4/6 Puccini: Tosca
Met favorite Sondra Radvanovsky and rising star Jennifer Rowley share the title role of the volatile diva at the heart of Puccini’s operatic thriller. Joseph Calleja brings his stylish tenor to the role of Cavaradossi, and Wolfgang Koch and Claudio Sgura share the role of the nefarious police chief Scarpia. Carlo Rizzi conducts Sir David McVicar’s resplendent production.
No opera is more tied to its setting than Tosca, which takes place in Rome on the morning of June 17, 1800, through dawn the following day. The specified settings for each of the three acts—the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, Palazzo Farnese, and Castel Sant’Angelo—are familiar monuments in the city and can still be visited today. While the libretto takes some liberties with the facts, historical issues form a basis for the opera: the people of Rome are awaiting news of the Battle of Marengo in northern Italy, which will decide the fate of their symbolically powerful city.
4/13 (12p) Wagner: Siegfried Note EARLY start time.
Orphaned at birth, Siegfried learns his true identity and fulfills his destiny to become Brünnhilde’s savior and lover. Tenors Stefan Vinke and Andreas Schager sing the heroic title character. Christine Goerke sings Brünnhilde, and Michael Volle sings the role of the enigmatic Wanderer. Philippe Jordan conducts.
Siegfried is set in mythological times, when gods and other creatures contend for dominion over the earth while humans are emerging as a new power.
4/20 Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sings Sesto at the Met for the first time, and tenor Matthew Polenzani adds yet another role to his extensive Mozartean repertoire as Tito. Mozart’s opera of vengeance and forgiveness, set during the Roman Empire, also stars Elza van den Heever as Vitellia, with Ying Fang, Emily D’Angelo, and Christian Van Horn completing the principal cast. Lothar Koenigs conducts.
The work is set in Rome in the year 80 CE, at the time of Titus’s accession to the imperial throne. The place, however, is much more of a symbolic, idealized forum for the exploration of political ideas than the actual historical city.
4/27 (12p) Wagner: Gotterdammerung Note EARLY start time.
Wagner’s epic cycle concludes with acts of betrayal, murder, vengeance, and, finally, the destruction of the world. Christine Goerke plays Brünnhilde, whose heroic self-sacrifice paves the way for humankind’s redemption and rebirth. Andreas Schager and Stefan Vinke share the role of the hero Siegfried, and Eric Owens is Hagen. Philippe Jordan conducts.
The Ring is set in a mythological world, beginning, in Das Rheingold, beneath the earth and above it. By the time we reach Götterdämmerung, the focus has clearly shifted: The gods do not appear as characters, and they no longer interact directly with humans but are referred to in reminiscences and represented by altars and symbols.
