Breaking News: Met To Announce New Season Tonight

Here is a preview of the upcoming season with only six new productions this year which is an all time low. The HD season looks like it will also be cut down to nine and all the new productions except Death of a Klinghoffer will be on HD as well as Don Carlos in French, Meistersingers, Caremen, and Les Contes de Hoffman. Once again these are only speculations and more details wil be given out tonight. 

The 2013-2014 Lyric Opera of Chicago Season Announced

The Chicago Opera has announced their new season with Anna Maria Martinez (Rusalka, Otello), Jonas Kaufmann (Gala Concert), Joyce Didonato (La Clemenza di Tito), Joseph Calleja (La Traviata) and Johan Botha (Otello) leading an all star season. Falk Struckmann (Otello), Brandon Jovanovich (Rusalka), Isabel Leonard, Nathan Gunn (Barber of Seville) and Thomas Hampson (Parsifal) will also take part in the season.

Le Comte Ory Opens Tonight

Juan Diego Florez returns to Rossini's delightful comedy Le Comte Ory with Pretty Yende in her Met debut. Nathan Gunn and Karine Deshayes join the cast with Maurizio Benini in the pit.

For more information on Le Comte read our preview linked here. 

For more on Juan Diego Florez Review our L'Elisir d'Amore review for last year 

Le Comte Ory Preview 2012-2013

Juan Diego Florez returns to the Met with his acclaimed turn as Le Comte Ory. Pretty Yende makes her anticipated Met debut.

The Production

Bartlett Sher made his third production with Le Comte Ory. He set the opera within a theater and it was supposed to be an opera within an opera. The concept was confusing because in the end the production did not work. Critics called it incompetent and stated that "Michael Yeargan's sets looked like something middle schoolers could knock together from cardboard boxes and shower curtains. But even they might have passed muster had Sher placed even a single witty scene before them. Instead, he settled for breast-grabbing, butt-groping and enough hammy business for actor Rob Besserer, in an extraneous role, to steal focus from every musical or dramatic climax." Some were less harsh stating that while it did not work they would accept it. The New York Times was one of the few to enjoy the production stating that Sher brought Nuance, and intelligence." The production is made up of an old barn of a place, with brick walls lined with candles. Within that big room there is a miniature theater with a low platform stage and a curtain in back." The sets are stark and sometimes boring to look at but if there are good performers on it the production works. With Juan Diego Florez back on board, Sher's production should be as refreshing as the first time around