Turandot cancelled tonight

The Met has canceled Turandot tonight but will continue tomorrow night with The Tempest. For more information click here.

Hurricane Sandy forces the Met to Cancel performance

The Metropolitan Opera will cancel tomorrow nights performance of Le Nozze di Figaro due to Hurricane Sandy. The Met will be refunding or exchanging tickets for ticket holders. For more information click here.  

Le Nozze di Figaro opens Tomorrow!

Tomorrow Jonathon Miller's hit production returns to the Met in Mozart classic masterpiece Le Nozze di Figaro. Ildar Abdrazakov leads an all star cast that also includes Mojca Erdmann, Christine Schaefer, Gerald Finley, and Maija Kovalevska. Maestro David Robertson leads the Met Orchestra.

For more information on Le Nozze di Figaro check out our preview linked here.

For more on Mojca Erdmann read our Don Giovanni review.

For more on Ildar Abdrazakov read our Anna Bolena Review.

For more on Mozart read our La Clemenza di Tito and Don Giovanni previews. 

The Tempest opens tomorrow

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of The Tempest opens tomorrow starring Simon Keenlyside. Isabel Leonard, Alek Shrader and Audrey Luna join the all star cast led by Thomas Ades in the podium in Robert Lepage new production. 

For more information view our preview linked here.

For more information on Isabel Leonard view our barber of Seville review.

For more on Robert Lepage view our Gotterdammerung, Siegfried and Rheingold reviews  

Nixon in China to be released

Nonesuch has just announced the release of the Met's Nixon in China. The opera which stars James Maddalena, Kathleen Kim and is conducted by John Adams will be released on November 19th. To pre-order go to Nonesuch records. It will be released in DVD Blu-ray combo.

The complete 2013-2014 Met operas (These are Rumors)

Last we revealed the HDs on my post Rumor article and today  Parterre has revealed the complete 2013-2014 Met Opera season which includes some of the casts and all the new productions. 

As it stands there will only be 6 new productions as I Puritani will be a revival. There is no soprano attached to the role. Other mystery casting is Wozzeck which was rumored to include Karita Mattila and Thomas Hampson but at the moment nothing is confirmed. And a surprise is that L'Elisir d'Amore will be revived with Netrebko and Ramon Vargas. Enjoy the list!

The Tempest Preview 2012-2013

Simon Keenlyside leads an outstanding cast in Thomas Ades contemporary work in a new production by Ring director Robert Lepage.

The Production

The Tempest makes its New York Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on October 23. The opera which was composed by living composer Thomas Ades was first staged at the Royal Opera House. It later received a premiere in the US at the Santa Fe Opera and then was premiered in Canada in the Robert Lepage production that will now come to the Met. Lepage who made his debut in 2008 in La Damnation de Faust has been repeatedly accused of playing with his productions to create visuals and never really focusing on the text nor the story. For example his Ring cycle at the Met became one of the most polarizing productions to date as many criticized the lack of inventiveness in the production. Critics stated that it was a bunch of repetitive projections, none of which really exhibit technological advance that is leaps and bounds ahead of more traditional theatrical tricks? Where were the flashy images that would make us feel truly immersed in the environment created by these expensive, heavy, and even dangerous planks? Were a bunch of zebra stripes between scene changes because lack of imagination the most abstract LePage could come up with? Not to mention the different combinations of imagines portraying wood. Or all that running water time and again. Where were the plethora of shapes that these planks would form as previewed by the original Ring trailer? Was a spinning wheel really all it could come up with? For all the critiques, Lepage has obtained another chance with the Met. For his new production, he has decided to bring the action to the 18th century inside the original La Scala theater. He stated that La Scala was a magical place in the 18th century and because the opera is magical, he thought it would be interesting to subvert the action within the theater. The production premiered this past summer in Quebec where critics were mixed about it as they complained that production simply isolates the audience with its effects. Certain elements that bothered included Prospero overhearing Miranda and Ferdinand in a prompters box and Ariel manipulating a clunky spotlight. They also did not like the whole concept as it took away from the magic of Shakespeare's play. However on a good note they stated that the opening storm was inventive. Usually after first runs directors look back at their missteps and try and fix them as they did with Gotterdammerung and even Tosca. Working with a new cast Lepage will most likely find new territory  to cover that could make his vision more understandable and hopefully enjoyable. The Tempest marks Lepage fourth HD transmission