out there in the dark
La Cieca is putting her entire nest egg into popcorn futures, since next season opera lovers will rarely emerge from their local movie palace. The Met will do an astonishing 11 HD simulcasts during the 2008-2009 season.Â
Monday, September 22, 2008: Opening Night Gala starring the astonishingly well-preserved Renée Fleming in fully staged performances of La Traviata (Act II), Manon (Act III), and the final scene from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson and Dwayne Croft support milady; James Levine and Marco Armiliato share the arduous conducting duties.
October 11:  Salome with Karita Mattila baring all or, perhaps, near-all.
November 8:  Doctor Atomic. A new production of the John Adams opera starring Gerald Finley as Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Sasha Cooke as his wife, Kitty, with Eric Owen and Richard Paul Fink. Alan Gilbert conducts.
November 22: La Damnation de Faust.  Robert Lepage directs a “reconceived” version of a co-production of the Saito Kinen Festival and Opéra National de Paris. Marcello Giordani and Susan Graham star, along with the utterly ubiqitous John Relyea. James Levine conducts.
December 20:  Thaïs. Renée Fleming salutes the holiday season in the role of a pagan hooker, and isn’t that Thomas Hampson under that monk’s hood?
January 10, 2009:  La Rondine. The Met’s “Divas Gone Wild Festival” continues with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna jerking the tears while Marco Armiliato conducts.
January 24: Orfeo. The Mark Morris dancers tread the stage once more, though they surely won’t drown out Stephanie Blythe.
February 7: Lucia. Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón are scheduled, but you might want to check back later for updates.
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March 7: Madama Butterfly. The smash hit Anthony Minghella production is telecast for the first time, with Cristina Gallardo-Domâs — one hopes in improved vocal form!
March 21: La Sonnambula.  Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez reunited for Mary Zimmerman’s sophomore directing effort, conducted by Evelino Pidò.
May 9: La Cenerentola.   ElÄ«na GaranÄa and Lawrence Brownlee should be pretty damn adorable together.
Regarding the idea of a Met Louise with Fleming or Gheorghiu.
Frankly I think Gheorghiu would be swamped by the role of Louise at the Met – and, if youthful appearance is a Met criteria for this role, I am not so sure she would pass muster by then either. She is lovely but she is beginning to look more mature as well.
what about Harteros as Louise with Kaufmann? She sang a superb Wally aria at the Oslo Opera Opening Gala. Hear you have a big lyric bordering on jugendlich-drammatische.
Racette might make a wonderful Louise. BTW: the San Francisco production by Lotfi Mansouri was supposedly lovely (inspired by Utrillo). Volpe asked Renee if she wanted to sing the opera at the Met and borrow that production. All the singers found the music boring and had not desire to return to the opera. I think it may be a piece whose time has passed but I am always happy to be proved wrong. However, it was a success for Fleming in San Francisco, I have a friend who went and thought she looked and sounded lovely and acted well. But she and Ramey and Hadley had no interest in returning to those roles. The latter two are non-combatants now for different reasons.
http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/_archive/1299/inreview.1299.html
Mark -
Brownlee is an amazingly good Rossini tenor and…of course you know they probably couldn’t get JDF. Did any of you all read the Sunday Times article about the young crop of Rossini tenors? Of course it was all about JDF, but it just goes to show. Mr. Gelb’s PR department is doing their job. They came across as rock stars.
Tubsinger, thanks for the recommendation. I was hoping to find something with a newer (digital, clearer sound) but it’s hard to beat Gedda and Veasey, true enough.
jstm2063–I assume from your comment that you actually mean “the body of Buoso Donati.”
Dnitzer: if you don’t mind mp3′s, here is a great performance of Solti conducting von Otter, Lewis and van Dam:
http://rapidshare.com/files/58471698/La_Damnation_de_Faust—Solti_CSO—Lewis-von_Otter-van_Dam—1990-acts_1_2.mp3
&
http://rapidshare.com/files/58502793/La_Damnation_de_Faust—Solti_CSO—Lewis-von_Otter-van_Dam—1990-acts_3_4.mp3
(I hope these split links work!)
Thanks for a response Sanford- as for the rest, I forgot nothing happens outside the USA- better to diss poor Rennay AGAIN
Ahh, the split links above work fine, but the “Click-to-listen” buttons, that somehow got added, are not likely to work.
quoth the maven: You are right, I meant the body of Buoso Donati. hahahahaha.
For all of those who are wondering about my comments regarding RF and Louise, they were intended not as a slam at her, but as a slam at PG’s body and age facism. I will try to make myself clearer in the future.