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Met Opera: Wagner's Siegfried

Airs Saturday, April 21 at 11:00 a.m. The 2011-12 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Wagner’s Siegfried, the third installment in Wagner’s epic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Jay Hunter Morris stars as the title character, a hero so brave that he literally does not know the meaning of the word “fear.” The celebrated cast of Wagnerians includes Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde; Bryn Terfel as the Wanderer; and Gerhard Siegel as Mime. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads the performance, which is part of a complete Ring cycle presented in a new production by Robert Lepage. Siegfried will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. 

Morris stepped in at the last minute to take over the demanding role of Siegfried earlier this season in an acclaimed house role debut. He made his Met debut as Števa in Janáček’s Jenufa in 2007 and sang the role of Siegfried in complete Ring cycles at San Francisco Opera last season. Voigt sings her first-ever Brünnhildes with this production of the Ring. Her other Wagner heroines at the Met are Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Elsa in Lohengrin, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, and Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer. Terfel, who portrays Wotan in all three Ring cycles at the Met this spring, has excelled in a diverse repertory with the company, including Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, the title roles in Verdi’s Falstaff and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (heard earlier this broadcast season). Siegel has sung Mime in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried in opera houses around the world. At the Met, he performed the role during the 2003-04 and 2008-09 seasons, as well as in the recent premieres of the Lepage productions, seen Live in HD; last season, he also appeared as the Captain in Berg’s Wozzeck.

Earlier this season at the Met, Luisi conducted the new production premieres of Wagner’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Massenet’s Manon. He leads the company in six different operas in April – Manon and Verdi’s La Traviata, in addition to the complete Ring cycle. Siegfried and the upcoming Die Walküre will be his third and fourth consecutive Saturday broadcasts of the month. Next season, Maestro Luisi will lead the new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, revivals of Verdi’s Aida and Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and three more Ring cycles.

The intermissions will include backstage interviews and the popular Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz.