Metropolitan Opera Guild news: September 2010
As the opera world prepares for the new season, the September issue of Opera News looks forward to some of its upcoming highlights. The cover story profiles René Pape, king of the opera world’s basses, who takes on the title role of the Metropolitan Opera’s new Boris Godunov. Additional features explore the enduring popularity of Wagner’s Ring cycle, soon returning to the Met in Lepage’s new production; the life and poetry of Pablo Neruda, who inspired Daniel Catán’s new opera, Il Postino; tenor sensations Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano; and much more. The September issue also offers a guide to the smartest ticket choices of the 2010-11 season, plus an opportunity to win a trip to New York to attend the sixth annual Opera News Awards.
Boris Godunov returns to the Met on October 11 in a new production by Stephen Wadsworth, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko, Evgeny Nikitin and Ekaterina Semenchuk lead the huge cast in Mussorgsky’s landmark work, perhaps the greatest Russian opera epic, while René Pape takes on the monumental title role. After adding his portrayal of the anguished tsar to his repertoire, Pape was named “Artist of the Year” in 2006 by Germany’s opera critics. Now he brings this winning interpretation to the Met, where he has not missed a season since his house debut in 1995. Guardian journalist Amanda Holloway talks to the charismatic German bass about the challenges of singing the role, in “Tsar Power.”
Bookending the Met’s new season are the first two installments of Robert Lepage’s highly anticipated new production of the Ring cycle, the company’s first in almost 25 years. Das Rheingold opens on September 27 with James Levine (celebrating his 40th anniversary with the Met) conducting a stellar cast that includes Stephanie Blythe as Fricka and Bryn Terfel, soon to be honored at the 2011 Opera News Awards, in his company role debut as Wotan. Lepage says of the Ring: “It isn’t just a story or a series of operas, it’s a cosmos,” while Levine finds that “every time you return to it, you find all kinds of brilliant moments that hadn’t struck you with the same force before.” Philip Kennicott examines the enduring appeal of Wagner’s great tetralogy in “Ring Ideal.”
Over on the West coast, the Los Angeles Opera looks forward to the world premiere of Daniel Catán’s Il Postino on September 23. Like the popular 1994 Italian film on which it is based, the new opera is set in a tiny Italian fishing village, where a shy young postman (Charles Castronovo) finds the inspiration to live out his dreams during daily deliveries to his only customer, a famous poet (Plácido Domingo). In “Love, Art, Politics, and Two Tenors,” Stephen Tapscott looks at the life and poetry of poet Pablo Neruda, who inspired the new opera.
Vittorio Grigolo’s appearance opposite Anna Netrebko in the Royal Opera House’s summer Manon production was hailed as “the most sensational debut to be heard at Covent Garden for some time” (Guardian); the Evening Standard considered it “the birth of a star.” Matthew Gurewitsch tracks the Italian tenor’s singular career path in “Star Potential.”
Another young lyric tenor, Philadelphia’s Michael Fabiano, is the subject of this month’s “Sound Bites” column. His past season included debuts at the English National Opera and the Met, as Senior Editor Louise T. Guinther discovers, while Susan Domady Eisenberg visits with four more busy singers whose work enriches the American opera scene, in “Coming Soon to a Theater Near You.”
It’s not all good news, however; opera doesn’t come cheap, and the recession has hit many companies hard. In “Surviving the Crunch,” David Belcher reports on the challenge faced by five U.S. opera companies of planning strategically through the lean years.
The new issue of Opera News offers “Hot Tickets,” a guide to the smartest ticket choices of the 2010-11 season, plus details about the sixth annual Opera News Awards at the Plaza hotel on April 17, 2011. Adding an extra dimension to an already festive occasion, this year’s Opera News Awards introduce a special sweepstakes that will give a lucky winner round-trip air transportation for two to New York, provided by American Airlines, as well as a two-night stay at the St. Regis Hotel and VIP tickets to the Opera News Awards. No purchase is necessary to enter the sweepstakes. Entries can be made at www.operanews.com/onawards.
As ever, there are special extras exclusively for subscribers and Met patrons at the recently redesigned OperaNews.com, including interviews with Keith Cerny, Dallas Opera’s new general director and CEO, who speaks about his plans for the company, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines, whose production of Macbeth opens Lyric Opera’s season.
Lectures: Live in HD!
This innovative series of spirited pre-screening presentations curates the Met’s Summer HD festival, with ten consecutive evening conversations to preview the plaza-casts. All events will be held in the Opera Learning Center from 6:00–7:00 PM unless otherwise indicated.
Tickets are $10 each ($5 for Guild members) and include a premium reserved seat at the evening’s HD screening on the Lincoln Center Plaza. (Reserved-seat passes will be available for pick-up following the lecture.) In case of changes to the schedule or inclement weather, lecture dates will conform with Met screening dates; for up-to-date schedule information, visit metguild.org/lectures. (Tickets will be refunded if the HD screening is canceled due to bad weather.)
To purchase tickets, call 212-769-7028 or visit metguild.org/lectures.
Saturday Aug 28: Tenors of Tosca
Sunday Aug 29: Finding New Magic in The Magic Flute
Monday Aug 30: Der Rosenkavalier: Meeting the Marschallin (5:00–6:00 PM)
Tuesday Aug 31: The Energy of Doctor Atomic
Wednesday Sept 1: Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the Muses of Music
Thursday Sept 2: Zoom in on Zeffirelli with La Bohème
Friday Sept 3: The Witch’s World of Hansel and Gretel
Saturday Sept 4: Turandot: Calaf’s Cultural References
Sunday Sept 5: Aida: The Grandeur of Grand Opera
Monday Sept 6: Classic Carmens
www.metguild.org www.operanews.com www.operaed.org
# # #
© 21C Media Group, August 2010