Gaetano Donizetti’s  L’ELISIR D’AMORE

Sat 3 and Sun 4 November 2012

Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani star in one of the greatest comic gems in opera, as the fickle Adina and her besotted Nemorino. Bartlett Sher, whose previous productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Le Comte Ory, and Les Contes d’Hoffmann have delighted Met audiences, guides this lively staging, where surface charm will meet with real emotion. Mariusz Kwiecien is the blustery sergeant Belcore; Ambrogio Maestri and Erwin Schrott share the role of Dulcamara, the loveable quack and dispenser of the elixir. Maurizio Benini conducts.

Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: Bartlett Sher
Cast: Anna Netrebko (Adina), Matthew Polenzani (Nemorino), Mariusz Kwiecien (Belcore), Ambrogio Maestri (Doctor Dulcamara)

Giuseppe Verdi's  OTELLO

Sat 17 and Sun 18 November 2012

Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met. Johan Botha sings the title role opposite the acclaimed Desdemona of star soprano Renée Fleming, with Falk Struckmann as Iago and Semyon Bychkov conducting.

Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Production: Elijah Moshinsky
Cast: Renée Fleming (Desdemona), Johan Botha (Otello), Michael Fabiano (Cassio), Falk Struckmann (Iago)

Thomas Adès’  THE TEMPEST

Sat 1 and Sun 2 December 2012               MET PREMIERE PRODUCTION

Composer Thomas Adès conducts the Metropolitan Opera premiere of his 2004 work, which has been widely praised as a modern masterpiece. Director Robert Lepage recreates the interior of 18th-century La Scala, including the hidden workings underneath the stage, where Prospero, the banished Duke of Milan, practices his otherworldly arts. The magnetic baritone Simon Keenlyside stars as Prospero, a role he has sung to great acclaim in London.

Conductor: Thomas Adès
Libretto: Meredith Oakes
Production: Robert Lepage
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)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's  LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

Sat 15 and Sun 16 December 2012

The virtuosic Elina Garanca sings Sesto in Mozart’s drama set in ancient Rome. Giuseppe Filianoti is the noble Tito and Barbara Frittoli is Vitellia, in this handsome revival of one of the composer’s final masterpieces. Harry Bicket conducts.

Conductor: Harry Bicket
Production: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Cast: Lucy Crowe (Servilia), Barbara Frittoli (Vitellia), Elina Garanca (Sesto), Kate Lindsey (Annio), Giuseppe Filianoti (Tito)

Giuseppe Verdi's  UN BALLO IN MASCHERA

Sunday 13 January 2013 only

Accompanied by a thrilling score, Verdi’s vivid characters grapple with life and love, betrayal and death. Director David Alden’s dreamlike setting provides a compelling backdrop for this dramatic story of jealousy and vengeance. Marcelo Álvarez stars as the conflicted king; Sondra Radvanovsky is Amelia, the object of his secret passion; and Dmitri Hvorostovsky is her suspicious husband. Kathleen Kim is the page Oscar, and mezzosoprano powerhouses Dolora Zajick and Stephanie Blythe take turns singing the fortuneteller Ulrica. Fabio Luisi conducts.

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: David Alden
Cast: Karita Mattila (Amelia), Kathleen Kim (Oscar), Stephanie Blythe (Ulrica), Marcelo Álvarez (Gustavo III), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Anckarström)

Giuseppe Verdi's  AIDA

Sunday 27 January 2013 only

The Met’s unforgettable production of Verdi’s ancient Egyptian drama stars Liudmyla Monastyrska and Hui He. They share the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess caught in a love triangle with the heroic Radamès, played by Marco Berti and Roberto Alagna, and the proud Egyptian princess Amneris, sung by Dolora Zajick and Olga Borodina. Fabio Luisi conducts this revival, which features recent choreography by Alexei Ratmansky.

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Sonja Frisell
Cast: Liudmyla Monastyrska (Aida), Olga Borodina (Amneris), Roberto Alagna (Radamès), George Gagnidze (Amonasro), Stefan Kocán (Ramfis), Miklós Sebestyén (The King)

Hector Berlioz's  LES TROYENS

Sun 10 February 2013 only

The Met offers a rare opportunity to witness Berlioz’s vast epic, last performed at the Met in 2003. Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani, and Dwayne Croft lead the starry cast, portraying characters from the Trojan War. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi marshals the large-scale musical forces.

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Francesca Zambello
Cast: Deborah Voigt (Cassandra), Susan Graham (Dido), Marcello Giordani (Aeneas), Dwayne Croft (Coroebus), Kwangchul Youn (Narbal)

Gaetano Donizetti’s  MARIA STUARDA

Sat 23 and Sun 24 February 2013                              MET PREMIERE PRODUCTION

Fresh from her triumph in the Met’s The Enchanted Island, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, one of the world’s most exciting singers, takes on the virtuosic bel canto role of the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. 

Having scored a major success with his production of Anna Bolena, director David McVicar now turns to the second opera of Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy, which explores regal characters at fateful moments of their lives. Elza van den Heever sings Elizabeth I, and Maurizio Benini conducts.

Conductor: Maurizio Benini
Production: David McVicar
Cast: Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda),
Elza van den Heever (Elisabetta),
Francesco Meli (Leicester), Joshua Hopkins (Cecil), Matthew Rose (Talbot)

Giuseppe Verdi's  RIGOLETTO

Sat 23 and Sun 24 March 2013

Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960—an ideal setting for this eternal conflict of depravity and innocence. In this production, inspired by the antics of the Rat Pack, Piotr Beczala is the womanizing Duke of Mantua, with Željko Lucic as his tragic sidekick, Rigoletto. Diana Damrau is Rigoletto’s daughter—and their victim. Michele Mariotti conducts.

Conductor: Michele Mariotti
Production: Michael Mayer
Cast: Diana Damrau (Gilda), Oksana Volkova (Maddalena), Piotr Beczala (Duke of Mantua), Zeljko Lucic (Rigoletto), Stefan Kocán (Sparafucile)

Richard Wagner's  PARSIFAL

Sunday 14 April 2013 only

Director François Girard’s timeless new vision for Wagner’s final masterpiece explores the many facets of this mystical score, while designer Michael Levine (Eugene Onegin) creates a surreal landscape. Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who finds wisdom. His fellow Wagnerian luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and René Pape as the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts.

Conductor: Daniele Gatti
Production: François Girard
Cast: Katarina Dalayman (Kundry), Jonas Kaufmann (Parsifal), Peter Mattei (Amfortas), Evgeny Nikitin (Klingsor), René Pape (Gurnemanz)

Riccardo Zandonai's  FRANCESCA DA RIMINI

Sat 4 and Sun 5 May 2013

Zandonai’s compelling opera, inspired by an episode from Dante’s Inferno, returns in the Met’s ravishingly beautiful production, last seen in 1986. Dramatic soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and tenor Marcello Giordani are the doomed lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts.

Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Piero Faggioni
Cast: Eva-Maria Westbroek (Francesca),
Marcello Giordani (Paolo), Robert Brubaker (Malatestino), Mark Delavan (Gianciotto)

George Frideric Handel's  GIULIO CESARE

Sunday 19 May 2013 only

The opera that conquered London in Handel’s time comes to the Met in David McVicar’s inventive production—which triumphed at its Glyndebourne premiere in 2005. The Guardianpraised McVicar’s “witty, sexy, and tragic post-colonial framing of Handel’s Caesar and Cleopatra tale,” which incorporates elements of Baroque theater and 19th-century British imperialism to illuminate the opera’s ideas of love, war, and empire building. The world’s leading countertenor, David Daniels, sings the title role opposite Natalie Dessay as an irresistibly exotic Cleopatra. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts.

Conductor: Harry Bicket
Production: David McVicar
Cast: Natalie Dessay (Cleopatra), Alice Coote (Sesto), Patricia Bardon (Cornelia), David Daniels (Giulio Cesare), Christophe Dumaux (Tolomeo),
Guido Loconsolo (Achilla)