And if there were a problem with Muti, there’s a cover conductor on tap and it’s not exactly Gurrelieder. A competent conductor could produce a competent performance.

I hope it doesn’t come to a substitution, but they are obviously having trouble with this production of Attila.

I’ve never seen Macbeth or a grand production of Ballo (I have seen it performed by one of the “pocket” opera companies out here), so I wouldn’t be too heartbroken to see one of those. But if I had purchased tickets to see Attila at the Met and found a switcheroo, I’d be pretty upset, I’m sure. Again, I hope they work out their issues.

Depends on what the substitution opera is. Back in the day when the Met toured, they alwars carried a Boheme because it was the understanding that in case of emergency, they could always put a Boheme together fairly fast. Whether people agree or not is another matter.

Now, the Met has done this in the past. The last time I remember was about 10 years ago. They put an announcement that went something like Pavarotti has decided not to add Don Alvaro to his rep, (which was bullshit because Pavarotti showed up not knowing the role) and they subbed Ballo instead.

Now, if we are going to predict an opera substitution, we need to see 1. What is the Mer NOT showing this season and 2. what opera could be presented with the same cast, so no costly last minute engagements and contracted payments senza performance have to be made.

This cast is not a Boheme cast. Much as Urmana would love to get her hands on Mimi, we are safe to say that no Boheme performances will be added. I see Ballo is not in the season and neither is Macbeth. IF a substitution is needed, the cast could perform either opera without much changes, and enough rehearsal time. If Ballo is subbed instead, a suitable Ulrica will need to be brought in, if it is Macbeth, Vargas’ participation could be put into question, as I’m not sure he would be happy with such a secondary role, specially when the Met cast a beginner for the telecast.

Anyway it happens, it would be interesting to see what transpires. Much as they would like to make us believe that there are no problems, it is painfully obvious to the outside world that they are having issues with the production (be it the cast, the sets, whatever it is).

The language is ambiguous, but surely what they mean is “six of the seven new productions besides the one we just mentioned, i.e., Tosca.” And remember that the Sirius copy is written by PR people, not necessarily people who have the most intimate knowledge of the Met’s schedule. So I would say, don’t sweat this one for now. (In the meantime, Attila is still on the schedule and presumably has already been paid for, the production I mean, so let’s wait a bit before we panic.)

Must say I’m very impressed the regulars got on the Met’s case about this so quickly. Rumors have yet to fly elsewhere. Touching, kinda. But will take the fun out of the winter, when we will not be on tenterhooks, eh?

Jumping to conclusions from what she told me, the issue is obviously at the Met. She told me that the Met have not informed them of what will be broadcast on that day.

As they say in my country, I smell a dead rat…

Jan 23 is missing. No Guleghina Turandot. The Sirius page shows the old Vanessa recording for that day.

Mar 6 is missing. That’s where Attila should be. There is nothing there.

This is very strange. Have any of you bought Attila tickets and are holding them in your hands with “Attila” printed on them? It could get very interesting if Traviata suddenly shows up in its place.

I did, 3 times. he kept going Huh?

#9. The Saturday matinee broadcasts are not bolded because they are not broadcast on the Met’s website.

Since when? I thought all last year that the met did webcasts of their Toll brothers matinée broadcasts. I remember listening to several that way when there were conflicts at home as to whether we were going to watch TV or listen to the radio.

#9. The Saturday matinee broadcasts are not bolded because they are not broadcast on the Met’s website.

Then he asked me if what i wanted was the Oprah channel. That’s when I lost it and said, NO i want the OPERA channel, as in this: VINCEROOOOOOO, VINCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yes, het got a high b sung rioght to his ear and THEN he knew what was i talking about. Unfortunately he was just as clueless and unhelful as before.

I bet today will be a day he will not forget for a while.

Well, I for one will not miss that bastard. What he does for Verdi, in my book, is as appalling as some of the shit that is done to opera productions in Europe.

Muti might be a wonderful conductor for Mahler, Wagner, even some Puccini and Mozart, but he has even less talent as a Belcanto conductor than Levine. At least Levine, with all his faults, is capable of collaborating with the people he is conducting. Muti can not listen to anything beyond the sound of his own voice.

And on the Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio website, they only talk about seven new production instead of eight (where is Attila???) : http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Channel&cid=1158082416364&s=prog

The The met lists Attila being the matinée performance on Sat March 6 2010. Since the broadcasts are in season, I should expect that performance (at least) to be broadcast.

Dec:
12 Sat 12:30 Puccini: Il Trittico. Ranzani; Racette, Licitra, Lucic / Racette, Murphy, Blythe / Racette, Blythe, Pirgu, Corbelli

19 Sat 1:00 Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Levine; Kim, Netrebko, Gubanova, Lindsey, Calleja, Held

26 Sat 1:00 Strauss: Elektra. Luisi; Bullock, Voigt, Palmer, Schmidt, Nikitin

Jan:
2 Sat 1:00 Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel. Davis; Persson, Kirchschlager, Plowright, Langridge, Croft

9 Sat 1:00 Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Levine; Fleming, Graham, Schäfer, Cutler, Allen, Sigmundsson

16 Sat 1:00 Bizet: Carmen. Nézet-Séguin; Frittoli, Garanca, Alagna, Kwiecien

23 Sat 1:00 Barber: Vanessa (from February 1, 1958) Mitropoulos; Steber, Elias, Resnik, Gedda, Tozzi [Archival broadcast]

30 Sat 1:00 Verdi: Stiffelio. Domingo; Marambio, Cura, Dobber, Ens

Feb:
6 Sat 1:00 Verdi: Simon Boccanegra. Levine; Pieczonka, Giordani, Domingo, Morris

20 Sat 1:00 Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos. Petrenko; Stemme, Kim, Connolly, Ryan, Schmeckenbecher

27 Sat 1:00 Puccini: La Bohème. Armiliato; Netrebko, Cabell, Beczala, Finley, Cavalletti, Gradus, Plishka

MARCH

6 Sat 1:00 BROADCAST TBD (The met lists as Attila being the matinée performance. Any reason why it would not be broadcast?)

13 Sat 1:00 Shostakovich: The Nose. Gergiev; Popov, Gietz, Szot

20 Sat 1:00 Janácek: From the House of the Dead. (from Fall 2009) Salonen; Margita, Streit, Hoare, Mattei, White The Met calendar lists Boheme as the matinée perf. I guess since we have already heard Boheme earlier in the season, it will not be broadcast.

APRIL
10 Sat 1:00 Mozart: Die Zauberflöte. Fischer; Kleiter, Shagimuratova, Polenzani, Gunn, Pittsinger, König

17 Sat 1:00 Verdi: La Traviata. Slatkin; Gheorghiu, Valenti, Hampson

24 Sat 1:00 Puccini: Tosca. Levine; Mattila, Kaufmann, Terfel, Del Carlo

MAY
1 Sat 1:00 Rossini: Armida. Frizza; Fleming, Brownlee, Ford, Zapata, Banks, van Rensburg