# The Met 2011-2012 Season



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

New Productions:

Anna Bolena (with Anna Netrebko La Belissima, yay! And Elina Garanca! I must attend!)
Don Giovanni (with Mariusz Kwiecien and Isabel Leonard, interesting!)
Faust (with Gheorghiu - will she still be there after her latest cancellations? And Pape)
The Enchanted Island (not an opera but a pastiche of baroque operas including Handel, Vivaldi, and Rameau, with De Niese, DiDonato, Domingo, conducted by William Christie)
Manon (with Anna Netrebko La Bellissima, yay!)
Sigfried - I have low expectations
Götterdämerung - I have low expectations

Repertory Productions

Aida
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Billy Budd (nice to see it back)
La Bohème
L'Elisir d'Amore (Flórez and Damrau)
Ernani (Dmitri, ladies!)
La Fille du Régiment (with scorching hot Nino Machaidze)
Hansel und Gretel
Khovanshchina (I love this opera, it is even better in certain ways than Boris Godunov)
Macbeth
Madama Butterfly
The Makropulos Case (with Karita Mattila, this should be interesting)
Nabucco
Das Rheingold
Rodelinda (Handel with Renée Fleming, strange, but I can't wait!)
Satyagraha (Glass is not my cup of tea, I'll pass)
Tosca
La Traviata (with Natalie Dessay, for the great pleasure of our friend rgz)
Die Walküre (low expectations, I'm really not believing in this Met Ring cycle)

Holiday Presentation: Jonas Kaufmann in recital

25 operas (as opposed to 27 last year, it's shrinking!), one recital, one pastiche.

It's a reasonable season, with some intriguing works, some seat fillers... it's a season for a time of crisis. Not a dream season by any means, but given the current environment, I think they did pretty well (except for this ill-fated Ring cycle).

And one wonders, will Jimmy Levine still be there, with his health?

Uncertain times...

Opinions?


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Honestly, I think I can pass on Dessay's Traviata; it'll probably be shown in theaters via the Live in HD series and I've mentioned before that I don't think it's a great fit for her vocally. Rumor has it that La Traviata will also appear in the 2012/13 season with Diana Damrau and that is actually much more intriguing to me. It'd be her world debut as Violetta, and she's said in interviews that it is her dream role and indeed the Zeffirelli film is what made her want to be an opera singer. I think she'll be great in that role.

I wish I knew if Natalie is to be performing anywhere else in the US -- say, Chicago or SF. Her schedule used to be posted on her website but it's undergoing a makeover and doesn't have any real info currently.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I am sad that the Makropulos case is not on the Live in HD programme.

The thought of DG with Mariusz is making me faint with anticipation







.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

rgz said:


> Honestly, I think I can pass on Dessay's Traviata; it'll probably be shown in theaters via the Live in HD series and I've mentioned before that I don't think it's a great fit for her vocally. Rumor has it that La Traviata will also appear in the 2012/13 season with Diana Damrau and that is actually much more intriguing to me. It'd be her world debut as Violetta, and she's said in interviews that it is her dream role and indeed the Zeffirelli film is what made her want to be an opera singer. I think she'll be great in that role.
> 
> I wish I knew if Natalie is to be performing anywhere else in the US -- say, Chicago or SF. Her schedule used to be posted on her website but it's undergoing a makeover and doesn't have any real info currently.


Have you tried the Opera Base web site? Here is a link (which I'm hoping works) for information on Natalie Dessay's schedule:
http://www.operabase.com/listart.cgi?name=Nathalie+Dessay&loose=E&acts=+Schedule+

I'm not sure how far into the future artists' schedules posted on this site run, but thought it may be worth a try.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Of course the two I'm most interested in are obvious: Khovanshchina and Satyagraha (both because I haven't heard them yet; Satyagraha because I haven't heard any Glass opera in full).

And Billy Budd as well. Should be interesting.

I hope all of these will be on live NPR broadcasts (and NPR had _better_ still exist).


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

World Violist said:


> Of course the two I'm most interested in are obvious: Khovanshchina and Satyagraha (both because I haven't heard them yet; Satyagraha because I haven't heard any Glass opera in full).
> 
> And Billy Budd as well. Should be interesting.
> 
> I hope all of these will be on live NPR broadcasts (and NPR had _better_ still exist).


Yep, they're trying to cut NPR funds.
But then the public may react with donations.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Things I will actually able to see (as in at the theatre, not at the Met):



> Anna Bolena


Can't wait. And I'll hopefully live somewhere where I can see this live next year. AND they're also doing Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereaux sometime in the future. So that should be good.



> Don Giovanni


Interesting. Should be good. I like Isabel Leonard.



> Faust


Rather exited about this one as well. Jonas Kaufmann is singing. But I'm not too sure about Draculette, though.



> The Enchanted Island


Now _this_ I am exited about. Both De Niese and DiDonato ought to be spectacular. Haven't really seen too much of Domingo's baroque stuff, and he's getting rather old, so I'm not too sure about him.



> Manon


Yay!



> Sigfried and Götterdämerung


I really hope this won't be the train wreck it looks like it will be.



> Ernani


Probably will watch this. Not too familiar with super early Verdi, but it should be interesting.



> Rodelinda


As someone who doesn't really like Renée in baroque things, I can't say I was too intrigued by this. But then I saw that Andreas Scholl was singing in it as well, I suddenly became rather exited about it.



> Satyagraha


I think I might attend this, although I'm not too big a fan of Glass, just to see what it's all about.



> La Traviata


Not too sure about this one, though. I might go, but probably not.

EDIT: Things I would also like the Met to broadcast live:

L'elisir d'amore with Diana Damrau and JDF

Macbeth with Thomas Hampson and Nadja Michael. I have seen the existing Macbeth with Guleghina and Lucic, and while the production was very wonderful indeed, the singers were not. Hopefully Michael does it better.

The Makropolus Case. Mostly because I want to see it.

Nabucco with Željko Lucic and Maria Guleghina. I do have my reservations with this, though. She did the role ten years ago rather well, but ten years is a long time. And she proved thoroughly in the Macbeth with Lucic that her coloratura isn't exactly very good. But it would have been great if she actually did this well.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Yep, they're trying to cut NPR funds.
> But then the public may react with donations.


Hurrah for public broadcasting!


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

MAuer said:


> Have you tried the Opera Base web site? Here is a link (which I'm hoping works) for information on Natalie Dessay's schedule:
> http://www.operabase.com/listart.cgi?name=Nathalie+Dessay&loose=E&acts=+Schedule+
> 
> I'm not sure how far into the future artists' schedules posted on this site run, but thought it may be worth a try.


Thanks for the link! Unfortunately, unless I'm overlooking it, it doesn't have any further future info.
However, this site (of unknown accuracy) is tantalizing. A Tales of Hoffman in SF in 2013 which, I now seem to dimly recall, will be with Dessay in all 4 soprano roles; Guilio Cesare at the Met in 2013; and a Laurent Pelly produced I Puritani at the Met in the 2013/14 season.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Is this new Ring bad? The pictures looked quite good... and I found the old one pretty but extremely dusty.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

I think there are various problems related to the singers, not least of which is Voigt's ability to pull off Brunhilde. But that's just what I've gathered, haven't seen any of this production myself.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

The sets for the new Ring are amazing. Really, they are. But it's more the singers. No one really knows if Voigt is able to sing Brünnhilde - especially not after that Fanciulla del West - or if Gary Lehman will be able to pull off Siegfried. Ben Heppner, who was originally supposed to sing Siegfried backed out not too long ago. So it does remain to see. But I do hope it all goes well. It would really be a most spectacular thing if it does.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Aksel said:


> The sets for the new Ring are amazing. Really, they are. But it's more the singers. No one really knows if Voigt is able to sing Brünnhilde - especially not after that Fanciulla del West - or if Gary Lehman will be able to pull off Siegfried. Ben Heppner, who was originally supposed to sing Siegfried backed out not too long ago. So it does remain to see. But I do hope it all goes well. It would really be a most spectacular thing if it does.


I thought that the new Met Das Rheingold was a major disappointment. There was a long thread about it. I don't remember all the problems I've mentioned in that thread (there were many) but the most prominent ones were Lepage's "machine" that in my opinion is a fiasco and only manages to make the huge Met stage look like a small cramped space, and Bryn Terfel's bored, uninvolved Wotan. With Voigt's doubtful capacity to pull this off and other casting problems, this is all smelling to me like a major disaster. I hope not, since I have a loving relationship with the Met, but it wasn't a good start for this cycle, and it's only looking worse and worse.

Oh well, I was expecting so much of Das Rheingold that I didn't like it; maybe now that I have rather low expectations for Die Walküre, I'll like it more.


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## Der Fliegende Amerikaner (Feb 26, 2011)

On parterre.com, there is discussion that her fate is "sealed" at the Met. What does that mean and what impact does it have on the Met's plans for her for Faust next season?


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

There's more info in the comments linked to the story. It looks like the powers that be will evaluate the state of her voice and for roles that she is already contracted for, assuming they feel she can't sing them will negotiate some kind of exit strategy for her that saves face on both sides.

It's a sad story all the way 'round. First she loses jobs due to her weight, then due to vocal problems that may or may not have been caused in part due to the weight loss. There's no bad guys in this story per se, just an unhappy situation.


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## Der Fliegende Amerikaner (Feb 26, 2011)

rgz said:


> There's more info in the comments linked to the story. It looks like the powers that be will evaluate the state of her voice and for roles that she is already contracted for, assuming they feel she can't sing them will negotiate some kind of exit strategy for her that saves face on both sides.
> 
> It's a sad story all the way 'round. First she loses jobs due to her weight, then due to vocal problems that may or may not have been caused in part due to the weight loss. There's no bad guys in this story per se, just an unhappy situation.


I was a bit surprised to learn that her performance in Fanciulla was not well received by the press. I read the Tommasini review (which was the only review I read) and it seemed like she was a fairly competent Minnie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/arts/music/08west.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=fanciulla&st=cse


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> I thought that the new Met Das Rheingold was a major disappointment. There was a long thread about it. I don't remember all the problems I've mentioned in that thread (there were many) but the most prominent ones were Lepage's "machine" that in my opinion is a fiasco and only manages to make the huge Met stage look like a small cramped space, and Bryn Terfel's bored, uninvolved Wotan. With Voigt's doubtful capacity to pull this off and other casting problems, this is all smelling to me like a major disaster. I hope not, since I have a loving relationship with the Met, but it wasn't a good start for this cycle, and it's only looking worse and worse.
> 
> Oh well, I was expecting so much of Das Rheingold that I didn't like it; maybe now that I have rather low expectations for Die Walküre, I'll like it more.


Well, I have not seen the Rheingold, and didn't remember that thread, so I just wrote from what I remembered. 
But there's always hoping it will be brilliant. This really is one of those things the Met has to get right.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Der Fliegende Amerikaner said:


> I was a bit surprised to learn that her performance in Fanciulla was not well received by the press. I read the Tommasini review (which was the only review I read) and it seemed like she was a fairly competent Minnie:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/arts/music/08west.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=fanciulla&st=cse


Yes I'm surprised too, I enjoyed her performance and thought she sounded good but.. that was in the cinema, it's possible it was different live in the Met Barn.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Yes I'm surprised too, I enjoyed her performance and thought she sounded good but.. that was in the cinema, it's possible it was different live in the Met Barn.


There was this performance where she sang flat, like really flat, in the entire first act that I remember was talked about a lot a while ago.


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