The Met 2016/2017 Rumor and Realty Match Up!

[lennygoran]

Well it looks like the predicted Met schedule for 2016/17 matches up with today's realty-I haven't checked casts and conductors, etc. Regards, Len



Rumor has it the Met will announce the 2016-2017 season at noon on Wednesday, February 17.
New Productions

Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin
Dates: Fall
Production: Robert Lepage
Conductor: Susanna Malkki
Jaufré Rudel: Eric Owens
Pilgrim: Tamara Mumford
Clemence: Susanna Phillips
(Co-production with the Festival d'opéra de Québec) [1]

Rossini's Guillaume Tell
Dates: October 16 to November 12
Production: Pierre Audi
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Guillaume Tell: Gerald Finley/Mariusz Kwiecen
Arnold: Bryan Hymel
Mathilde: Marina Rebeka
Edwige: Marianna Pizzolato
Walter Furst: Marco Spotti
(Co-production with De Nationale Opera) [2]

Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Production: Bartlett Sher [3]
Roméo: Vittorio Grigolo
Juliette: Diana Damrau
Dwayne Croft?
(If a production is to be cut for budget reasons this season, this one looks the most likely. Perhaps a revival of the current Roméo would subsitute?)

R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
Production: Robert Carsen
Designers: Paul Steinberg & Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Conductor: James Levine
Octavian: Elina Garanca
Marschallin: Renée Fleming
Sophie: Erin Morley / Hanna Elisabeth Muller
Baron Ochs: Günther Groissböck
(This is apparently now a co-production with Royal Opera Covent Garden and Opera National de Paris. Presumably, this will be replacing the Christoph Waltz production that had been rumored to be Renee Fleming's Covent Garden farewell?)

[4]

Dvorák's Rusalka
Production: Mary Zimmerman
Rusalka: Kristine Opolais
Vodnik (Water Gnome): Eric Owens (?)
Prince: Brandon Jovanovich Foreign Princess: Katarina Dalayman
Jezibaba: Jamie Barton

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Dates: Opening Night
Production: Mariusz Trelinski
Conductor: Simon Rattle / Asher Fisch
Isolde: Nina Stemme
Tristan: Stuart Skelton / Gary Lehman
Brangane: Ekaterina Gubanova
King Marke: René Pape
Kurwenal: Evgeny Nikitin (?)
(Co-production with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden; Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera and National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing ) [5]
RepertoryEdit

Verdi's Aida
Aida: Liudmyla Monastyrska / Krassimira Stoyanova
Amneris: Ekaterina Gubanova/Violeta Urmana
Radames: Jorge De Leon

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Rosina: Pretty Yende
Count Almaviva: Javier Camarena (?)/Dmitry Korchak
Figaro: Peter Mattei

Puccini's La Bohème
Mimi: Sonya Yoncheva / Anita Hartig
Rodolfo: Piotr Beczala / Dmytro Popov
Marcello: David Bizic
Musetta: Brigitta Kele
Colline: Christian Van Horn

Bizet's Carmen (29.12.2016 – 18.02.2017)
Carmen: Sophie Koch / Clementine Margaine
Micaela: Maria Agresta
Don Jose: Marcelo Alvarez

Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac
Roxane: Patricia Racette
Cyrano: Roberto Alagna
Conductor: Marco Armiliato

Massenet's Werther
Werther: Vittorio Grigolo/Jean-François Borras

Massenet's Thais
Thais: Sonya Yoncheva
Nicias: Jean-François Borras
Athanael: Placido Domingo?

Mozart's Don Giovanni
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Ottavio: Matthew Polenzani
Elvira: Marina Rebeka
Anna: Hibla Gerzmava
Zerlina: Serena Malfi

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Tatiana: Anna Netrebko/Sonya Yoncheva
Lenski: Matthew Polenzani

Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (?)

Wagner's Die Fliegende Holländer
Dutchman: Michael Volle
Senta: Amber Wagner?
Erik: Jay Hunter Morris

Mozart's Idomeneo
Conductor: James Levine
Ilia: Julia Kleiter
Idamante-Alice Coote
Idomeneo: Matthew Polenzani
Voice of Neptune: Eric Owens

Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri
Lindoro: Javier Camarena
Isabella: Elizabeth De Shong
Mustafa: Ferruccio Furlanetto / Rubén Amoretti

Janácek's Jenufa
Kostelnicka: Karita Mattila
Old Buryja: Hanna Schwarz
Jenufa: Oksana Dyka
Steva: Joseph Kaiser
Laca: Daniel Brenna

Mozart's The Magic Flute
Holiday abridged version in English
Pamina: Layla Claire

Queen of the Night: Jessica Pratt / Kathryn Lewek
Speaker: Shenyang

Puccini's Manon Lescaut (24.10.2016 – 10.12.2016)
Manon: Anna Netrebko
Des Grieux: Marcelo Alvarez

Verdi's Nabucco (Dec-Jan)
Nabucco: Placido Domingo
Abigaille: Liudmyla Monastyrska/Tatiana Melnychenko
Fenena: Jamie Barton/Nancy Fabiola Herrera

Ismaele: Russell Thomas

Verdi's Otello (?)
Otello: Roberto Alagna (?)
Iago: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Debussy's Pelléas et Melisande (?)
Conductor: James Levine
Golaud: Gerald Finley?/Ludovic Tézier
Mélisande: Sabine Devieilhe?
Genevieve: Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Bellini's I Puritani
Elvira: Diana Damrau
Arturo: Javier Camarena

Strauss's Salome (Dec)
Herodias: Nancy Fabiola Herrera

Verdi's La Traviata
Alfredo: Michael Fabiano / Attala Ayan
Violetta: Marlis Petersen

Special Event - Gala Celebrating 50 Years at Lincoln Center

http://futuremet.wikia.com/wiki/2016-2017







On Stage 2016-17

50th Anniversary Gala

Aida

L'Amour de Loin

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

La Bohème

Carmen

Cyrano de Bergerac

Don Giovanni

Eugene Onegin

Fidelio

Der Fliegende Holländer

Guillaume Tell

Idomeneo

L'Italiana in Algeri

Jenufa

The Magic Flute

Manon Lescaut

Nabucco

I Puritani

Rigoletto

Roméo et Juliette

Der Rosenkavalier

Rusalka

Salome

La Traviata

Tristan und Isolde

Werther

[lennygoran]

Additional official info:

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-17 Season—Its 50th Anniversary at Lincoln Center—Will Feature 225 Performances of 26 Operas, With Six New Productions, Including a Met Premiere

New York, NY 2/17/2016 12:00:00 PM

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The season opens September 26 with a new staging of Wagner’s epic tragedy Tristan und Isolde, starring Nina Stemme



Kaija Saariaho’s 2000 opera L’Amour de Loin will have its Met premiere on December 1; other new productions this season include Guillaume Tell (October 18), Roméo et Juliette (December 31), Rusalka (February 2),and Der Rosenkavalier (April 13)



The company’s stars will gather to celebrate 50 years of the Met at Lincoln Center in a special gala performance on May 7, 2017



Ticket prices will remain the same as in the current season, complemented by a range of audience development initiatives including the return of Student, Rush, and “Fridays Under 40” programs



The Met: Live in HD will feature 10 live transmissions, beginning October 8 with the 100th transmission in series history, Tristan und Isolde



New York, NY (February 17, 2016)—The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company’s 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s 2000 opera L’Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company’s Lincoln Center location with performances by opera’s leading stars honoring the Met’s past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.

The season opens on September 26 with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, directed by Mariusz Treliński, and starring the world’s preeminent Isolde, Nina Stemme, opposite Stuart Skelton as Tristan. On October 18, Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the premiere of Pierre Audi’s new staging of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, familiar to music lovers for its famous overture. The opera has not been staged by the Met since 1931 and never before in its original French. The new production will star Gerald Finley, Marina Rebeka, and Bryan Hymel in the central roles. On December 1, L’Amour de Loin, a meditation on idealized love set in the medieval era, has its Met premiere, led by Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki in her company debut, directed by Robert Lepage, and starring Susanna Phillips, Tamara Mumford, and Eric Owens. A new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette will open on New Year’s Eve, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting Bartlett Sher’s staging and Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo as the star-crossed lovers. Rusalka (opening February 2), conducted by Sir Mark Elder and directed by Mary Zimmerman, will star Kristine Opolais in the title role of a water nymph who falls in love with a human prince, sung by Brandon Jovanovich. On April 13, the company will unveil its first new staging in more than 40 years of Richard Strauss’s wistful comedy Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen, with Renée Fleming in her signature role of the Marschallin and Elīna Garanča in her company role debut as Octavian; Günther Groissböck sings Baron Ochs.

The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits Met performances to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world, continues for its 11th season. Ten performances from the season will be broadcast, beginning October 8 with the 100th transmission in series history, the new production of Tristan und Isolde.

The 2016-17 season was announced by Met General Manager Peter Gelb.

“Met audiences should be stimulated by our ever-expanding repertoire, which this season includes the new with L’Amour de Loin and the old with Guillaume Tell,” said Gelb. “We’re proud to be celebrating our five decades at Lincoln Center, including 40 years under the musical leadership of James Levine.”

Further details on new productions, repertory, special events, ticket prices and audience development initiatives, the Live in HD series, and more are available below. A separate press release focused on the Live in HD transmissions is also available from the Met press office.



Click here and enter the password metphotos for promotional photos of the 2016-17 season.





New Productions

Tristan und Isolde – Richard Wagner OPENING NIGHT

Opening: September 26, 2016

Conductors: Sir Simon Rattle/Asher Fisch

Production: Mariusz Treliński

Set Designer: Boris Kudlička

Costume Designer: Marek Adamski

Lighting Designer: Marc Heinz

Projection Designer: Bartek Macias

Choreographer: Tomasz Wygoda

Live in HD: October 8, 2016



The season opens with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in his first Met performances since his 2010 debut. Nina Stemme makes her company role debut as Isolde—a touchstone role she has sung with major opera companies around the world. Her Tristan is Australian heldentenor Stuart Skelton, who sang Siegmund in the Met’s Ring cycle in 2013. The cast also includes Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne and Evgeny Nikitin as Kurwenal (both in Met role debuts), with René Pape reprising King Marke, a role he has sung to acclaim in three previous Met seasons. The staging, by Mariusz Treliński (who directed the 2015 Met double bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard’s Castle) is a co-production with the Festival Hall Baden-Baden, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, and China National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Beijing.





Guillaume Tell – Gioachino Rossini

Opening: October 18, 2016

Conductor: Fabio Luisi

Production: Pierre Audi

Set Designer: George Tsypin

Costume Designer: Andrea Schmidt-Futterer

Lighting Designer: Jean Kalman

Choreographer: Kim Brandstrup



Guillaume Tell returns to the Met after more than 80 years in a new staging by Pierre Audi, with a starry cast taking on the demanding principal roles in Rossini’s opera about the legendary Swiss folk hero William Tell. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the performances, which will star Gerald Finley in the title role, Marina Rebeka as Mathilde, Bryan Hymel as Arnold, Janai Brugger as Jemmy, Marianna Pizzolato in her Met debut as Hedwige, Marco Spotti in his Met debut as Walter Furst, Kwangchul Youn as Melcthal, and John Relyea as Gesler. Guillaume Tell is a co-production with the Dutch National Opera, where this staging premiered in 2013.



L’Amour de Loin – Kaija Saariaho MET PREMIERE

Opening: December 1, 2016

Libretto: Amin Maalouf

Conductor: Susanna Mälkki

Production: Robert Lepage

Set Designer: Michael Curry

Costume Designer: Michael Curry

Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams

Lightscape Image Designer: Lionel Arnould

Live in HD: December 10, 2016



One of the most highly praised operas of recent years, which had its premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 2000, Kaija Saariaho’s yearning medieval romance L’Amour de Loin (“Love From Afar”), has its Met premiere on December 1. The production is by Robert Lepage, co-produced with L’Opéra de Québec, where it premiered to acclaim last summer, in collaboration with Ex Machina. Susanna Mälkki leads the performances, which will star Susanna Phillips as Clémence, Eric Owens as Jaufré, and Tamara Mumford as the Pilgrim who carries messages of love between them. L’Amour de Loin is one of several Saariaho events taking place in New York this fall, including performances at the Park Avenue Armory with the New York Philharmonic; at the Juilliard School; and a residency by the composer at the Mannes School of Music.



Roméo et Juliette – Charles Gounod NEW YEAR’S EVE GALA

Opening: December 31, 2016

Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda

Production: Bartlett Sher

Set Designer: Michael Yeargan

Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber

Lighting Designed By: Jennifer Tipton

Choreographer: Chase Brock

Live in HD: January 21, 2017



The electrifying team of Vittorio Grigolo and Diana Damrau, who starred together in last year’s Manon, reunites for a new production of Gounod’s opera based on the Shakespeare play. Damrau makes her role debut as Juliette in Bartlett Sher’s new production, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Elliot Madore sings Mercutio and Mikhail Petrenko sings Frère Laurent. Later performances will star Pretty Yende and Stephen Costello in the title roles. Sher’s staging is a La Scala production, initially presented by the Salzburg Festival, where it premiered in 2008.



Rusalka – Antonin Dvořák

Opening: February 2, 2017

Conductor: Sir Mark Elder

Production: Mary Zimmerman

Set Designer: Daniel Ostling

Costume Designer: Mara Blumenfeld

Lighting Designer: T.J. Gerckens

Choreographer: Austin McCormick

Live in HD: February 25, 2017



Kristine Opolais sings her first Met performances of the role that won her international acclaim, the tragic water nymph Rusalka. Sir Mark Elder conducts a new staging of Dvořák’s fairy-tale opera directed by Mary Zimmerman, also starring Brandon Jovanovich as the Prince who captures Rusalka’s heart; Katarina Dalayman as her rival, the Foreign Princess; Eric Owens as the Water Sprite, Rusalka’s father; and Jamie Barton as the duplicitous witch Ježibaba.



Der Rosenkavalier – Richard Strauss

Opening: April 13, 2017

Conductor: James Levine

Production: Robert Carsen

Set Designer: Paul Steinberg

Costume Designer: Brigitte Reiffenstuel

Lighting Designers: Robert Carsen, Peter Van Praet

Live in HD: May 13, 2017



The Met’s first new production since 1969 of Strauss’s rich romantic masterpiece will be conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen, whose most recent Met production was the hit 2013 staging of Falstaff. Renée Fleming will sing one of her signature roles as the Marschallin, opposite Elīna Garanča in her first North American performances as Octavian, the impulsive young title character. The cast also includes Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs, Erin Morley as Sophie, Marcus Brück in his Met debut as Faninal, and Matthew Polenzani as the Italian Singer. Der Rosenkavalier is a co-production with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Teatro Regio di Torino.



50th Anniversary Gala

On May 7, 2017, many of the company’s most prominent singers will perform at a special anniversary gala honoring the 50th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. The fully staged gala will pay tribute to the company’s storied past and look ahead to the future, with some artists previewing roles they will perform in upcoming Met seasons. Artists scheduled to appear include Piotr Beczala, Ben Bliss, Javier Camarena, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Plácido Domingo, Michael Fabiano, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Elīna Garanča, Susan Graham, Mariusz Kwiecien, Isabel Leonard, James Levine, Željko Lučić, Amanda Majeski, Angela Meade, James Morris, Anna Netrebko, Kristine Opolais, Eric Owens, René Pape, Matthew Polenzani, Rolando Villazón, Michael Volle, Pretty Yende, and Sonya Yoncheva. The event will feature direction and scenic design by Julian Crouch, costume design by Kevin Pollard, and projection design by 59 Productions,



Repertory Highlights

The 2016-17 season will feature 20 revivals of works by 13 composers, starring many of the world’s leading opera singers and conductors.

Anna Netrebko will add a new role to her Met repertory when she stars in a revival of Richard Eyre’s new production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (which premiered at the Met last week), opposite Marcelo Álvarez as des Grieux and Christopher Maltman as Lescaut. Marco Armiliato will conduct.

Netrebko will also reprise one of her greatest successes in recent years, the heroine Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, this time paired with fellow Russian superstar Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin. Alexey Dolgov will sing Lenski in the revival, conducted by Robin Ticciati.

Five works not heard at the Met in recent years will be part of the 2016-17 season. James Levine will conduct a rare revival of Mozart’s Idomeneo, starring Matthew Polenzani in the title role of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production. The rest of the cast includes Elza van den Heever as Elettra, Nadine Sierra as Ilia, Alice Coote as Idamante, and Alan Opie as Arbace.

Levine also leads a revival of Rossini’s lighthearted L’Italiana in Algeri, also in a Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production. The charismatic young cast is headed by Elizabeth DeShong as Isabella, debuting American tenor René Barbera as Lindoro, Nicola Alaimo as Taddeo, and Ildar Abdrazakov as Mustafà.

Janáček’s searing small-town tragedy Jenůfa will star Oksana Dyka in the title role, with the star of the most recent Met revival, Karita Mattila, taking on the new role of the fanatical Kostelnička. The cast, led by David Robertson, also includes Hanna Schwarz, Daniel Brenna, and Joseph Kaiser.

Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac will star Roberto Alagna and Patricia Racette as the lovelorn title character and his beloved Roxane, both in company role debuts. Marco Armiliato, who led the opera’s U.S. premiere at the Met in 2005, returns to conduct the revival.

Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, will be presented for the first time since 2006, with Sebastian Weigle conducting Adrianne Pieczonka as Leonore, Klaus Florian Vogt as Florestan, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller in her Met debut as Marzelline, Greer Grimsley as Don Pizarro, and Falk Struckmann as Rocco.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct his first Wagner opera at the Met when he leads a revival of Der Fliegende Holländer, starring Michael Volle as the Dutchman and Amber Wagner as Senta. The cast also features Jay Hunter Morris as Erik, Dolora Zajick as Mary, Ben Bliss as the Steuermann, and Franz-Josef Selig as Daland.

Diana Damrau and Javier Camarena, who starred together to acclaim in Bellini’s La Sonnambula at the Met in 2014, will re-team for another opera by the same composer, I Puritani. Maurizio Benini conducts a cast that also includes Alexey Markov and Luca Pisaroni.

Peter Mattei will star in the title role of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, opposite Pretty Yende, who returns to the Met to sing a new bel canto heroine, Rosina. Javier Camarena and Dmitry Korchak sing Almaviva in the revival, conducted by Maurizio Benini.

Richard Strauss’s Salome will star American soprano Catherine Naglestad (in her Met debut) as the shockingly amoral title character, a role she has sung to acclaim around the world. Debuting conductor Johannes Debus, Music Director of the Canadian Opera Company, leads a cast that also features Gerhard Siegel and Željko Lučić in new Met roles as King Herod and the doomed prophet Jochanaan, respectively.

Four Verdi revivals will be presented in 2016-17. Aida will feature Liudmyla Monastyrska and Latonia Moore reprising their roles as the title princess, alternating with Krassimira Stoyanova in her first Met performances of the role. Ekaterina Gubanova and Violeta Urmana sing Amneris, and Marco Berti, Riccardo Massi, and debuting tenor Jorge de León sing the hero Radamès. The opera will be conducted by Marco Armiliato and, in his Met debut, Daniele Rustioni.

Nabucco, conducted by Levine, will feature Plácido Domingo in a new Met role as the title character. Liudmyla Monastyrska sings Nabucco’s willful daughter Abigaille, with Jamie Barton as Fenena, Russell Thomas as Ismaele, and Dmitry Belosselskiy reprising the role of his 2011 Met debut as Zaccaria.

Rigoletto, conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi in his Met debut, will star Željko Lučić as the title character, Stephen Costello and Joseph Calleja as the Duke of Mantua, and Olga Peretyatko as Gilda.

La Traviata, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, will star Sonya Yoncheva and Carmen Giannattasio as Violetta, Michael Fabiano and Atalla Ayan (in his Met debut) as Alfredo, and Thomas Hampson, George Petean, and Plácido Domingo as Giorgio Germont.

Yoncheva will also star in the opening performances of a revival of Puccini’s La Bohème, singing Mimì opposite the Rodolfo of debuting tenor Dmytro Popov. The season’s performances also feature Kristine Opolais and Ailyn Pérez as Mimì, Susanna Phillips and debuting soprano Brigitta Kele as Musetta, and Piotr Beczala and Michael Fabiano as Rodolfo. The revival will be conducted by Carlo Rizzi and Marco Armiliato.

Two French mezzo-sopranos will share the title role of Bizet’s Carmen: Sophie Koch, who made her Met debut in 2014 as Charlotte in Werther, and debuting artist Clémentine Margaine. Maria Agresta, who made a notable company debut as Mimì in the current season, will sing her first Met performances of Micaëla, opposite Marcelo Álvarez as Don José and Kyle Ketelsen as the toreador Escamillo. The performances will be conducted by Dan Ettinger and Louis Langrée.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni returns for a 16-performance run with multiple casts, most of whom are singing their roles for the first time at the Met. Fabio Luisi and Plácido Domingo conduct the performances, which will star Simon Keenlyside, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Mariusz Kwiecien as the title character. Three singers will perform two different roles in the opera over the course of the season, with Malin Byström taking on both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira; Adam Plachetka and Matthew Rose sing both Leporello and Masetto. The performances will also feature Hibla Gerzmava and Angela Meade as Donna Anna; Amanda Majeski and Marina Rebeka as Donna Elvira; Serena Malfi, Nadine Sierra, and Isabel Leonard as Zerlina; Erwin Schrott as Leporello; and Rolando Villazón, Ramón Vargas, Paul Appleby, and Matthew Polenzani as Don Ottavio.

Isabel Leonard will also star as Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, opposite Vittorio Grigolo in his first Met performances as the title character. Edward Gardner will conduct the first revival of Sir Richard Eyre’s recent new production of the romantic drama.


Regards, Len

[Len_Z]

One of the weakest seasons in recent memory, imnsho. Same old voiceless Domingos, Flemings, Racettes singing the same parts over and over again.

Two brightest spots for me are Aida with Stoyanova and La traviata with Yoncheva (missed her last season due to an illness). Everything else is pretty much meh of various degrees.

[jbuck919]

Well it looks like the predicted Met schedule for 2016/17 matches up with today's realty-I haven't checked casts and conductors, etc. Regards, Len



Rumor has it the Met will announce the 2016-2017 season at noon on Wednesday, February 17.
New Productions

Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin
Dates: Fall
Production: Robert Lepage
Conductor: Susanna Malkki
Jaufré Rudel: Eric Owens
Pilgrim: Tamara Mumford
Clemence: Susanna Phillips
(Co-production with the Festival d'opéra de Québec) [1]

Rossini's Guillaume Tell
Dates: October 16 to November 12
Production: Pierre Audi
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Guillaume Tell: Gerald Finley/Mariusz Kwiecen
Arnold: Bryan Hymel
Mathilde: Marina Rebeka
Edwige: Marianna Pizzolato
Walter Furst: Marco Spotti
(Co-production with De Nationale Opera) [2]

Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Production: Bartlett Sher [3]
Roméo: Vittorio Grigolo
Juliette: Diana Damrau
Dwayne Croft?
(If a production is to be cut for budget reasons this season, this one looks the most likely. Perhaps a revival of the current Roméo would subsitute?)

R. Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier
Production: Robert Carsen
Designers: Paul Steinberg & Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Conductor: James Levine
Octavian: Elina Garanca
Marschallin: Renée Fleming
Sophie: Erin Morley / Hanna Elisabeth Muller
Baron Ochs: Günther Groissböck
(This is apparently now a co-production with Royal Opera Covent Garden and Opera National de Paris. Presumably, this will be replacing the Christoph Waltz production that had been rumored to be Renee Fleming's Covent Garden farewell?)

[4]

Dvorák's Rusalka
Production: Mary Zimmerman
Rusalka: Kristine Opolais
Vodnik (Water Gnome): Eric Owens (?)
Prince: Brandon Jovanovich Foreign Princess: Katarina Dalayman
Jezibaba: Jamie Barton

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Dates: Opening Night
Production: Mariusz Trelinski
Conductor: Simon Rattle / Asher Fisch
Isolde: Nina Stemme
Tristan: Stuart Skelton / Gary Lehman
Brangane: Ekaterina Gubanova
King Marke: René Pape
Kurwenal: Evgeny Nikitin (?)
(Co-production with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden; Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera and National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing ) [5]
RepertoryEdit

Verdi's Aida
Aida: Liudmyla Monastyrska / Krassimira Stoyanova
Amneris: Ekaterina Gubanova/Violeta Urmana
Radames: Jorge De Leon

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Rosina: Pretty Yende
Count Almaviva: Javier Camarena (?)/Dmitry Korchak
Figaro: Peter Mattei

Puccini's La Bohème
Mimi: Sonya Yoncheva / Anita Hartig
Rodolfo: Piotr Beczala / Dmytro Popov
Marcello: David Bizic
Musetta: Brigitta Kele
Colline: Christian Van Horn

Bizet's Carmen (29.12.2016 – 18.02.2017)
Carmen: Sophie Koch / Clementine Margaine
Micaela: Maria Agresta
Don Jose: Marcelo Alvarez

Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac
Roxane: Patricia Racette
Cyrano: Roberto Alagna
Conductor: Marco Armiliato

Massenet's Werther
Werther: Vittorio Grigolo/Jean-François Borras

Massenet's Thais
Thais: Sonya Yoncheva
Nicias: Jean-François Borras
Athanael: Placido Domingo?

Mozart's Don Giovanni
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Ottavio: Matthew Polenzani
Elvira: Marina Rebeka
Anna: Hibla Gerzmava
Zerlina: Serena Malfi

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Tatiana: Anna Netrebko/Sonya Yoncheva
Lenski: Matthew Polenzani

Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (?)

Wagner's Die Fliegende Holländer
Dutchman: Michael Volle
Senta: Amber Wagner?
Erik: Jay Hunter Morris

Mozart's Idomeneo
Conductor: James Levine
Ilia: Julia Kleiter
Idamante-Alice Coote
Idomeneo: Matthew Polenzani
Voice of Neptune: Eric Owens

Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri
Lindoro: Javier Camarena
Isabella: Elizabeth De Shong
Mustafa: Ferruccio Furlanetto / Rubén Amoretti

Janácek's Jenufa
Kostelnicka: Karita Mattila
Old Buryja: Hanna Schwarz
Jenufa: Oksana Dyka
Steva: Joseph Kaiser
Laca: Daniel Brenna

Mozart's The Magic Flute
Holiday abridged version in English
Pamina: Layla Claire

Queen of the Night: Jessica Pratt / Kathryn Lewek
Speaker: Shenyang

Puccini's Manon Lescaut (24.10.2016 – 10.12.2016)
Manon: Anna Netrebko
Des Grieux: Marcelo Alvarez

Verdi's Nabucco (Dec-Jan)
Nabucco: Placido Domingo
Abigaille: Liudmyla Monastyrska/Tatiana Melnychenko
Fenena: Jamie Barton/Nancy Fabiola Herrera

Ismaele: Russell Thomas

Verdi's Otello (?)
Otello: Roberto Alagna (?)
Iago: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Debussy's Pelléas et Melisande (?)
Conductor: James Levine
Golaud: Gerald Finley?/Ludovic Tézier
Mélisande: Sabine Devieilhe?
Genevieve: Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Bellini's I Puritani
Elvira: Diana Damrau
Arturo: Javier Camarena

Strauss's Salome (Dec)
Herodias: Nancy Fabiola Herrera

Verdi's La Traviata
Alfredo: Michael Fabiano / Attala Ayan
Violetta: Marlis Petersen

You forgot David Gelb's Fantasy Overture. (Levine conducting Pelléas? In our dreams.)

[John F]

You forgot David Gelb's Fantasy Overture. (Levine conducting Pelléas? In our dreams.)

I don't understand. "Pelléas et Mélisande" is one of Levine's favorite operas and he has conducted it at the Met often and superlatively well. It is also less physically demanding than some of the operas he has conducted since his return, notably "Die Meistersinger." But maybe you mean that you dream of him conducting "Pelléas" again, as I certainly do. If so, welcome to the club!

[jbuck919]

You forgot David Gelb's Fantasy Overture. (Levine conducting Pelléas? In our dreams.)

I don't understand. "Pelléas et Mélisande" is one of Levine's favorite operas and he has conducted it at the Met often and superlatively well. It is also less physically demanding than some of the operas he has conducted since his return, notably "Die Meistersinger." But maybe you mean that you dream of him conducting "Pelléas" again, as I certainly do. If so, welcome to the club!

I might make a trip to New York for Pelléas, since the Met puts it on so infrequently, no matter who is conducting it. What I meant, of course, is that Levine in all likelihood is not going to be able to conduct after this season. You must have some idea of what Parkinson's really means. It is wishful thinking that he will be available next season at all, "adjustment of medication" or no. I would love to be proved wrong, but if he got through Meistersinger, it might have been his Schwanengesang.

[lennygoran]

One of the weakest seasons in recent memory, imnsho. Same old voiceless Domingos, Flemings, Racettes singing the same parts over and over again.

Two brightest spots for me are Aida with Stoyanova and La traviata with Yoncheva (missed her last season due to an illness). Everything else is pretty much meh of various degrees.

Yes there are some repeats I don't need to see-still what about

Rossini's Guillaume Tell
Dates: October 16 to November 12
Production: Pierre Audi
Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Guillaume Tell: Gerald Finley/Mariusz Kwiecen
Arnold: Bryan Hymel
Mathilde: Marina Rebeka
Edwige: Marianna Pizzolato
Walter Furst: Marco Spotti
(Co-production with De Nationale Opera) [2]

And this isn't old:

L’Amour de Loin Regards, Len

[John F]

OK, I get it now. I would have sooner if you had just said, "Levine conducting? In our dreams."

It would be great if you come to NYC for whatever reason, and all the better if it's for "Pelléas et Mélisande" conducted by James Levine. I'm afraid the current Met production is one of those re-visions lennygoran so abhors. Instead of a timeless setting, as in the previous Met version, or in a vaguely medieval castle, as originally, it takes place in a decaying Victorian mansion; the crucial scene in the underground vault has Golaud and Pelléas clambering about in an outdoor wooden scaffolding, which makes nonsense of the music and words. What Jonathan Miller was thinking of, I can't imagine. But I've seen worse, and it's about the music anyway.

[lennygoran]

I'm afraid the current Met production is one of those re-visions lennygoran so abhors.

That's right-still a visit to nyc by John B could make me rethink the whole situation. Regards, Len

[lennygoran]

I might make a trip to New York for Pelléas, since the Met puts it on so infrequently, no matter who is conducting it.

And even more important than the Pelleas Levine in Nabucco-this is the one to come in for! Regards, Len [fleeing]

The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine. Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena. Dmitri Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people.

PS-it appears to be the old Met production-much more impressive than the ROH update where :

" Domingo’s stock-in-trade for Verdi is a comportment of anguished nobility, and here, clothed in the double-breasted suit of a retired bank manager, he milks the character more for Lear-like poignancy than Neronian monster-raving looniness. But this is an impressively vigorous performance, sung with stentorian force and some of his former tenorial glow in the final aria of remorse: the effect will be even stronger when he doesn’t need recourse to the prompter.

I don’t envy any director attempting to bring convincing theatrical life to Nabucco’s setting in biblical Babylon, but Daniele Abbado’s production makes no attempt to rise to the challenge. Instead he seems to have grabbed at the easiest option of “making it relevant to today” – in other words letting the singers strut their stuff ad libitum and instructing his designers to produce imagery which evokes the Holocaust and other instances of tragic mass exile and persecution. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/musi ... eview.html

[John F]

Len [fleeing]

You'd better!

[jbuck919]

OK, I get it now. I would have sooner if you had just said, "Levine conducting? In our dreams."

It would be great if you come to NYC for whatever reason, and all the better if it's for "Pelléas et Mélisande" conducted by James Levine. I'm afraid the current Met production is one of those re-visions lennygoran so abhors. Instead of a timeless setting, as in the previous Met version, or in a vaguely medieval castle, as originally, it takes place in a decaying Victorian mansion; the crucial scene in the underground vault has Golaud and Pelléas clambering about in an outdoor wooden scaffolding, which makes nonsense of the music and words. What Jonathan Miller was thinking of, I can't imagine. But I've seen worse, and it's about the music anyway.

I only saw stills of the production from the early 70s, but my college roommate actually attended. It seemed enchanting. Incidentally, he is coming all the way from Interlochen in Michigan where he is dean of curriculum to join me for the performance of Elektra on the same night that Len and Sue and (IIRC) Barney and friend will be attending. This is someone who was given a Met subscription as a high school graduation present and kept it for many years. I sure hope he's happy with the seats. I'll see you for lunch that day, though my friend will probably not arrive in time to join us. (He is also the person who introduced me to Elektra, though I cannot remember the recording.)

[lennygoran]

Incidentally, he is coming all the way from Interlochen in Michigan where he is dean of curriculum to join me for the performance of Elektra on the same night that Len and Sue and (IIRC) Barney and friend will be attending. This is someone who was given a Met subscription as a high school graduation present and kept it for many years. I sure hope he's happy with the seats. I'll see you for lunch that day, though my friend will probably not arrive in time to join us. (He is also the person who introduced me to Elektra, though I cannot remember the recording.)

Lots of nice things in your message-wonder how Barney is doing on his trip details--haven't heard from him in sometime now. Looking forward to the lunch! Regards, Len.

PS wonder if your seats for Elektra are in our area-where in the balcony.

[jbuck919]

PS wonder if your seats for Elektra are in our area-where in the balcony.

We're in the Grand Tier on the right as you face the stage. (Well, I only do this once or twice a year.) Of course Elektra has no intermission, but we might find each other somewhere after the performance just to say hi again.

[lennygoran]

We're in the Grand Tier on the right as you face the stage.

Wow! Regards, Len

[THEHORN]

Len_Z, Domingo, Racette and Fleming are "voiceless ?" Far from it ! I can't predict the season, because there are too many singers I'm either not familiar with or haven't
heard or seen enough to judge . Methinks you are being a wee bit premature . There are still lots of terrific singers listed, though . Any season with the likes of Rattle, Nezet-Seguin,
Noseda et al on the podium is nothing to sniff at , too ! I just hope Jimmy Levine will have the stamina to get through the season . This is far from guaranteed .

[John F]

James Levine's problem, which may end his career very soon, isn't lack of stamina. It's Parkinson's Disease, and the tremor is far enough advanced that he can't give a clear beat. He and the performers have gotten through this season so far, and his doctor thinks adjusting his medication might help. But the coming run of "Simon Boccanegra" will be critical, and if there's no improvement, he may have to retire at the end of this season.