Everything You Need to Know About the Metropolitan Opera 2017-18 Season

By Francisco Salazar

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2017-18 season and as promised, it contains a lot of hotly anticipated productions and performances. Here is a quick rundown with OperaWire set to include additional content throughout the day.

The New Productions

The Metropolitan Opera season will feature five new productions.

David McVicar’s  new production of Bellini’s “Norma” will open the season on Sept. with Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato and Joseph Calleja. Angela Meade and Marina Rebeka are also scheduled to alternate the role. Joyce DiDonato and Jamie Barton will sing the role of Adalgisa with Joseph Calleja as Pollione.

McVicar will direct a new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” with Kristine Opolais and Anna Netrebko alternating the title role. Jonas Kaufmann and Marcelo Alvarez will alternate the role of Cavaradossi with Bryn Terfel, Michael Volle and George Gagnidze singing the role of Scarpia.

The company will also showcase two Met premieres. The first one will be on featuring Thomas Ades’ “The Exterminating Angel” with an ensemble cast that includes Alice Coote, Audrey Luna, David Portillo and Amanda Echalaz.

Joyce DiDonato will lead the Met premiere of Massenet’s “Cendrillon.” Laurent Pelly will direct his acclaimed production, which will also star Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe and Laurent Naouri.

The final new production will Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” directed by Phelim McDermott, who directed the production at the English National Opera. James Levine will conduct a young cast that includes Kelli O’Hara, Christopher Mailman, Ben Bliss, Serena Malfi and Amanda Majeski.

 Revivals

The season will include 19 revivals including favorites Puccini’s “La Bohème,” “Turandot,” andMadama Butterfly,” the double bill Cavalleria Rusticana/ “Pagliacci,” Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann,”  Strauss’ “Elektra,” Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore” and “Lucia di Lammermoor,” Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.” Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” will also return to the repertoire as well Massenet’s “Thais” which returns for the first time since 2009.

Bartlett Sher’s production of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” returns after a successful run as will Francois Girard’s production of Wagner’s “Parsifal.” Susan Stroman’s “The Merry Widow” will also get its first revival.  Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” will be revived in its Holiday presentation and original German version while Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” returns.

Notable revivals include  “Luisa Miller,” which has not been staged in 11 years, and Rossini’s “Semiramide” will also be revived for the first time since 1993.

The Stars 

As with every year the Met has lined up the greatest singers in the world. Maria Agresta will sing her acclaimed Leonora in “Il Trovatore” while Ailyn Pérez will add the role of “Thaïs” to her Met repertoire while also playing Juliette in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.” Sonya Yoncheva and Piotr Beczala will both star in “Luisa Miller” while Olga Peretyatko will take on the role of “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Angela Meade will sing her first staged performances of “Semiramide” alongside Javier Camarena while Evelyn Herlitzius will make her long anticipated Met debut. Plácido Domingo will add the role of Miller to his repertoire while Pretty Yende will sing the roles of Adina in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” and Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.”  

Christine Goerke will bring her acclaimed “Elektra” to the Met while Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak will star in “Pagliacci.” Vittorio Grigolo will reprise his acclaimed role of Hoffman in Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffman” and he will portray Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Michael Fabiano returns to his acclaimed Rodolfo in “La Boheme” and Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor.”

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo returns to the Met as Dulcamara in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” and Anita Rachvelishvili sings her first Azucena in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.”

What opera are you most excited to see at the Met in 2017-18?

Tosca
Norma
Exterminating Angel
Luisa Miller
Semiramide
I Lombardi
Cosi Fan Tutte
Cendrillon
Verdi Requiem
Other

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