Live on screen directly from the Met,
it’s time for the opera!
 Once again the Met comes live by
satellite from New York City to Cineplex screens in
Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, and Toronto, among
hundreds of other locations worldwide. It’s the third season of
such marvelous broadcasts. And this year there are more operas
than ever before: eleven presentations, in fact, and nearly all
of them will be repeated, as noted below. Be sure to get your
tickets early, as last season several dates were sold out by
performance time! The dates and times appear below.
Opening Night Gala. Monday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 pm. This is a
celebration of the Met’s great soprano Renee Fleming, singing in
fully staged scenes from three of her worldwide triumphs:
Verdi’s La Traviata, Massenet’s Manon,
and Richard Strauss’s fascinating Capriccio. Miss
Fleming’s radiant voice and presence are among the loveliest in
opera, and she will be supported by other Met stars, among them
the sensational tenor Ramon Vargas, baritone Thomas Hampson, and
the Met’s beloved Music Director, James Levine.
Salome, by Richard Strauss. Oct. 1, at 1 pm. (Repeat, Nov.
15.) In the scandalous title role is beautiful Karita
Mattila, a sensation vocally and theatrically when we she first
sang it at the Met in 2004. The text, an adaptation of Oscar
Wilde’s notorious play, deals with the heroine’s shocking demand
for the head of John the Baptist—on a platter!. After a century
of triumph around the world, the score remains a magnificent one
vocally and dramatically.
Doctor Atomic, by John Adams. Nov. 8, at 1 pm. (Repeat, Dec.
6.) Like John Adams’s previous works, Dr. Atomic
is based on history: the secret development of the atomic bomb
in New Mexico during World War II: an issue of profound psychic
power for the bomb’s creator, and us. The stage director is the
brilliant and unpredictable Peter Sellars. The renowned Canadian
bass-baritone Gerald Finley will recreate the title role that he
created in the triumphant San Francisco world premiere three
years ago, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer.
La Damnation de Faust, by Hector Berlioz. Nov. 22, at 1:00
pm. (Repeat, Jan. 17, 2009.) Berlioz’s masterpiece is rarely
staged, but now it has the full treatment and an all-star cast:
Susan Graham as Marguerite, Marcello Giordani (last year’s
heart-breaking De Grieux in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut) as the
doomed Faust, and Canada’s wonderful young bass John Relyea
presiding over them as Mefistopheles. James Levine will conduct
and Robert LePage, one of Canada’s - and the world’s - most
imaginative men of the theatre, will direct. A rare treat all
around!
Thais, by Jules Massenet. Dec. 12 at 12 pm. (Note the
earlier time. Repeat, Feb. 14, 2009.) Who but the ravishing
Renee Fleming to portray Massenet’s irresistible Egyptian
courtesan and today’s leading lyric baritone Thomas Hampson as
her doomed victim, the monk Athanael? This lavish new production
by Jan Cox provides a rare opportunity to see Massenet’s sensual
realization of one of the world’s great love stories—at last!
La Rondine, by Giacomo Puccini. Jan. 10, 2009 at 1 pm.
(Repeat, Feb. 21.) Here is yet another chance to see a
delightful rarity: Puccini’s sometimes forgotten light
masterwork, La Rondine (The Swallow). This
charming Parisian romance takes place nearly a century after his
world-renowned La Boheme, and its Traviata-like
story has (surprise!) a touchingly happy ending. Puccini’s
score, written during World War I, is, as usual, unforgettable,
and we have as the lovers opera’s most famous married couple,
Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna: last season she was the
heartbreaking Mimi in La Boheme, and he was the
marvelous Romeo in Gounod’s magical opera.
Orfeo ed Eurydice, by C. W. Gluck. Jan. 24, 2009. (Repeat,
Mar. 14.) After two and half centuries Gluck’s opera remains
the world’s most beloved—and most-often-performed—baroque stage
work. All of the great lyric mezzos have sung and played its
hero—and now at last we have the Met’s Stephanie Blythe, in a
production directed by the great dancer-choreographer Mark
Morris. Danielle de Niese sings Eurydice and James Levine
conducts this intimate work.
Note: the remaining presentations this season will be:
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor,
Feb. 7 and April 4
Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly,
March 7 and April 18
Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula,
March 21 and April 25
Gioacchino Rossini’s La
Cenerentola (Cinderella),
May 9 and May 23
Further details will appear in a later
issue of Echo Germanica. With high appreciation for the
comments, research and assistance in writing this article to
Prof. London Green I wish you all happy opera-going!
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