Placido Domingo to Play Title Role in the Met Opera's SIMON BOCCANEGRA

Beginning April 1, Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi's SIMON BOCCANEGRA, with Plácido Domingo starring in the title role. The legendary duo has worked together many times over the past four decades, including Domingo's company role debut in the baritone part of the title character in the Met's 2009-10 season.

Joining Domingo, Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian sings the role of Boccanegra's daughter Amelia, with Joseph Calleja as her lover Gabriele Adorno and Ferruccio Furlanetto as Fiesco in Giancarlo del Monaco's production. The production plays five performances through April 16.

James Levine has led 40 performances of SIMON BOCCANEGRA at the Met-a house record-including fourteen performances with Domingo, five in the title role and nine in the tenor role of Gabriele Adorno. Over the course of his career, Levine has led more than 2,500 performances at the Met. Earlier this season, he led a revival of Wagner's Tannhäuser and the holiday presentation of Strauss's Die Fledermaus. Later this season, he will conduct a revival of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail as well as three MET Orchestra concerts at Carnegie Hall. During the Met's 2016-17 season, he will conduct Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri, Verdi's Nabucco (also starring Domingo), Mozart's Idomeneo, and a new production of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Plácido Domingo made his Met role debut as SIMON BOCCANEGRA in the company's 2009-10 season with Levine on the podium; he has also sung the role at the Vienna State Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Zurich Opera, Berlin State Opera, La Scala, and Hamburg State Opera. After making his Met debut in 1966 as Maurizio in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, he has sung 673 performances to date in addition to conducting over 150 performances with the company. In recent seasons, he has moved into the baritone repertory, performing such roles as Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La Traviata and Don Carlo in Verdi's Ernani. Next season at the Met, he will add a new role to his repertory as the title character in Nabucco and reprise Germont in La Traviata, in addition to conducting some performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Lianna Haroutounian makes her Met role debut as Amelia Grimaldi after previously singing the role at the Opéra de Tours. She made her Met debut last season as Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi's Don Carlo. Notable credits with other opera companies include recently starring in the title role of Puccini's Tosca at the San Francisco Opera, Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Zurich Opera, and Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Later this year, she can be seen as Mimì in La Bohème at Opera Australia, Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the San Francisco Opera, and Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Joseph Calleja has previously sung Gabriele Adorno at the Vienna State Opera. In 2006, he made his Met debut as the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, followed by performances as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and as the title character in Gonoud's Faust. Later this season, he can be seen as Don José in Bizet's Carmen at the Frankfurt Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as Faust in Boito's Mefistofele at the Bavarian State Opera. During the 2016-17 season at the Met, he will reprise the Duke in Rigoletto.

Ferruccio Furlanetto reprises Jacopo Fiesco after previously singing the role in 2007 and 2011 with the Met, as well as the Vienna State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. After making his company debut in 1980 as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, he has sung over 200 performances with the company, including roles such as Philip II in Don Carlo, the title roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, and de Silva in Verdi's Ernani. Later this year, he will sing Jacopo Fiesco at the Berlin State Opera and Vienna State Opera, Philip II in Don Carlo at the San Francisco Opera, and in the title role of Massenet's Don Quichotte at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

SIMON BOCCANEGRA was originally staged in 1857 at La Fenice. Because of the complicated plot which led to a poor audience response, Verdi's publisher persuaded the composer to revise the opera 23 years later, with significant changes to the libretto. The new version premiered at La Scala in 1881, which includes the now famous Council Chamber scene. It is this version that is frequently performed today.

The opera premiered at the Met in 1932, where it has been staged 139 times to date. Famous baritones who have sung the title role include Sherrill Milnes, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Thomas Hampson, and famous sopranos who have sung the role of Amelia Grimaldi include Kiri Te Kanawa and Renata Tebaldi.

The April 9 performance of SIMON BOCCANEGRA will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74. The performance on April 1 will also be streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

The April 9 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For more information on SIMON BOCCANEGRA including casting by date, click here.

IF YOU GO:

SIMON BOCCANEGRA

Composer/Libretto: Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave

Performances:

Friday, April 1, 2016, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 9, 2016, 12:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 16, 2016, 8:00 p.m.

Conductor: James Levine

Production: Giancarlo del Monaco

Set & Costume Designer: Michael Scott

Lighting Designer: Wayne Chouinard

Amelia Grimaldi: Lianna Haroutounian

Gabriele Adorno: Joseph Calleja

SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Plácido Domingo

Jacopo Fiesco: Ferruccio Furlanetto

Paolo: Brian Mulligan

Pietro: Richard Bernstein

Maidservant: Edyta Kulczak

Captain: Noah Baetge

* Met debut

For prices and ticket information, call (212) 362-6000 or visit www.metopera.org. Special rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling (212) 341-5410 or visiting www.metopera.org/groups.

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