MET Announces 2014 - 2015 Season by Kathryn Bumpass

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its "Met Live in HD series" for the 2014-2015 season. The series will feature ten operas, three of them Met favorites, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Lehar's operetta The Merry Widow, and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticano paired with Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci.

Notable also are three performances of Met premieres, John Adams' The Death of Klinghofer, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta paired with Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Rossini's La Donna del Lago.

The HD season begins on October 11, 9:55am local time, with Verdi's Macbeth, starring Anna Netrebko in the vocally and dramatically demanding role of Lady Macbeth and Zeljko Lucic as the brooding title character. Fabio Luisi conducts.

Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro follows on October 18, 9:55am, Ildar Abdrazakov singing Figaro, Marlis Petersen as Suasanna, Peter Mattei as the Count and Marina Poplavskaya. Maestro James Levine leads the performance.

Bizet's sizzler Carmen will be broadcast November 1, 9:55am. Anita Rachvelshvilli sings the title role in a revival of the highly successful 2011 production. The Metropolitan Opera cites Carmen as "the most popular opera in the history of the Live in HD series."

The Death of Klinghofer, by John Adams, described as a "meditative opera based on the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and the subsequent murder of a Jewish passenger." David Robertson conducts a cast led by Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot in the role of the ship's captain and Alan Opie as Klinghofer. This is a Met premiere, with transmission on November 15 at 9:55am.

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, the closest thing to a comedy Wagner composed, will be heard in an encore performance, Sunday afternoon, January 11, 2015 at 2pm. James Levine conducts the performance of this lengthy work. Annette Dasch sings the role of Eva; Johan Botha, that of Walther von Stolzing; John Reuter, Hans Sachs; and Johannes Martin Kranzle, Beckmesser.

Lehar's popular The Merry Widow is scheduled for January 17, 2015. Renee Fleming stars as Hanna, a widowed Parisian heiress, and Nathan Gunn as her lover. Andrew Davis will be at the podium.

January 31 finds The Tales of Hoffman, by Offenbach, on the stage. The live performance begins at 9:55am. Vittorio Grigolo stars as Hoffman, and Hibla Gerzmava as Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta and Stella.

The double bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle follows in an encore performance on February 15 at 2pm. Iolanta is described as a "romantic fairy tale about the psychological awakening of a blind princess." Anna Netrebko stars as the title character and Piotr Baczala and Alexey Markov as Vaudemont and Robert, two rivals for her love.

Of very different character is Bluebeard's Castle, Bartok's harrowing opera in which "newlywed Judith must open seven locked doors to discover the full depths of her husband's dark secrets." Nadja Michael is Judith and Mikhail Petrenko is her mysterious and menacing husband.

Today's leading bel canto duo, soprano Joyce DiDonato and tenor Juan Diego Florez will carry the leading roles, Elena and Giacomo, in Rossini's La Donna del Lago. The performance,

March 15 at 2pm, will be under the baton of Michele Mariotti.

The traditional double-bill of Cavalleria Rusticana, by Mascagni, and Pagliacci, by Leoncavallo, will be broadcast on May 15, at 2pm. Eva-Maria Westbroek sings the role of Santuzza, the chief female character of Cavalleria, while Patricia Racette is Nedda in Pagliacci.

Tenor Marcelo Alvarez will take the male leads in both operas, Turiddu in Cavalleria and Canio in Pagliacci. Fabio Luisi conducts.