The Met's New Production Of Verdi's DON CARLO Premieres 11/22

The Metropolitan Opera will premiere its first new production of Verdi's Don Carlo since 1979 on Monday, November 22, with a cast that includes Roberto Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, and Ferruccio Furlanetto. The new production of Verdi's monumental work, in which love, war, politics, and religion combine to tell a story that is epic in scale, will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, the artistic director of London's National Theatre, in a staging that "reminds you it is one of the very greatest of all operas" (Guardian). All performances of Don Carlo will be conducted by Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who made a well-regarded Met debut last season with Carmen.

Roberto Alagna will sing the conflicted title character, performing the role in Italian for the first time; Marina Poplavskaya will portray Elisabeth de Valois, torn between duty to her husband and love for his son; Anna Smirnova makes her Met debut as the "fatal beauty" Princess Eboli; Simon Keenlyside is the revolutionary Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa; Ferruccio Furlanetto sings the tyrannical and tormented King Philip II; and Eric Halfvarson is the opera's ultimate authority figure, the Grand Inquisitor. Five of the six principals are making Met role debuts, while Furlanetto sang the role at the Met in 2005 to excellent reviews. South Korean tenor YongHoon Lee, who has sung the opera's title role at Frankfurt Opera, the Palau de les Artes in Valencia, and the Teatro Municipal in Chile, will make his Met debut as Don Carlo on November 29, with further performances of the role on December 3, 15, and 18.

Don Carlo, which will be presented in a five-act Italian version (including the "Fontainebleau Act") with two intermissions, will be transmitted to movie theaters around the globe on Saturday, December 11 at 12:30 p.m. as part of The Met: Live in HD series. The production offers "wonderfully assured acting" (Times of London), "psychological acuity," and "dazzling coups de thêatre," creating a "dark world full of extraordinary visions that [feel] uncomfortably modern, now that religion and politics are once more poisonously intertwined" (Independent). A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Hytner's Don Carlo premiered in London in 2008.

When conductor Nézet-Séguin led Carmen last season, the Financial Times praised his unique ability to "sustain high-velocity verve without slighting introspection." Roberto Alagna is a favorite of Met audiences in New York and around the world, having sung ten leading roles in the house and starred in The Met: Live in HD transmissions of Roméo et Juliette, La Rondine, and Carmen. Marina Poplavskaya, also cast as Violetta in the Met's upcoming new production of La Traviata, was "rich in timbre, subtle in phrasing and lovely to look at, floating gorgeously above the stave and easily dominating the ensembles" (Telegraph) as Elisabeth in the London run of Don Carlo. Russian mezzo-soprano Anna Smirnova, making her Met debut as Eboli, has been a notable Amneris and Azucena in many European houses. Simon Keenlyside, who gave a vocally and theatrically moving interpretation of Thomas's Hamlet at the Met and live in HD last season, is also reprising his Covent Garden performance of Rodrigo, hailed by critics for its "vibrant passion" (Independent), which "raised the dramatic temperature onstage whenever he appeared" (Guardian). Ferruccio Furlanetto, as the tortured and torturing monarch Philip II, will give a "majestic performance" (Independent) that has been acclaimed by audiences and reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Hytner brings two internationally acclaimed designers to the Met for the first time with Don Carlo. Set and costume designer Bob Crowley is the winner of five Tony awards for his Broadway designs, which include the sets for Hytner's productions of The History Boys and Carousel. Lighting designer Mark Henderson, also a Tony winner for The History Boys, has received five Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
Don Carlo will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season in movie theaters, on the radio and on the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.

The December 11 matinee will be transmitted to more than 1,500 movie theaters in more than 40 countries around the world as part of the Met's rapidly expanding The Met: Live in HD series.
The November 22 opening performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS channel 78 and XM channel 79, as will the performances on November 29, December 7 and December 18.

The November 22 performance will also be available via internet streaming at the Met's web site www.metopera.org. The December 18 matinee will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For More Information, See the Met's Web Site
For more information, including bios of the performers as well as general information about the Met season, please see the Met's Web site at
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/.

 

MET DEBUTS AND ROLE DEBUTS

Met Debuts
Nicholas Hytner, Director
Bob Crowley, Set and Costume Designer
Mark Henderson, Lighting Designer
Anna Smirnova, Princess Eboli
YongHoon Lee, Don Carlo
Layla Claire, Tebaldo
Alexei Tanovitsky, Friar

Met Role Debuts
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor
Marina Poplavskaya, Elisabeth de Valois
Roberto Alagna, Don Carlo
Simon Keenlyside, Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa
Eric Halfvarson, Grand Inquisitor

Don Carlo

Composer Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry

Performances
Monday, Nov. 22 (7 p.m.) Tuesday, Dec. 7 (7 p.m.)
Friday, Nov. 26 (7 p.m.) Saturday, Dec. 11 (12:30 p.m.)
Monday, Nov. 29 (7 p.m.) Wednesday, Dec. 15 (7 p.m.)
Friday, Dec. 3 (7:30 p.m.) Saturday, Dec. 18 (12:30 p.m.)

Conductor - Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Production - Nicholas Hytner*
Set and Costume Designer - Bob Crowley*
Lighting Designer - Mark Henderson*

Elisabeth de Valois - Marina Poplavskaya
Princess Eboli  - Anna Smirnova*
Don Carlo - Roberto Alagna/YongHoon Lee* (Nov. 29, Dec.
3, 15, 18)
Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa - Simon Keenlyside
King Philip II - Ferruccio Furlanetto
Grand Inquisitor - Eric Halfvarson
Celestial Voice - Jennifer Check
Tebaldo - Layla Claire*
Herald - TBA
Count of Lerma - Eduardo Valdes
Friar - Alexei Tanovitsky*
Forester - TBA
Countess of Aremberg - Anne Dyas
Flemish Deputies - Donovan Singletary, Keith Harris, Christopher Schaldenbrand, Joshua Benaim, Tyler Simpson ,Eric Jordan
Priest Inquisitor - Tommaso Matelli/Maxime de Toledo
(Nov. 29, Dec. 3, 15, 18)

*Met debut
For prices and ticket information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit www.metopera.org.

The December 11 matinee performance will be transmitted live as part of The Met: Live in HD series.

The December 18 matinee performance will be broadcast live on the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Production a gift of Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller

Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet