Metropolitan Opera 2012-13 Season

Airs Saturday, January 26 at 12 noon.  The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Puccini’s La Rondine. Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais makes her network debut in the role of the heroine Magda, a courtesan who dreams of true love.  Tenor Giuseppe Filianoti is Ruggero, the man for whom she leaves her glamorous life.  Soprano Anna Christy sings the role of Lisette, Magda’s maid; tenor Marius Brenciu is the poet Prunier; and baritone Dwayne Croft is Rambaldo, Magda’s wealthy protector.  Ion Marin conducts the performance. La Rondine will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday, January 26. 

Airs Saturday, January 19 at 12 noon.  The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with the live network broadcast premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato stars in the title role of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, opposite South African soprano Elza van den Heever, who makes her network debut as Mary’s formidable rival, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Tenor Matthew Polenzani is Leicester, the nobleman caught between the two women; bass Matthew Rose is Lord Talbot, Mary’s custodian; and baritone Joshua Hopkins is Elizabeth’s advisor Lord Cecil. Bel canto specialist Maurizio Benini conducts this performance of David McVicar’s critically acclaimed Met premiere production. Maria Stuarda will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday, January 19. 

Airs Saturday, January 12 at 12:00 noon.  The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. The cast features soprano Patricia Racette as Leonora, the noblewoman loved by two men; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the haunted gypsy Azucena; tenor Marco Berti in the title role of the troubadour Manrico; and baritone Alexey Markov as the jealous Count di Luna. Daniele Callegari conducts. Il Trovatore will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday, January 12. 

Airs Saturday, January 5 at 11:00 a.m.  The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Les Troyens, led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi. The cast for Berlioz’s epic, which travels from war-ravaged Troy to the North African shores of Carthage, is led by Bryan Hymel as the Trojan hero Aeneas; Deborah Voigt as Cassandra, the cursed prophetess; Susan Graham as Dido, Queen of Carthage; Dwayne Croft as Cassandra’s fiancé, Coroebus; Karen Cargill as Dido’s sister, Anna; Eric Cutler as Dido’s court poet, Iopas; and Kwangchul Youn as Narbal, Dido’s advisor.  Les Troyens will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, January 5. The performance will also be transmitted worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 1,900 movie theaters in 64 countries.

Airs Saturday, December 29 at 12:00 noon.  The 2012-13 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with an archival broadcast of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, which had its Met premiere earlier in the 2012-13 season in a new production by Robert Lepage. Adès conducts this performance of his English-language opera, based on the Shakespeare play and featuring a libretto by Meredith Oakes. The performance, originally broadcast live on November 10, 2012, stars baritone Simon Keenlyside as the magician Prospero; soprano Audrey Luna in the dazzling coloratura role of the air spirit Ariel; mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Prospero’s daughter, Miranda; tenor Alek Shrader as Ferdinand, the prince who falls in love with her; and tenor Alan Oke as Caliban, the only native of Prospero’s island.  The Tempest will be heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12:00 noon CT on Saturday, December 29.