kaufmann
Amfortas                                  Peter Mattei
Klingsor                                    Evgeny Nikitin
Gurnemanz                               René Pape

(February 15, 18, 21, 27, March 2 mat, 5, 8)

Production a gift of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa

Major funding from Rolex

Additional funding from Marina Kellen French and the Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation

GIULIO CESARE
Premiere: April 4, 2013Production owned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Composer                                 George Frideric Handel
Libretto by                                Nicola Francesco Haym

Conductor                                 Harry Bicket
Production                                David McVicar
Set Designer                             Robert Jones
Costume Designer                     Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designer                      Paule Constable
Choreographer                          Andrew George

Cleopatra                                  Natalie Dessay
Sesto                                        Alice Coote    
Cornelia                                    Patricia Bardon
Giulio Cesare                            David Daniels
Tolomeo                                   Christophe Dumaux
Achilla                                      Guido Loconsolo*

(April 4, 9, 12, 19, 22, 27 mat, 30, May 3, 7, 10)

Production a gift of the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, in memory of William B. Warren, former Co-Trustee and Governor of the Adams Foundation

REPERTORY

AIDAComposer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Antonio Ghislanzoni

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Sonja Frisell
Set Designer                             Gianni Quaranta
Costume Designer                     Dada Saligeri
Lighting Designer                      Gil Wechsler
Choreographer                          Alexei Ratmansky

Aida                                         Liudmyla Monastyrska*/Hui He
Amneris                                    Olga Borodina
Radamès                                  Marco Berti/Roberto Alagna   
Amonasro                                 Alberto Mastromarino/George Gagnidze
Ramfis                                      Štefan Kocán
The King                                  Miklós Sebestyén

(November 23, 26, 29, December 3, 7, 12, 15 mat, 19, 22, 28)

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE        
Composer                                 Gioachino RossiniLibretto by                                Cesare Sterbini

Conductor                                 Yves Abel
Production                                Bartlett Sher
Set Designer                             Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer                     Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designer                      Christopher Akerlind
Translation                                J.D. McClatchy

Rosina                                      Isabel Leonard
Count Almaviva                        Alek Shrader
Figaro                                       Rodion Pogossov
Dr. Bartolo                               John Del Carlo
Don Basilio                               Jordan Bisch

(December 18, 22 mat, 26 mat, 27, 29, January 3, 5)

Abridged production a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr. 

Original production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund

CARMEN                           
Composer                                 Georges BizetLibretto by                                Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

Conductor                                 Michele Mariotti*
Production                                Richard Eyre
Set & Costume Designer           Rob Howell
Lighting Designer                      Peter Mumford
Choreographer                          Christopher Wheeldon

Micaëla                                    Kate Royal/Ekaterina Scherbachenko*/Hei-Kyung Hong
Carmen                                    Anita Rachvelishvili
Don José                                  Yonghoon Lee/Andrew Richards*
Escamillo                                  Kyle Ketelsen/Dwayne Croft/Teddy Tahu Rhodes

(September 28, October 2, 6, 11, 15, 18, February 9, 13, 16, 20, 23 mat, 26, Mar 1)

LA CLEMENZA DI TITOComposer                                 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by                                Caterino Mazzolà

Conductor                                 Harry Bicket
Production                                Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Set & Costume Designer           Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Lighting Designer                      Gil Wechsler

Servilia                                     Lucy Crowe*
Vitellia                                      Barbara Frittoli
Sesto                                        Elīna Garanča
Annio                                       Kate Lindsey
Tito                                          Giuseppe Filianoti/Russell Thomas
Publio                                       Oren Gradus

(November 16, 20, 24 mat, December 1 mat, 6, 10)

LE COMTE ORYComposer                                 Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by                                Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson

Conductor                                 Maurizio Benini
Production                                Bartlett Sher
Set Designer                             Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer                     Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designer                      Brian MacDevitt

Countess Adèle                         Nino Machaidze
Isolier                                       Karine Deshayes
Ragonde                                   Susanne Resmark
Count Ory                                 Juan Diego Flórez
Raimbaud                                 Nathan Gunn
The Tutor                                 Nicola Ulivieri*

(January 17, 21, 25, 29, February 2 mat, 5)

DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITESComposer                                 Francis Poulenc
Libretto by                                Francis Poulenc

Conductor                                 Louis Langrée
Production                                John Dexter
Set Designer                             David Reppa
Costume Designer                     Jane Greenwood
Lighting Designer                      Gil Wechsler

Blanche de la Force                   Isabel Leonard
Madame Lidoine                       Patricia Racette
Constance                                 Erin Morley
Mère Marie                              Elizabeth Bishop
Madame de Croissy                   Felicity Palmer
Chevalier de la Force                 Paul Appleby

 (May 4 mat, 9, 11)

DON CARLOA co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet

Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, translated by Achille de Lauzières

Conductor                                 Lorin Maazel
Production                                Nicholas Hytner
Set & Costume Designer           Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer                      Mark Henderson

Elisabeth de Valois                    Sondra Radvanovsky
Princess Eboli                           Anna Smirnova
Don Carlo                                 Ramón Vargas
Rodrigo, Count of Posa              Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Philip II                                     Ferruccio Furlanetto
Grand Inquisitor                         Eric Halfvarson

(February 22, 25, 28, March 6, 9 mat, 13, 16)

DON GIOVANNI               
Composer                                 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by                                Lorenzo da Ponte

Conductor                                 Edward Gardner
Production                                Michael Grandage
Set and Costume Designer         Christopher Oram
Lighting Designer                      Paule Constable
Choreographer                          Ben Wright

Donna Anna                             Susanna Phillips
Donna Elvira                             Emma Bell
Zerlina                                      Ekaterina Siurina
Don Ottavio                              Charles Castronovo
Don Giovanni                            Ildar Abdrazakov
Leporello                                  Erwin Schrott
Masetto                                    David Soar*
Commendatore                          Raymond Aceto

(November 28, December 1, 5, 8, 11, 15, 20)

FAUSTA co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera

Composer                                 Charles Gounod
Libretto by                                Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

Conductor                                 Alain Altinoglu
Production                                Des McAnuff
Set Designer                             Robert Brill
Costume Designer                     Paul Tazewell
Lighting Designer                      Peter Mumford
Choreographer                          Kelly Devine
Video Designer                         Sean Nieuwenhuis

Marguerite                                Marina Poplavskaya
Siébel                                       Julie Boulianne
Faust                                        Piotr Beczala
Valentin                                    Alexey Markov
Méphistophélès                         John Relyea

(Mar 21, 25, 28, April 2, 5)

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI
Composer                                 Riccardo Zandonai
Libretto by                                Tito Ricordi

Conductor                                 Marco Armiliato
Production                                Piero Faggioni
Set Designer                             Ezio Frigerio
Costume Designer                     Franca Squarciapino
Lighting Designer                      Gil Wechsler
Choreographer                          Donald Mahler

Francesca                                 Eva-Maria Westbroek
Paolo il Bello                             Marcello Giordani
Malatestino                               Robert Brubaker
Gianciotto                                 Mark Delavan

(March 4, 9, 12, 16 mat, 19, 22)

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG 
In collaboration with Ex MachinaComposer                                 Richard Wagner
Libretto by                                Richard Wagner

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Robert Lepage
Associate Director                    Neilson Vignola
Set Designer                             Carl Fillion
Costume Designer                     François St-Aubin
Lighting Designer                      Etienne Boucher
Video Image Artist                    Lionel Arnould

Brünnhilde                                Deborah Voigt/Katarina Dalayman
Gutrune                                    Wendy Bryn Harmer
Waltraute                                  Karen Cargill
Siegfried                                   Jay Hunter Morris/Lars Cleveman
Gunther                                    Iain Paterson
Alberich                                    Eric Owens/Richard Paul Fink
Hagen                                      Hans-Peter König

 (April 23, May 2, 11 mat)Production a gift of Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff

LE NOZZE DI FIGAROComposer                                 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by                                Lorenzo da Ponte

Conductor                                 David Robertson
Production                                Jonathan Miller
Set Designer                             Peter J. Davison
Lighting Designer                      Mark McCullough
Choreographer                          Terry John Bates

Countess Almaviva                    Maija Kovalevska/Hei-Kyung Hong
Susanna                                    Mojca Erdmann
Cherubino                                 Christine Schäfer
Count Almaviva                        Gerald Finley
Figaro                                       Ildar Abdrazakov

(October 26, 29, November 3, 7, 10, 13, 17)

OTELLO                             
Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Arrigo Boito

Conductor                                 Semyon Bychkov/Plácido Domingo
Production                                Elijah Moshinsky
Set Designer                             Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer                     Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer                      Duane Schuler
Choreographer                          Eleanor Fazan

Desdemona                               Renée Fleming/Krassimira Stoyanova
Otello                                       Johan Botha/José Cura
Cassio                                      Michael Fabiano/Alexey Dolgov*
Iago                                          Falk Struckmann/Thomas Hampson

(October 9, 13, 16, 20 mat, 27 mat, Mar 11, 15, 20, 23, 27, 30)

DAS RHEINGOLDIn collaboration with Ex Machina

Composer                                 Richard Wagner
Libretto by                                Richard Wagner

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Robert Lepage
Associate Director                    Neilson Vignola
Set Designer                             Carl Fillion
Costume Designer                     François St-Aubin
Lighting Designer                      Etienne Boucher
Video Image Artist                    Boris Firquet

Freia                                         Wendy Bryn Harmer
Fricka                                       Stephanie Blythe
Erda                                         Meredith Arwady
Loge                                         Stefan Margita
Mime                                        Gerhard Siegel/Robert Brubaker
Wotan                                      Mark Delavan/Greer Grimsley
Alberich                                    Eric Owens/Richard Paul Fink
Fasolt                                       Franz-Josef Selig
Fafner                                      Hans-Peter König

(April 6 mat, 25, May 4)

Production a gift of Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff

La Rondine                    
A co-production of Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Composer                                 Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by                                Giuseppe Adami

Conductor                                 Ion Marin
Production                                Nicolas Joël
Staged by                                  Stephen Barlow
Set Designer                             Ezio Frigerio
Costume Designer                     Franca Squarciapino
Lighting Designer                      Duane Schuler

Magda                                      Kristine Opolais*        
Lisette                                      Anna Christy
Ruggero                                    Giuseppe Filianoti
Prunier                                     Marius Brenciu
Rambaldo                                 Dwayne Croft

(January 11, 14, 18, 22, 26 mat)

SIEGFRIED                                                          
In collaboration with Ex Machina

Composer                                 Richard WagnerLibretto by                                Richard Wagner

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Robert Lepage
Associate Director                    Neilson Vignola
Set Designer                             Carl Fillion
Costume Designer                     François St-Aubin
Lighting Designer                      Etienne Boucher
Video Image Artist                    Pedro Pires

                                             
Brünnhilde                                Deborah Voigt/Katarina Dalayman
Erda                                         Meredith Arwady
Siegfried                                   Jay Hunter Morris/Lars Cleveman*
Mime                                        Gerhard Siegel/Robert Brubaker
Wanderer                                 Mark Delavan/Greer Grimsley
Alberich                                    Eric Owens/Richard Paul Fink

(Apr 20 mat, 29, May 8)

Production a gift of Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff

LA TRAVIATA                  
Original production of the Salzburger Festspiele, with thanks to De Nederlandse Opera

Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Francesco Maria Piave

Conductor                                 Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production                                Willy Decker
Set & Costume Designer           Wolfgang Gussman
Lighting Designer                      Hans Toelstede
Choreographer                          Athol Farmer

Violetta Valéry                          Diana Damrau
Alfredo Germont                       Saimir Pirgu   
Giorgio Germont                        Plácido Domingo

(March 14, 18, 23 mat, 26, 30 mat, April 3, 6)

Il TrovatoreA co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the San Francisco Opera Association

Composer                                 Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by                                Salvadore Cammarano

Conductor                                 Daniele Callegari
Production                                David McVicar
Set Designer                             Charles Edwards
Costume Designer                     Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting Designed by                 Jennifer Tipton
Choreographer                          Leah Hausman

Leonora                                    Carmen Giannattasio*/Sondra Radvanovsky/Patricia Racette/Angela Meade
Azucena                                   Dolora Zajick/Stephanie Blythe
Manrico                                    TBA/Marco Berti
Count di Luna                           Franco Vassallo/Àngel Òdena*/Alexey Markov
Ferrando                                   Morris Robinson/Christophoros Stamboglis

(September 29 mat, October 4, 8, 12, 17, 20, 25, January 9, 12 mat, 16, 19, 24)

LES TROYENSComposer                                 Hector Berlioz
Libretto by                                Hector Berlioz

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Francesca Zambello
Set Designer                             Maria Bjørnson
Costume Designer                     Anita Yavich
Lighting Designer                      James F. Ingalls
Choreographer                          Doug Varone

Cassandra                                 Deborah Voigt
Dido                                         Susan Graham
Anna                                        Karen Cargill
Aeneas                                     Marcello Giordani
Iopas                                        Eric Cutler
Coroebus                                  Dwayne Croft
Narbal                                      Kwangchul Youn

(December 13, 17, 21, 26, 29 mat, January 1, 5 mat)

TurandotComposer                                 Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by                                Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni

Conductor                                 Dan Ettinger
Production                                Franco Zeffirelli
Set Designer                             Franco Zeffirelli
Costume Designers                   Anna Anni & Dada Saligeri
Lighting Designer                      Gil Wechsler
Choreographer                          Chiang Ching

Turandot                                   Maria Guleghina/Iréne Theorin
Liù                                           Hibla Gerzmava/Takesha Meshé Kizart
Calàf                                        Marco Berti/Marcello Giordani/Walter Fraccaro
Timur                                       James Morris/Samuel Ramey

(September 26, 29, October 3, 6 mat, 30, November 2, 5, 9, January 2, 7, 10)

DIE WALKÜREIn collaboration with Ex Machina

Composer                                 Richard Wagner
Libretto by                                Richard Wagner

Conductor                                 Fabio Luisi
Production                                Robert Lepage
Associate Director                    Neilson Vignola
Set Designer                             Carl Fillion
Costume Designer                     François St-Aubin
Lighting Designer                      Etienne Boucher
Video Image Artist                    Boris Firquet

Brunnhilde                                Deborah Voigt/Katarina Dalayman
Sieglinde                                   Martina Serafin*
Fricka                                       Stephanie Blythe
Siegmund                                  Simon O’Neill
Wotan                                      Mark Delavan/Greer Grimsley
Hunding                                    Hans-Peter König

(April 13 mat, 26, May 6)

Production a gift of Ann Ziff and the Ziff Family, in memory of William Ziff