Future tense

La Cieca has just been entrusted with a veritable cornucopia of future lore about our beloved Metropolitan Opera. You must remember, my friends, future events such as these will affect you in the future. And what happens in the future stays in the future. Anyway, shall we?

La Cieca thought you’d never ask.

Your doyenne is told that:

When Kate Lindsey rejoins the Bartlett Sher Contes d’Hoffmann next season, she will not only do battle with Ildar Abdrazakov, she will sing the Barcarolle with his Mrs. In other tangentially Hoffmann-related news, Aleksandra Kurzak seems to have disappeared from the 1010-2011 roster. So sorry, Aleksandra!

But, to be sure, neither Anne Sofie von Otter nor Gerald Finley will be involved in the revival of Capriccio. The perhaps less capricious Sarah Connolly and Russell Braun are more likely casting. Meanwhile, Waltraud Meier will return to the Met for her first local Marie in Wozzeck — not Katarina Dalayman as was previously conjectured!

Mean, moody, mysterious Marina Poplvaskaya will be next season’s Elisabetta in the new Don Carlo production (conducted by yummy, youthful Yannick Nézet-Séguin). Fear not, Pat Racette fans: she’ll be “very involved” in Verdi, ya know.

Opposite David Daniels in Orfeo ed Euridice will be the debutante Kate Royal (or, as she is billed in Paris, “Kate Royal with Cheese.”) Barihunk fanciers will squirm with delight to hear that Lucas Meachem will sing Mercutio, and Gesamtkunstwerk fans will want to watch for a “brother act” in the new Das Rheingold, the prima of which will represent only the third occasion on which these siblings have shared the Met stage.

Fans of Fabio Luisi (and who among us is not?) will exult in the news, er, gossip, that he will conduct new productions of Manon in 2011-12 (Anna Netrebko/Piotr Beczala) and Ballo the following season with Karita Mattila, a bit of casting after which La Cieca will editorially insert a “[?]”.

And if you’re wondering about the Rossini, do rest assured that Le Comte Ory will return in 2012-13.

Now, just in case you’re about to accuse La Cieca of usurping Brad Wilber‘s traditional role of chronicler of the Met’s future, rest assured that the indefatigable Brad is still active in his guest spot at Sieglinde’s Diaries: Future Seasons at the Met. Not only is he active, but he is most interested in hearing any soupcons you, the cher public, may have to add to his trove of knowledge. In particular, he is looking for details about future revivals of La Sonnambula, Der Rosenkavalier, Giulio Cesare, and “any and all Mozart.” He’s also trying to fill in the gaps (five or six operas) that could fill in the 2011-2012 season. You can contact him at the email address on Sieglinde’s page.