April 2015 Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts

Hear two operas by Giuseppe Verdi (pictured above) this month broadcasted from the Metropolitan Opera. 

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The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast this March features operas of Verdi, Shostakovich, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo. All radio broadcasts begin at 1:00 p.m. unless specifically noted.  There is one Live in HD Theatercast this month (4/25); it is noted "Live in HD." 

4/4        Verdi:  Ernani 

James Levine and Plácido Domingo reunite for Levine’s first Met Ernani since 1983 and Domingo’s first-ever performances of the baritone role of Don Carlo. Francesco Meli stars in the title role, and Angela Meade is the soprano heroine Elvira, caught between rivals for her love.

4/11      Verdi:  Don Carlo       

Dynamic maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s ambitious score with a stand-out cast in Nicholas Hytner’s handsome production. Yonghoon Lee sings the title role, with Barbara Frittoli, Ekaterina Gubanova, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, James Morris, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, reprising his definitive portrayal of King Philip.  Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet

4/18      Shostakovich:  Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk

Shostakovich’s towering tragedy of adultery and murder stars the commanding dramatic soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as the heroine who suffers the vicissitudes of her treachery. Brandon Jovanovich is her co-conspirator and lover, and James Conlon conducts.

4/25      Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana/Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Live in HD)

Opera’s most enduring tragic double bill returns in an evocative new production from Sir David McVicar (Giulio Cesare, Maria Stuarda, Il Trovatore), who sets the verismo action across two time periods but in the same Sicilian setting. Marcelo Álvarez rises to the challenge of playing the dual tenor roles of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci. Rae Smith (War Horse) has designed the moodily atmospheric 1900 village square setting of Cavalleria Rusticana, which transforms to a 1948 truck stop for the doomed vaudeville troupe of Pagliacci. Eva-Maria Westbroek (Cav) and Patricia Racette (Pag) play the unlucky heroines. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.