February 11, 2009

Met Opera '09-10: Armida, Attila, Nose, House of Dead

The MetOpera on Tuesday announced the lineup for its 2009-10 season, which will include three free Open House performances and eight new productions.

The season will feature four Met premieres: Rossini’s “Armida,” Janáček’s “From the House of the Dead,” Shostakovich’s “The Nose” with Paulo Szot, and Verdi’s “Attila,” which will feature Prada-designed costumes.

The Met will stage new productions of Puccini’s “Tosca” (which will open the season for the Opening Night Gala on September 21,) Bizet’s “Carmen,” (which will be featured at the New Year’s Eve Gala,) Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and Thomas’s “Hamlet.”

And additional 18 operas will come from the company’s revival repertory, including Plácido Domingo in “Simon Boccanegra,” Deborah Voigt “Der Fliegende Hollände,” Anna Netrebko in “La Bohème,” Angela Gheorghiu in “La Traviata,” and Juan Diego Flórez in “La Fille du Régiment.”

The New York Times points out that four productions were scrapped to save money: Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,” Strauss’ “Frau Ohne Schatten,” Corigliano’s “Ghosts of Versailles” and Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini.”

Three of the new productions will open to the public for free Open House Dress Rehearsals, but the Met has not yet said which operas on which dates. The last-minute discount ticket program will also continue with $20 tickets on most weekdays.

The Met’s special holiday production for families this year will be Richard Jones’s English-language production of Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”

The Met: Live in HD, which transmits live opera performances into theaters around the world, will get nine dates next season: Tosca (October 10,) Aida (October 24,) Turandot (November 7,) Les Contes d’Hoffmann (December 19,) Der Rosenkavalier (January 9,) Carmen (January 16,) Simon Boccanegra (February 6,) Hamlet (March 27,) and Armida (May 1.)

Elsewhere, the Amato Opera is still on track to close in May. The Opera Orchestra Of New York had to cancel its final two operas of the 2008-2009 season because it “has been hit very hard by the current financial crisis.” The Opera Company of Brooklyn has been doing BYOB performances. And the New York City Opera in January hired George Steel as the company’s new General Manager and Artistic Director.

Earlier: $25 orchestra tickets on sale for Met Opera, NYC Ballet

February 11, 2009 2:59 PM in Sightsology

®Copyright 2004 - 2010, All Rights Reserved