James Levine Conducts Verdi's Simon Boccanegra At The Met 1/20

Metropolitan Opera Music Director James Levine will conduct Dmitri Hvorostovsky in his first Met performances of the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra beginning January 20. Joining Hvorostovsky are two Met stars making house role debuts, Barbara Frittoli as Boccanegra's daughter Amelia and Ramón Vargas as her lover Gabriele Adorno. Ferruccio Furlanetto will return to the role of Fiesco, Boccanegra's enemy, a part he first sang at the Met in 1985.

Levine has led many well-reviewed performances of Simon Boccanegra, most recently last season's revival starring Plácido Domingo. Hvorostovsky's Met role debut as the corsair-turned-ruler Boccanegra is his fifth Verdi baritone role with the company, following performances of Germont in La Traviata, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, and di Luna in Il Trovatore. (He will return to the latter role this April for a run of performances that includes a Live in HD transmission.) He sang the title role in Boccanegra with San Francisco Opera in 2008 to strong reviews.
Barbara Frittoli, seen last season at the Met as Micaëla in the new production premiere and Live in HD transmission of Carmen, will add Boccanegra's long-lost daughter Amelia to her Met repertory. Ramón Vargas has sung numerous roles at the Met, including a diverse trio last season: Faust in La Damnation de Faust, the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, and Foresto in the Met premiere of Verdi's Attila. Ferruccio Furlanetto recently completed an acclaimed run of performances as Philip II in the Met's new production premiere of Don Carlo, a role in which he earned excellent reviews for his singing and acting.
Simon Boccanegra will be seen in Giancarlo del Monaco's 1995 production, which features set and costume design by Michael Scott and lighting design by Wayne Chouinard.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
Simon Boccanegra will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season on the radio and on the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.
The January 20 opening performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, as will the February 1 and 5 performances.
The January 20 performance will also be available via internet streaming at the Met's web site www.metopera.org. The February 5 matinee will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

 

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