Soprano Karita Mattila, who electrified Met audiences in the title role of Richard Strauss's Salome in 2004, returns as the voluptuous Judean princess this season, beginning September 23. Two of her fellow Finns are making their company debuts: Juha Uusitalo as Jochanaan (John the Baptist) and Mikko Franck, who will conduct. The cast also includes Ildikó Komlósi as Herodias, Kim Begley in the role of Herod and Joseph Kaiser as Narraboth. Performances run through October 16. The matinee on Saturday, October 11, will be transmitted live worldwide as part of the The Met: Live in HD series.
"It's hard to imagine how anyone could quibble with any aspect of Karita Mattila's performance in the title role of Strauss's Salome," wrote The New York Times in 2004. "Given the physical and emotional toll of her portrayal, that she could also sing this daunting role with such gleaming power, eerie expressivity and, most remarkably of all, beguiling lyricism was stunning." The New Yorker, calling it a "dream performance," added: "The only word fit for the occasion is a British one: Mattila left her audience gobsmacked."
Mattila adds a new role to her Met repertory when she sings Tatiana in Eugene Onegin later this season. The soprano, who won the first Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1983, made her Met debut seven years later as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Since then, she has sung Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger and Elsa in Lohengrin; the title role in Puccini's Manon Lescaut (which was transmitted last January on The Met: Live in HD series) and Musetta in his La Bohème; Lisa in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades; Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio; the title roles in two works by Janácek, Jenůfa and Kát'a Kabanová; the Verdi heroine Amelia in Simon Boccanegra; and Chrysothemis in Strauss's Elektra.
The 29-year-old Finnish maestro, Mikko Franck, makes his debut on the Met podium. Formerly artistic director of the National Orchestra of Belgium, Franck is now the Finnish National Opera's artistic director and general music director. After studying with the noted teacher Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy, Franck launched an international career. By the time he was 23, he had conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Berlin State Opera, and the major Scandinavian orchestras.
Juha Uusitalo, a bass-baritone born in Finland and formerly an orchestral flutist, makes his Met debut as Jochanaan. He is a member of the Finnish National Opera, where he was widely praised for his 2006 portrayal of Scarpia opposite Mattila's first-ever Tosca. He is known for his Wagnerian roles, particularly the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer which served as his debut at La Scala, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under
James Levine. He has also sung the heroic bass-baritone roles of Wotan in the Ring cycle and Amfortas in Parsifal.
Ildikó Komlósi, a Hungarian mezzo-soprano, is Herodias. Komlósi made her Met debut as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther and has also sung Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza del Destino.
British tenor
Kim Begley sings Herod. In 2003, he made his Met debut as Laca opposite Mattila in Jenůfa. Begley has also appeared here as Count Pierre Bezukhov in Prokofiev's War and Peace last season and as Samuel Griffiths in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy.
Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser sings Narraboth. A Met National Councils finalist in 2005, he made his unscheduled company debut in 2007 opposite Anna Netrebko in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. He then appeared here as Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.
This production of Richard Strauss's 1905 opera Salome, directed by Jürgen Flimm with sets and costumes by
Santo Loquasto, returns to the Met for the first time since its premiere four years ago. Lighting design is by
James F. Ingalls and choreography by Doug Varone.
For more information please visit www.metoperafamily.org
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