The Metropolitan Opera announced plans today to return to Japan for a three-week tour in June 2011, presenting 13 performances of three fully staged operas in Tokyo and Nagoya. The operas will include Puccini's La Bohème and Verdi's Don Carlo, both conducted by Met Music Director James Levine, and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. More than 350 solo singers, orchestra, chorus, ballet, and administrative and technical staff will travel to Japan for the tour.
Star singers include Ildar Abdrazakov, Piotr Beczala, Olga Borodina, Joseph Calleja, Diana Damrau, Dmitri Hvorostovky, Jonas Kaufmann, Mariusz Kwiecien, Željko Lu?i?, Anna Netrebko, and René Pape. Beczala and Calleja will share the tenor roles in Bohème and Lucia, allowing audiences who attend two or more performances of the same opera, to hear two different artists in the roles of Rodolfo and Edgardo.
Performances will begin on June 4 at the Aichi Prefectural Arts Center in Nagoya with La Bohème, starring Netrebko, Susanna Phillips, Calleja, and Kwiecien. A performance of Don Carlo follows on June 5, with Barbara Frittoli, Borodina, Kaufmann, Hvorostovsky, and Pape in leading roles.
The company then moves to Tokyo for a performance of La Bohème at NHK Hall on June 8 and the company's first performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, starring Damrau, Beczala, Lu?i?, and Abdrazakov, on June 9 at the Bunka Kaikan Theater.
The Met continues its performances in Tokyo through June 19, with Don Carlo on June 10, 15, and 18 at NHK Hall; La Bohème on June 11, 17, and 19 evening, at NHK Hall; and Lucia di Lammermoor on June 12, 16, and 19 matinee at the Bunka Kaikan Theater.
This will be the Met's seventh tour to Japan; the first was in 1975, and the most recent was in 2006. The tour is being presented by the Japan Arts Corporation of Tokyo, and the Crown Sponsor is KDDI.
The Met: Live in HD, the company's groundbreaking transmissions of live performances into movie theaters worldwide, has been shown regularly in Japan since the award-winning series began in 2006. More than 900 theaters in 42 countries around the world are participating in The Met: Live in HD this season, including ten theaters in Japan. A record number of more than 1.8 million Live in HD tickets were sold around the world last season.
Complete repertoire, casting, dates and locations of all performances in Japan:
SATURDAY, June 4-3:00 p.m. (Aichi Prefectural Arts Center, Nagoya) Puccini's "La Bohème" with James Levine conducting; Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Susanna Phillips (Musetta), Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo), Mariusz Kwiecien (Marcello), John Relyea (Colline), Edward Parks (Schaunard).
SUNDAY, June 5- 3:00 p.m. (Aichi Prefectural Arts Center, Nagoya) Verdi's "Don Carlo" with James Levine conducting; Barbara Frittoli (Elisabeth de Valois), Olga Borodina (Princess Eboli), Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlo), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Rodrigo), René Pape (Phillip II), Stefan Kocan (Grand Inquisitor).
WEDNESDAY, June 8-7:00 p.m. (NHK Hall, Tokyo) Puccini's "La Bohème" with James Levine conducting; Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Susanna Phillips (Musetta), Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo), Mariusz Kwiecien (Marcello), John Relyea (Colline), Edward Parks (Schaunard).
THURSDAY, June 9-6:30 p.m. (Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo) Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Gianandrea Noseda conducting; Diana Damrau (Lucia), Piotr Beczala (Edgardo), Željko Lu?i? (Enrico), Ildar Abdrazakov (Raimondo).
FRIDAY, June 10- 6:00 p.m. (NHK Hall, Tokyo) Verdi's "Don Carlo" with James Levine conducting; Barbara Frittoli (Elisabeth de Valois), Olga Borodina (Princess Eboli), Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlo), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Rodrigo), René Pape (Phillip II), Stefan Kocan (Grand Inquisitor).
SATURDAY, June 11-3:00 p.m. (NHK Hall, Tokyo) Puccini's "La Bohème" with James Levine conducting; Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Susanna Phillips (Musetta), Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo), Mariusz Kwiecien (Marcello), John Relyea (Colline), Edward Parks (Schaunard).
SUNDAY, June 12-3:00 p.m. (Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo) Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Gianandrea Noseda conducting; Diana Damrau (Lucia), Piotr Beczala (Edgardo), Željko Lu?i? (Enrico), Ildar Abdrazakov (Raimondo).
