The Metropolitan Opera' 2008 - 2009 season

Brand new season for the Metropolitan Opera House! And certainly not without a reason. In its 125th Anniversary, Opera Forum decided to publish a brief review of the marvellous titles that the Met will offer in the upcoming season.

125th Anniversary Gala - James Levine will conduct a gala performance of fully staged scenes from classic Met productions, which will be realized with scenic projections and new costumes made from the original designs. The gala will also celebrate Plácido Domingo’s 40th anniversary with the company.

"Adriana Lecouvreur" - Guleghina, Borodina, Álvarez, Frontali; Domingo.

"La Bohème" - Kovalevska / Netrebko, Phillips, Vargas, Kwiecien, Hakala, Gradus, Plishka; Chaslin.

"Cavalleria Rusticana" / "I Pagliacci" - Gruber, Alagna / Cura, Taylor, Focile, Alagna / Cura, Mastromarino / Maestri, Maltman / Ladyuk; Rizzo.

"La Cenerentola" - Garanca, Brownlee, Alberghini, Corbelli, Relyea; Benini.

"La Damnation de Faust" - Graham, Giordani, Relyea; Levine.

Daniel Barenboim Recital - For this special solo recital, the renowned maestro has chosen an all-Liszt program, including transcriptions of three beloved Verdi operas.

"Doctor Atomic" - Cooke, Arwady, Finley, Fink, Owens; Gilbert.

"Don Giovanni" - Stoyanova, Graham, Leonard, Polenzani, Schrott, D'Arcangelo, Bloom, Ens; Langrée | Iveri, Schnitzer, Leonard, Polenzani, Schrott, D'Arcangelo, Bloom, Youn; Koenigs | Frittoli, Isokoski, Bayrakdarian, Breslik, Mattei, Ramey, Shenyang, Aceto; Langrée.

"L'Elisir d'Amore" - Gheorghiu / Cabell, Villazón, Vassallo, Terfel; Benini.

"Eugene Onegin" - Mattila, Semenchuk, Beczala, Hampson, Morris; Belohlávek.

"La Gioconda" - Voigt, Borodina, Podles, Machado, Guelfi, Morris; Callegari.

"Götterdämmerung" - The Ring’s final chapter is a saga of passion and vengeance, culminating in an act of self-sacrifice and redemption.

"Lucia di Lammermoor" - Damrau / Netrebko, Beczala / Villazón, Stoyanov / Kwiecien, Abdrazakov; Armiliato.

"Madama Butterfly" - Racette / Gallardo-Domâs, Zifchak, Aronica / Giordani, Croft; Summers.

"The Magic Flute" - Cabell, Sieden, Pittas, Pogossov, Owens; Fisch.

"La Rondine" (New Year's Eve Gala) - Gheorghiu, Alagna; Joël.

Opening Night Gala - For the season-opening gala starring Renée Fleming on September 22, James Levine and Marco Armiliato will conduct fully staged performances of the second act of Verdi’s La Traviata, the third act of Massenet’s Manon, and the final scene from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson and Dwayne Croft join the soprano for this season-opener.

"Orfeo ed Euridice" - de Niese, Murphy / Huang, Blythe; Levine.

"The Queen of Spades" - Guleghina, Domashenko, Palmer, Heppner, Delavan, Stoyanov; Ozawa.

"Das Rheingold" - Harmer, Naef, Grove, Begley, Siegel, Morris, Fink, Selig, Tomlinson; Levine.

"Rigoletto" - Kurzak, Vizin, Filianoti / Beczala, Lucic, Petrenko; Frizza | Damrau, Mumford / Vizin, Calleja, Frontali, Aceto; Frizza.

"Rusalka" - Fleming, Goerke, Blythe, Antonenko, Sigmundsson; Belohlávek.

"Salome" - Mattila, Komlósi, Begley, Kaiser, Uusitalo; Franck.

"Siegfried" - Gods and monsters vanish before the greater power of human love as the young hero Siegfried, played by Christian Franz, pursues his destiny to unite with Brünnhilde.

"La Sonnambula" - Dessay, Flórez, Pertusi; Pidò.

"Thaïs" - Fleming, Schade, Hampson; López-Cobos.

"La Traviata" - Harteros, Giordano, Dobber / Lucic; Carignani.

"Tristan und Isolde" - Dalayman, DeYoung, Seiffert, Grochowski, Pape / Youn; Barenboim.

"Il Trovatore" - Radvanovsky, Zajick / D'Intino, Licitra, Hvorostovsky, Youn; Noseda | Papian, D'Intino, Berti, Lucic, Flores; Frizza.

"Die Walküre" - Brewer, Meier, Naef, Botha, Morris, Tomlinson; Levine.

Rolando Villazón, the new production of Latin America

Rolando Villazón was born in 1972 in Mexico City, Mexico. He is the new star opera tenor of Latin America, together with many other great opera singers such as the also Mexicans Francisco Araiza and Ramón Vargas, the Argentinian Marcelo Álvarez and the Peruvians Juan Diego Flórez and Luis Alva.

At the age of 11, he began studying music, acting, contemporary dancing and ballet at the Espacios Academy for the Performing Arts. It was the baritone Arutro Nieto, his first voice teacher, who introduced Villazón in the world of opera in 1990. He continued his vocal preparation at the National Conservatory of Music in 1992, under the guidance of Enrique Jaso. There, he sang Dorvil from "La Scala di Sieta", Florville from "Il Signor Bruschino", and Alessandro from "Il Re Pastore". After winning two national contests in Mexico City and Guanajuato, Villazón became a student of baritone Gabriel Mijares, with whom he continued his studies before launching an international career.

He became a member of the Pittsburgh Opera's Young Artists Program in 1998 where he appeared in productions of "I Capuleti ed i Montecchi", "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Samuel Barber's "Vanessa". He subsequently entered the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera where he performed the role of Alfredo in "La Traviata" and also participated in master classes with Joan Sutherland. Rolando Villazón won the second prize in Plácido Domingo's 1999 Operalia competition as well as the first prize for Zarzuela and the Prize of the Public.

He made his European debut as Des Grieux in Massenet's "Manon" at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and immediately after came his first appearance in France, appearing as Rodolfo for the Opéra de Lyon in December of 1999, the role of his subsequent debut in Rome. He made then his debut at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste in "La Traviata" and was then invited to replace an ailing colleague in the same work at the Opera Bastille in Paris. These performances in May 2000 brought the artist to international attention.

Rolando Villazón is internationally recognized as one of the leading lyric tenors of our day and has been acclaimed for performances at leading theatres across the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Nice, Berlin State Opera, New York City Opera and many others. Some call him, and fairly, "the heir of Plácido Domingo".

In August 2005, he sang a highly regarded Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi and directed by Willy Decker, with Anna Netrebko, his frequent singing partner, as Violetta Valéry. They have also appeared together in a video version of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore", available on DVD. For the rest of the 2007 season Villazón cancelled all his performances, including his debut recital at the Carnegie Hall and "Roméo et Juliette" at the Metropolitan Opera House, due to controversial health problems.

After a compulsory five months-rest prescripted by his personal physician, this year Rolando Villazón is back onto the stages full of energy and will to face all kinds of challenges.

"All the odds and hard moments are welcome. That's what makes us complete human beings. These five months have been really important and came when they had to come"

He felt terribly for canceling all his commitments, moreover, he didn't know wether he was facing the end of a successful career or not. Despite all odds, Villazón assures he had full support of two good friends of him, Plácido Domingo and Daniel Baremboin.

The good news is that Rolando Villazón is back, with his voice fully recovered and willing to delight us with his extraordinary talent.

The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fifth part)

Fifth part ef the Met's new season. Great productions! Hope you like them!

"Otello" - 2008 - Feb 11, 15, 18, 22, 26 | Mar 1, 4, 8
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Libretist: Arrigo Boito
Approximate running time: 3hs. 5min.

Desdemona: Renée Fleming
Otello: Johan Botha
Iago: Carlo Guelfi
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov

---

"Roméo et Juliette" - 2007 - Dec 8, 12, 15, 20, 27, 31
Composer: Charles Gounod - Librettist: Jules Barbier, Michel Carré
Approximate running time: 3hs. 5min.

Juliette: Anna Netrebko
Stéphano: Isable Leonard / Kate Lindsay
Roméo: Joseph Kaiser / Roberto Alagna / Matthew Polenzani
Mercutio: Jeff Mattsey / Nathan Gunn
Frère Laurent: Robert Lloyd
Conductor: Plácido Domingo

---

"La Traviata" - 2008 - Mar 6, 12, 15, 19, 22
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Approximate running time: 3hs. 5min.

Violetta: Ruth Ann Swenson
Alfredo: Matthew Polenzani / Jonas Kaufmann
Germont: Dwayne Croft
Conductor: Marco Armiliato

The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (third part)

More productions of the Met's new season! As one of the most popular Opera Houses, the Met presents several titles for its Opera Season which I will be publishing in the next posts. Hurry up and buy your tickets! There are very few left!

"Ernani" - 2008 - Mar 17, 21, 26, 29 | Apr 2, 5, 10
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Approximate running time: 3hs. 40min.

Elvira: Sondra Radvanovsky
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Don Carlo: Thomas Hampson
de Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Roberto Abbado

---

"La Fille du Régiment" - 2008 - Apr 21, 26, 29 | May 5, 8, 12, 16
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Jules Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-Francois-Alfred Bayard
Approximate running time: 2hs. 45min.

Marie: Natalie Dessay
Marquise of Berkenfeld: Felicity Palmer
Tonio: Juan Diego Flórez / Barry Banks
Sulpice: Alessandro Corbelli
Duchess of Krakenthorp: Zoe Caldwell
Conductor: Marco Armiliato / Joseph Colaneri

---

"The First Emperor" - 2008 - May 10, 14, 17
Composer: Tan Dun - Librettist: Ha Jin, Tan Dun
Approximate running time: 2hs. 55min.

Princess Yueyang: Sarah Coburn
Shaman: Ning Liang
Mother of Yueyang: Susanne Mentzer
Emperor Qin: Plácido Domingo
Gao Jianli: Paul Groves
Gan. Wzng Jong: Hao Jiang Tian
Conductor: Tan Dun

Luciano Pavarotti (Oct 12, 1935 - Sep 06, 2007)

When looking at this picture I cannot help it to feel a deep sadness for the loss of this great tenor. Certainly the world of opera is different without him.

Born in the outskirts of Modena, northern Italy, Pavarotti was the son of Adele Venturi and Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and singer that encouraged his son to take singing lessons. The early years were not easy for Luciano, his family had little money and lived in a two-room apartment. His first musical influences were his father's recordings featuring Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso, but his true idol was Giuseppe di Stefano.

After graduating from the Scuola Magistrale, Pavarotti faced the dilemma of a carreer choice: he was interested in becoming a professional football goalkeeper. Finally, he let his love for music win out. Aware of the risks involved, his father gave his consent reluctantly. At the age of 19, Pavarotti began the serious study of music with Arrigo Pola and later on with Ettore Campogalliani, his mentors in belcanto repertoire.

Pavarotti made his debut in April 1961 as Rodolfo in Puccinni's La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia. During the following years he performed several roles such as the Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoore, Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore. But it wasn't until February 1972 in the production of Donizetti's La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera House that he had his major breakthrough with the nine high Cs in the signature aria. These performances earned him the title of "King of the High Cs".

During the 80s and 90s, Pavarotti recorded several duets with Eros Ramazzotti, Sting, Andrea Bocelli, U2 and Frank Sinatra. He formed "The Three Tenors" with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras in their first performance at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome conducted by Zubin Metha, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. They subsequently sang at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the 1994 World Cup finals and at the Champs de Mars in Paris in 1998.

He married Adua Verona for 34 years and they had three daughters: Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana. In December 2003 he married his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, with whom he had his fourth daughter Alice.

Pavarotti gave his last performace at the Met on March 2004, for which he received a 12-minute standing ovation for his role as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. On December, the same year, he announced a 40-city farewell tour. Despite of his retirement, on February 2006 Pavarotti sang Nessun Dorma at the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Turin, Italy. Unfortunately, the "Farewell Tour" was cancelled due to a pancreatic cancer diagnosed on July in that year.

On September 6, 2007 Terri Robson, Pavarotti's manager, wrote in an e-mail statement "The Maestro faught a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer [...] he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.". Pavarotti's funeral was held in Modena Cathedral under the Roman Catholic Church's ritual and he rests in the Montale Rangote cemetery.

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to." - Luciano Pavarotti.

Personaly, I like to remember him like this, with a joyful expression on his face for the surrounding applause of the audience.