The Opera Tattler

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The Met’s 2008-2009 Season

September 22 2008: Gala
September 23- October 16 2008: Salome
September 24- October 9 2008: La Gioconda
September 27-December 19 2008: Don Giovanni
October 3-25 2008: Lucia di Lammermoor
October 13- November 13 2008: Doctor Atomic
October 20- November 20 2008: La Traviata
October 24- November 22 2008: Madama Butterfly
November 7- December 4 2008: La Damnation de Faust
November 21- December 13 2008: The Queen of Spades
November 28- December 20 2008: Tristan und Isolde
December 8 2008- January 8 2009: Thaïs
December 15 2008- January 10 2009: La Bohème
December 22 2008- January 1 2009: Die Zauberflöte
December 31 2008- February 26 2009: La Rondine
January 9-31 2009: Orfeo ed Euridice
January 24- February 12 2009: Rigoletto
January 26- February 7 2009: Lucia di Lammermoor
January 30- February 21 2009: Eugene Onegin
February 6-28 2009: Adriana Lecouvreur
February 16- May 8 2009: Il Trovatore
February 27- March 7 2009: Madama Butterfly
March 2- April 3 2009: La Sonnambula
March 9-21 2009: Rusalka
March 19- April 10 2009: Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci
March 25- May 4 2009: Das Rheingold
March 31- April 22 2009: L'Elisir d'Amore
April 1-17 2009: Rigoletto
April 6- May 5 2009: Die Walküre
April 13-24 2009: Don Giovanni
April 18- May 7 2009: Siegfried
April 25- May 9 2009: Götterdämmerung
May 1-9 2009: La Cenerentola

The Met's 125th season includes 6 new productions and 22 revivals. Susan Graham is singing Marguerite and Don Elvira. Karita Mattila sings Tatiana and Salomé. Juha Uusitalo has his Met debut as Jokanaan in Salomé. Deborah Voigt stars in the title role of La Gioconda with Ewa Podleś as La Cieca, and Olga Borodina as Laura Badoero. Thomas Hampson is Athanaël in Thaïs, opposite of Renée Fleming, and Onegin, opposite of Mattila as aforementioned. Fleming also sings the title role in Rusalka. Anna Netrebko will sing Mimi and share the role of Lucia with Diana Damrau. Netrebko's Edgardo is, of course, Rolando Villazón. Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna (Giuseppe Filianoti in February performances) sing in La Rondine, the production is the same one that was seen in San Francisco last Fall and which will be broadcast this weekend. Gheorghiu stars in L'Elisir opposite of Rolando Villazón. Alagna also appears in Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. John Relyea is in two productions, La Damnation de Faust and La Cenerentola. René Pape sings Hunding and Fasolt in the Ring and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde. Daniel Barenboim is making his Met debut conducting Tristan.

McVicar's Il Trovatore is a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera. The Met performances feature Salvatore Licitra, along with Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky for the first performances, and then Marco Berti, Hasmik Papian, Luciana D'Intino, and Željko Lučić.

I am most likely to see Orfeo ed Euridice, the Mark Morris production was my very first opera when it was performed in Berkeley several years ago. I am disappointed to not see Ruth Ann Swenson or Andreas Scholl in this lineup for the next season.

Press Release | Official Site

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8 responses to “The Met’s 2008-2009 Season”

  1. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Yep, following the pattern – nothing pre-Mozart except for the Orfeo revival. Also, new stuff which has been tried out at other houses (e.g. Dr. Atomic). Mostly crowd pleasers.
    I’m now curious to know what 10 will be broadcast in HDTV. I’m hoping against hope that it will be Don Giovanni so that can see either Graham, Schrott, or Mattei in it (I don’t know yet who is in which performance). SF is soon showing the 2007 DG performance, so perhaps the Met might consider that overkill.
    I have seen elsewhere that Joyce DiDonato has a recital of Handel “Mad scenes” at Carnegie Hall in Jan 2009, so that would be a good reason to see Orfeo at the same time.

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  2. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    It is a safe, boring season. At least the Dr. Atomic production is a new one, I might see it in London when it goes to ENO.
    I am sure the 10 broadcasts will include Fleming, Gheorghiu, and Netrebko. For Giovanni Schrott is in the 2008 performances, Graham in the earliest performances, Mattei in the 2009 performances. Can one really overdo it with Don Giovanni? I have a feeling that Susie is more in key than Twyla was anyway.

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  3. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Re Susie – I was hoping that they would tape Iphigenie (either SF or Met) but no dice. They’re not even broadcasting La Clemenza di Tito on the radio! I wonder if she has some strict contract deal.
    I also read in the March GRAMOPHONE – it was the blurb on April’s issue – that a DVD of the Covent Garden production of Daughter of the Regiment with Natalie and JDF is being released, which explains why the Met won’t be releasing a DVD of its April 08 production. For what it’s worth! Now if someone would just release a DVD of JDF and Joyce DD in Barber, life would be REALLY good.

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  4. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    She was excellent as Iphigenie, I went to every performance in San Francisco. They didn’t film any of them in the first place, though it was on the radio at some point. I read in San Francisco Magazine that the general director wasn’t into that production, too weird for him, or something.

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  5. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Sorry to go on but wow!! I was stunned by that production and by the music. The part where she erased the names after singing “Oh Malheureuse Iphigenie” – I couldn’t move. I’m from Twin Cities so couldn’t go to every performance but would have practically mortgaged the townhome to do so. Did you know it was going to be such a stunner beforehand? It was both the production AND Gluck’s music. I am making up for lost time with opera and learning quickly; last June I didn’t know what a unique position he holds in opera history.

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  6. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I had a vague notion of the production as I saw photos of it from Chicago. I knew the cast was very strong and I adore Gluck, so I knew I would probably see most of the performances.
    I think Susan Graham completely ruined the Seattle production of Iphigenie for me. I couldn’t stand Nuccia Focile.

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  7. Sheila Avatar
    Sheila

    Wagner’s Ring at last. I hope that is among the HD events. I think it’s time to become a subscriber.

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  8. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I do hope the Ring is among the HD simulcasts.

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