Anna Netrebko stars in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur opposite Piotr Beczala and Anita Rachvelishvili
January 4, 2019**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**
Anna Netrebko stars in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur
opposite Piotr Beczala and Anita Rachvelishvili
Saturday, January 12 at 1:00 p.m. ET
The 2018-19 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with soprano Anna Netrebko starring in the title role of Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, as the passionate leading lady of the 18th-century French theater. Netrebko brought the role to the Met for the first time at a gala performance on New Year’s Eve, when the Met’s new production premiered. Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili also stars as Adriana’s fiercely jealous rival, the Princess of Bouillon, and tenor Piotr Beczała is the politically ambitious Maurizio, the object of both women’s affections. Baritone Ambrogio Maestri is the theater director Michonnet, and rounding out the cast are tenor Carlo Bosi as the Abbé and bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as the Prince of Bouillon. Maestro Gianandrea Noseda returns to the Met to conduct Cilea’s elegant score. Sir David McVicar’s production is the work’s first new staging at the Met in more than 50 years. Adriana Lecouvreur will be heard live over Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 12.
Anna Netrebko made her critically acclaimed role debut as Adriana at the Vienna State Opera in 2017. Since her Met debut in 2002 as Natasha in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, she has sung 22 roles with the company, including the title characters in Puccini’s Tosca and Manon Lescaut, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth, and the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. She starred earlier this season in the title role of Verdi’s Aida, which was seen in cinemas around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD series. Upcoming engagements include Leonora in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Maddalena in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera.
Anita Rachvelishvili has previously sung the Princess of Bouillon in concert at Carnegie Hall. She made her Met debut in the title role in Bizet’s Carmen in 2011, and reprised the role in two later seasons, as well as singing Konchakovna in Borodin’s Prince Igor and Azucena in Il Trovatore. Earlier this season, she appeared as Amneris in Aida opposite Anna Netrebko, including in the Live in HD performance. Later this season she will star as Dalila in the Met’s new production of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, and also reprise the title role of Carmen at the Paris Opera, and the Princess of Bouillon in concert performances of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Salzburg Festival.
Piotr Beczała sings Maurizio at the Met for the first time this season after debuting the role at the Vienna State Opera in 2017 opposite Anna Netrebko. Following his 2006 Met debut as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, he has returned in numerous roles, including Rodolfo in Verdi’s Luisa Miller last season, and five different roles alongside Netrebko: Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, Vaudémont in Iolanta, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon. His upcoming performances include Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Vienna State Opera, des Grieux in Manon at the Zürich Opera, and Rodolfo in Luisa Miller at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
Ambrogio Maestri has previously sung Michonnet in concert at Carnegie Hall. He made his Met debut as Amonasro in Aida in 2004 and has returned as Alfio in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, and the title roles in Verdi’s Falstaff and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Later this season, he will reprise Falstaff at the Met, and also appear at the Bavarian State Opera as Michele in Il Tabarro and the title role in Gianni Schicchi in performances of Puccini’s Il Trittico, and at La Scala as Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore.
Carlo Bosi makes his role debut as the Abbé this season. He made his Met debut in 2013 as Dr. Cajus in Falstaff, and earlier this season, he sang Nick in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, which was seen in cinemas around the world as a part of the Met’s Live in HD series. Other recent performances include Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Glyndebourne Festival, Bavarian State Opera, La Scala, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden; and Dr. Cajus in Falstaff at La Scala and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This spring he sings Maestro Trabuco in La Forza del Destino and L’Incredibile in Andrea Chénier at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
Maurizio Muraro has sung the Prince of Bouillon previously at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Since his Met debut in 2005 as Dr. Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, he has sung more than 100 performances with the company in roles including Dr. Bartolo in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and the Bailiff in Massenet’s Werther. This fall, he performed the roles of Talpa and Simone in the Met’s performances of Il Trittico, and he will return next month as Sulpice in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment, which will be broadcast in cinemas as part of the Live in HD series.
Gianandrea Noseda is the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C; principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; principal conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués in Catalonia, Spain; and artistic director of Italy’s Stresa Festival. He made his Met debut leading Prokofiev’s War and Peace in 2002 and has conducted twelve operas with the company, including Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Borodin’s Prince Igor, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, and Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, and Macbeth.
The intermissions will include artist interviews led by Live in HD host Matthew Polenzani, as well as the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz.
