THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER, LA DONNA DEL LAGO, THE MERRY WIDOW and More Set for The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 Season

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartók's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

Met Music Director James Levine, back to full strength, will resume his typical schedule of six operas in the 2014-15 season. His first opera will be Richard Eyre's new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, which opens the Met season on September 22. Levine also conducts five revivals next season, leading Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress; Verdi's Ernani, which he has not conducted at the Met since 1983, and Un Ballo in Maschera; and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Levine will also conduct all three concerts in the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall series.

On New Year's Eve, Tony Award-winning director Susan Stroman will make her Met debut with a new production of Lehár's The Merry Widow, conducted by Andrew Davis. The final new production of the season will be another double bill, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi and directed by David McVicar.

The 2014-15 season was announced by Met General Manager Peter Gelb and Met Music Director James Levine.

"With a mix of new offerings, a few repertory rarities, and solid casting of our mainstay revivals, this should prove to be a stimulating season for the Company and for our audience," said Gelb. "Jim's return to a full slate of operas is the ideal icing on our cake."

"My return to the company has been one of the most joyful experiences of my life, and I'm delighted to resume a full working schedule of six operas next season for the first time in several years," said James Levine.

The ninth season of The Met: Live in HD, which is the world's leading alternative cinema content series and currently reaches more than 2,000 theaters in 65 countries, will open on October 11 with Verdi's Macbeth. The performance, conducted by Fabio Luisi, will star Željko Lu?i? as Macbeth and Anna Netrebko in the vocally and dramatically demanding role of Lady Macbeth. Nine additional matinee performances, including all six new productions, will be transmitted over the course of the season.

NEW PRODUCTIONS

Le Nozze di Figaro - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
OPENING NIGHT

Opening: September 22, 2014

Conductor: James Levine/Edo de Waart

Production: Richard Eyre

Set and Costume Design: Rob Howell

Lighting Design: Paule Constable

Choreographer: Sara Erde

Live in HD: October 18, 2014

The season opens with a new production of Mozart's elegant masterpiece of marital discord, Le Nozze di Figaro. James Levine conducts the new staging by Richard Eyre, whose Met credits include the 2011 hit production of Carmen and the current season's Werther. Eyre's staging of the opera, in which the romantic bonds of two couples are tested over the course of one eventful day, is set in a stately manor in 1920s Seville.

Ildar Abdrazakov, star of this season's Prince Igor and an acclaimed Figaro at the Met in the past, sings the title role in the premiere performances. The opening night cast also includes Marlis Petersen as Figaro's quick-witted bride-to-be, Susanna; Peter Mattei in one of his most acclaimed roles as Count Almaviva; Marina Poplavskaya in her role debut as Almaviva's wife, the long-suffering Countess; and Isabel Leonard as the boisterous page Cherubino.

A second cast, led by Edo de Waart, takes the leading roles starting December 4. Three artists who have sung their roles to acclaim in past Met seasons- Erwin Schrott as Figaro, Danielle de Niese as Susanna, and Mariusz Kwiecien as Count Almaviva-star opposite two debuting artists, American soprano Amanda Majeski as the Countess and Italian mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi as Cherubino.

The Death of Klinghoffer - John Adams
MET PREMIERE

Opening: October 20, 2014

Conductor: David Robertson

Production: Tom Morris

Set Design: Tom Pye

Costume Design: Laura Hopkins

Lighting Design: Jean Kalman

Video Design: Finn Ross

Sound Design: Mark Grey

Choreographer: Arthur Pita

Live in HD: November 15, 2014

John Adams's meditative work, based on the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and the subsequent murder of an American Jewish passenger, has its Met premiere. The Death of Klinghoffer is the third Adams opera to be presented at the Met in recent seasons, following the success of Doctor Atomic and Nixon in China. The Met premiere, a co-production with English National Opera, is directed by Tom Morris, whose other credits include the international theatrical hit War Horse.

David Robertson, who led the 2013 Met premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys, conducts the opera, which will star Paulo Szot as the Captain of the Achille Lauro; Alan Opie as the title character; Michaela Martens as Klinghoffer's wife, Marilyn; Sean Pannikar as Molqi; Aubrey Allicock in his Met debut as Mamoud; and Ryan Speedo Green as "Rambo."

The Merry Widow - Franz Lehár

Opening: December 31, 2014

Conductor: Andrew Davis/Fabio Luisi

Production: Susan Stroman

Set Design: Julian Crouch

Costume Design: William Ivey Long

Lighting Design: Paule Constable

Choreographer: Susan Stroman

English Translation: Jeremy Sams

Live in HD: January 17, 2015

Broadway director and choreographer Susan Stroman, whose many credits include the Tony Award-winning musicals Crazy For You, Contact, and The Producers, makes her Met debut with a lavish new staging of Lehár's effervescent operetta The Merry Widow. The operetta will be performed in English, in a translation by Jeremy Sams. Lehár's best-known composition has been an audience favorite since its 1905 premiere and features a great deal of well-known music, including "Vilja," "You'll Find Me at Maxim's," and "The Merry Widow Waltz."

As Hanna, the widowed Parisian millionairess, Renée Fleming will add a new character to her wide-ranging Met repertory of 22 roles. Andrew Davis will conduct a cast that also includes Nathan Gunn as Hanna's lover, Danilo; Alek Shrader as the young nobleman, Camille de Rosillon; Thomas Allen as the scheming Baron Zeta; and soprano Kelli O'Hara, currently starring on Broadway in the new musical The Bridges of Madison County, in her Met debut as the Baron's coquettish wife, Valencienne.

In April, Fabio Luisi leads a new cast in the principal roles, headed by Susan Graham as Hanna, a role she sang at the Met to acclaim in 2004. The cast also includes Rod Gilfry as Danilo, Stephen Costello as Camille, Alan Opie as Baron Zeta, and Danielle de Niese as Valencienne.

Iolanta - Peter Tchaikovsky
MET PREMIERE

Duke Bluebeard's Castle - Béla Bartók

Opening: January 26, 2015

Conductor: Valery Gergiev/Pavel Smelkov

Production: Mariusz Treli?ski

Set Design: Boris Kudlicka

Costume Design: Marek Adamski

Lighting Design: Marc Heinz

Video Projection Design: Bartek Macias

Choreographer: Tomasz Wygoda

Live in HD: February 14, 2015

Mariusz Treli?ski, artistic director of Warsaw's Polish National Opera, makes his Met debut with a double bill of two rarely performed one-act works: Tchaikovsky's romantic fairy tale Iolanta, about the psychological awakening of a blind princess, and Bartók's harrowing Duke Bluebeard's Castle, in which newlywed Judith must open seven locked doors to discover the full depths of her husband's dark secrets. Valery Gergiev conducts the double bill, which is a co-production with Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera.

Anna Netrebko stars as the title character in Iolanta, in her second Tchaikovsky role at the Met; she opened the 2013-14 season to great acclaim as Tatiana in his Eugene Onegin. Piotr Beczala and Alexey Markov sing Tristan Vaudémont and Robert, rivals for Iolanta's love; baritone Elchin Azizov makes his Met debut as the physician Ibn-Hakia; and Alexei Tanovitski sings King René, Iolanta's protective father.

Nadja Michael, who made her Met debut as Verdi's Lady Macbeth in 2012, sings the central role of Judith in Duke Bluebeard's Castle, with Mikhail Petrenko as her mysterious and menacing new husband.

La Donna del Lago - Gioachino Rossini
MET PREMIERE

Opening: February 16, 2015

Conductor: Michele Mariotti

Production: Paul Curran

Set and Costume Design: Kevin Knight

Lighting Design: Duane Schuler

Projection Design: Driscoll Otto

Live in HD: March 14, 2015

Joyce DiDonato stars in the virtuosic title role of the bel canto rarity La Donna del Lago, Rossini's adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Juan Diego Flórez sings his fifth Rossini hero at the Met as Giacomo, the benevolent king of Scotland whose life unexpectedly intersects with the destiny of the lady of the lake.

Michele Mariotti conducts debuting Scottish director Paul Curran's production of the opera, a co-production with Santa Fe Opera, where it premiered in 2013. The cast also includes Daniela Barcellona in the trouser role of Malcolm, John Osborn as Rodrigo, and Oren Gradus as Duglas.

Cavalleria Rusticana - Pietro Mascagni

Pagliacci - Ruggero Leoncavallo

Opening: April 14, 2015

Conductor: Fabio Luisi

Production: David McVicar

Set Design: Rae Smith

Costume Design: Moritz Junge

Lighting Design: Paule Constable

Choreographer: Andrew George

Vaudeville Consultant: Emil Wolk

Live in HD: April 25, 2015

Fabio Luisi conducts and David McVicar directs the first new Met production of the popular verismo double bill in 45 years. McVicar's staging will highlight the contrast between the repressed, ritualistic morality of Cavalleria Rusticana and the glitzy volatility of Pagliacci's twisted farce.

Marcelo Álvarez makes his company role debuts in both the leading tenor parts: the unrepentant seducer Turiddu and the jealous clown Canio. Eva-Maria Westbroek will sing Santuzza, the abandoned woman at the heart of Cavalleria Rusticana, with Željko Lu?i? as Alfio. Patricia Racette will star as Canio's ill-fated wife, Nedda, in Pagliacci, with George Gagnidze in his first Met performances as Tonio.

CASTING

Marcelo Álvarez is one of many stars making significant Met role debuts this season. The others include Aleksandrs Antonenko as Don José in Bizet's Carmen; Piotr Beczala as Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera and Vaudémont in Iolanta; Diana Damrau as the title character in Massenet's Manon; Joyce DiDonato as Elena in La Donna del Lago; Plácido Domingo in the baritone role of Don Carlo in Ernani; Gerald Finley as Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress; Renée Fleming as Hanna, the title character in The Merry Widow; Juan Diego Flórez as Giacomo in La Donna del Lago; Vittorio Grigolo as the Chevalier des Grieux in Manon and the title character in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Thomas Hampson as the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and the title character in Iolanta; Susanna Phillips as Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Matthew Polenzani as the title character in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Marina Poplavskaya as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro; Paulo Szot as the Captain in The Death of Klinghoffer; Violeta Urmana as Amneris in Verdi's Aida; and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana.

Many Met artists will return to favorite roles in the coming season, reprising popular interpretations with new colleagues or in new productions. These artists include Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro and Escamillo in Carmen; Roberto Alagna and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Don José in Carmen; Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk in The Rake's Progress; Olga Borodina as Amneris in Aida; Johan Botha as Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; Lawrence Brownlee as Count Almaviva in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Joseph Calleja as Macduff in Macbeth and Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor; Danielle de Niese as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro; Barbara Frittoli as Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi's Don Carlo; Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II in Don Carlo; El?na Garan?a in the title role of Carmen; Angela Gheorghiu as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème; Marcello Giordani as Radamès in Aida; Susan Graham as Hanna in The Merry Widow; Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Anckarström in Un Ballo in Maschera; Jonas Kaufmann as Don José in Carmen; Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo in Don Carlo; Mariusz Kwiecien as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Marcello in La Bohème; Isabel Leonard as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Kate Lindsey as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Nicklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Željko Lu?i? in the title role of Macbeth; Peter Mattei as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni; Angela Meade as Elvira in Ernani; René Pape as Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Banquo in Macbeth; Patricia Racette as Nedda in Pagliacci; Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera; Christine Schäfer as Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel; Erwin Schrott in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro; Ramón Vargas as Rodolfo in La Bohème; and Dolora Zajick as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera.

Numerous rising stars who made important Met debuts in recent seasons will return to the company in 2014-15. These artists include Paul Appleby, who sings Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress; Layla Claire, Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress; Hibla Gerzmava, the four heroines of Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Bryan Hymel, Rodolfo in La Bohème; Brandon Jovanovich, Sergei in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk; Yonghoon Lee, the title role in Don Carlo; Nadja Michael, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle; Liudmyla Monastyrska and Latonia Moore, the title role in Aida; Kristine Opolais, Mimì in La Bohème; Anita Rachvelishvili, the title role in Carmen; Marina Rebeka, Violetta in La Traviata; Albina Shagimuratova, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor; Pretty Yende, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte; and Sonya Yoncheva, Musetta in La Bohème.

MET DEBUTS

Met debuts this season, in chronological order, include Greek soprano Myrtò Papatanasiu as Musetta in La Bohème (September 23); Macedonian soprano Ana Durlovski as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte (October 6); American bass-baritone Aubrey Allicock as Mamoud in The Death of Klinghoffer (October 20); Italian baritone Alessio Arduini as Schaunard in La Bohème (November 14); German baritone Johannes Martin Kränzle as Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (December 2); American soprano Amanda Majeski as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (December 4); Italian mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (December 4); English mezzo-soprano Christine Rice as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (December 18); Italian tenor Francesco Demuro as Alfredo in La Traviata (December 30); American soprano Kelli O'Hara as Valencienne in The Merry Widow (December 31); Azerbaijani baritone Elchin Azizov as Ibn-Haki in Iolanta (January 26); Russian tenor Dmitry Korchak as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (February 4); Czech bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Masetto in Don Giovanni (February 4); Hungarian bass-baritone Gábor Bretz as Escamillo in Carmen (February 6); American soprano Ailyn Pérez as Micaëla in Carmen (February 6); Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian as Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo (April 15); Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadia Krasteva as Eboli in Don Carlo (April 15); and English bass Brindley Sherratt as Trulove in The Rake's Progress (May 1).

REPERTORY

The Met's 2014-15 season features 18 revivals of works by 12 composers in a variety of operatic styles, ranging from Mozart to Shostakovich.

Two rarely heard operas will receive Met revivals in the 2014-15 season. In October, James Conlon conducts Shostakovich's searing Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, starring Eva-Maria Westbroek as the headstrong heroine, Brandon Jovanovich as Sergei, Raymond Very as Zinovy, and Anatoli Kotscherga as Boris. The opera was last performed at the Met in 2000.

In May, James Levine leads Stravinsky's only full-length opera, The Rake's Progress. The cast includes Paul Appleby as Tom Rakewell, Layla Claire as Anne Trulove, Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk, and Gerald Finley as the diabolical Nick Shadow.

Levine will also conduct next season's Ernani, with Plácido Domingo adding a role to his extensive Met repertory as Don Carlo, opposite Angela Meade as Elvira, Francesco Meli in the title role, and Dmitri Belosselskiy as de Silva. In April, Levine leads a revival of Un Ballo in Maschera, with three original cast members of David Alden's production-Sondra Radvanovsky (Amelia), Dolora Zajick (Ulrica), and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Anckarström)-joined by Piotr Beczala as Gustavo and Heidi Stober as Oscar.

In December, Levine leads Wagner's grand human comedy Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in its first Met performances since 2007. Johan Reuter stars as Hans Sachs, with Johan Botha as Walther, Annette Dasch as Eva, Karen Cargill as Magdalene, Paul Appleby as David, Johannes Martin Kränzle in his Met debut as Beckmesser, and Hans-Peter König as Pogner.

Levine will also conduct some February and March performances of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, starring Matthew Polenzani in the title role and Audrey Luna (Olympia), Susanna Phillips (Antonia), and Elena Maximova (Giulietta) as three of the women Hoffmann unsuccessfully romances. These performances also feature Karine Deshayes and Laurent Naouri in their first Met performances of Nicklausse and the Four Villains, respectively. Earlier performances of the opera, beginning in January, will be conducted by Yves Abel and star Vittorio Grigolo in the title role, with Hibla Gerzmava singing all four heroines, Kate Lindsey as Nicklausse, and Thomas Hampson as the Four Villains.

Franco Zeffirelli's popular staging of La Bohème returns with multiple casts, including Angela Gheorghiu, Kristine Opolais, and Ekaterina Scherbachenko as Mimì opposite Ramón Vargas and Bryan Hymel as Rodolfo. Myrtò Papatanasiu (in her Met debut), Susanna Phillips, and Sonya Yoncheva sing Musetta, and Mariusz Kwiecien, Quinn Kelsey, and Luca Salsi share the role of Marcello. Riccardo Frizza conducts all performances of La Bohème at the Met this season.

Fabio Luisi leads a revival of Verdi's Macbeth, with Anna Netrebko in her first North American performances as Lady Macbeth. Željko Lu?i? sings the title role in a revival of Adrian Noble's 2007 production, with Joseph Calleja as Macduff and René Pape as Banquo.

Richard Eyre's production of Carmen returns with two casts, each led by an acclaimed Carmen of recent Met seasons. Anita Rachvelishvili sings the title role in the opera's fall performances, with Aleksandrs Antonenko and Anita Hartig in their company role debuts as Don José and Micaëla, and Massimo Cavalletti and Ildar Abdrazakov as Escamillo. Beginning in February, El?na Garan?a returns to the role she sang in the premiere of Eyre's production, opposite her original co-star Roberto Alagna as Don José. Jonas Kaufmann takes the role of the military officer destroyed by his love for Carmen for some performances in March. American soprano Ailyn Pérez makes her Met debut as Micaëla in the spring cast, as does Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz as Escamillo. Pablo Heras-Casado and Louis Langrée conduct this season's performances.

This season will include the first full-length German performances of Die Zauberflöte at the Met since 2010. The cast for Julie Taymor's production will include Toby Spence as Tamino, Pretty Yende and Miah Persson as Pamina, Ana Durlovski (in her Met debut) and Kathryn Lewek as Queen of the Night, Markus Werba as Papageno, and René Pape and Franz-Josef Selig as Sarastro. Adam Fischer conducts.

Marco Armiliato will conduct both La Traviata and Aida this season, with Plácido Domingo leading some performances of the latter opera. Marina Rebeka, who made a notable Met debut as Donna Anna in the 2011 new production premiere of Don Giovanni, sings her first Met performances of Violetta in Traviata, with Stephen Costello and Ludovic Tézier in company role debuts as Alfredo and Giorgio Germont. Later in the run, Marina Poplavskaya reprises her Violetta, which she sang in the new production premiere of Willy Decker's staging, opposite the Alfredo of debuting Italian tenor Francesco Demuro.

Aida will star Liudmyla Monastyrska and Latonia Moore, both of whom made acclaimed Met debuts as the Ethiopian princess in 2012, with Oksana Dyka assuming the role later in the season. Olga Borodina reprises her celebrated Amneris, sharing the role with Violeta Urmana, who sings her first Met performances as the jealous princess. Marcello Giordani and Marco Berti sing the hero Radamès, and Željko Lu?i? and Andrzej Dobber sing Amonasro, Aida's father.

Michele Mariotti conducts Isabel Leonard as Rosina and Lawrence Brownlee as Count Almaviva in Bartlett Sher's production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which features Christopher Maltman in his first Met performances of the title role.

The Met's holiday presentation will be Richard Jones's fanciful staging of Hansel and Gretel, conducted by Andrew Davis. Christine Schäfer reprises her Gretel, with debuting mezzo-soprano Christine Rice as Hansel and Robert Brubaker returning to the role of the evil Witch. The opera, performed in English, will feature lower ticket prices and weekday matinee performances.

Alan Gilbert returns to the Met for the first time since his 2008 debut to conduct Don Giovanni, starring Peter Mattei in the title role. Elza van den Heever makes her company role debut as Donna Anna, with Emma Bell as Donna Elvira, Kate Lindsey as Zerlina, Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, Dmitry Korchak in his Met debut as Don Ottavio, and James Morris as the Commendatore.

Diana Damrau adds a new title character to her Met repertory when she takes on the starring role in Massenet's Manon, opposite Vittorio Grigolo as the Chevalier des Grieux. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the revival of Laurent Pelly's production, which also stars Russell Braun as Lescaut and Nicolas Testé as the Comte des Grieux.

Albina Shagimuratova, an acclaimed Queen of the Night at the Met earlier this season, makes her company role debut as the title character in Lucia di Lammermoor. Maurizio Benini conducts a cast that also includes Joseph Calleja as Edgardo and Fabio Capitanucci as Enrico.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Don Carlo, which he also conducted to acclaim at the 2010 new production premiere of Nicholas Hytner's staging. The cast includes Yonghoon Lee in the title role, Barbara Frittoli as Elisabeth de Valois, Ekaterina Gubanova and Nadia Krasteva (in her Met debut) as Eboli, Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II, and James Morris as the Grand Inquisitor.

René Pape Recital

René Pape will take the Met stage for a solo recital on Sunday, September 28, joined by pianist Camillo Radicke. The program will feature works by Dvo?ák, Beethoven, Ravel, and Mussorgsky. Pape, one of the most acclaimed artists on the Met roster, has sung 22 roles with the company and will sing both Banquo in Macbeth and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in the 2014-15 season. Pape will be the first bass to sing a recital on the Met stage since Martti Talvela in 1984.

The MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

The MET Orchestra continues its highly acclaimed annual series at Carnegie Hall with three Sunday afternoon concerts conducted by James Levine. The program for the October 12 concert, will include Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467, featuring soloist Maurizio Pollini, and Mahler's Symphony No. 9.

On February 8, the program will include Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 36; Berg's "Seven Early Songs," with soloist El?na Garan?a; Carter's Three Illusions; and Schumann's Symphony No. 2 in C, Op. 61.

The final concert of the season, on May 17, will begin with Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15, featuring soloist Yefim Bronfman, and conclude with Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14.

For tickets and additional information on the MET Orchestra concerts at Carnegie Hall, the public may visit www.carnegiehall.org or call (212) 247-7800.

The Met: Live in HD 2014-15

The 2014-15 season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 10 live transmissions of select Saturday matinees to movie theaters around the world. The HD season opens on October 11 with Macbeth and continues with Le Nozze di Figaro (October 18), Carmen (November 1), The Death of Klinghoffer (November 15), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (December 13), The Merry Widow (January 17), Les Contes d'Hoffmann (January 31), Iolanta and Duke Bluebeard's Castle (February 14), La Donna del Lago (March 14), and Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci (April 25).

The Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series of live transmissions into movie theaters, which enters its ninth season in 2014-15, currently reaches more than 2,000 theaters in 65 countries. The Met's groundbreaking series launched in 2006 and quickly became the world's leading alternative cinema content provider. More than 14 million tickets have been sold since the series' inception.

Tickets for the 10 transmissions in the 2014-15 Live in HD season will go on sale in August in the U.S. and Canada, with Met Members offered priority before tickets are made available to the general public. International ticket sales dates and details on ordering tickets for the 2014-15 Live in HD series vary from country to country and will be announced separately by individual distributors.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg. Transmission of The Met: Live in HD in Canada is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline Desmarais, in memory of Paul G. Desmarais Sr.

Within months of their initial live transmissions, the Live in HD programs are shown on PBS. The PBS series, Great Performances at the Met, is produced in association with PBS and WNET, with support from Toll Brothers, America's luxury home builder. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscriptions for the 2014-15 season are available now, and single tickets will go on sale to the general public on August 10, 2014.

There will be minor price increases in some tickets for the 2014-15 season, with an overall average increase of 2% from last season's prices. The average price of a Met ticket in the 2014-15 season, $160, is significantly lower than the average price of a ticket in the 2012-13 season, which was $174. Approximately one-third of the 835,000 tickets available next season will be priced at $100 or below.

Subscription tickets will be significantly less expensive than single tickets, with a minimum discount of 15% versus single-sale prices for evening subscriptions, and a minimum discount of 10% for Saturday matinee subscriptions. New subscriber benefits introduced in recent seasons, including the elimination of exchange fees, will continue in the coming season.

Three popular programs that provide free or dramatically reduced tickets to opera lovers will return in the 2014-15 season. The Met's Open Rehearsal series will give away thousands of free tickets to the general public via lottery by opening the final dress rehearsals of three productions. Met Opera Students, the company's free program for full-time college and graduate students, will again offer $25 weeknight tickets and $35 weekend tickets to its members. Finally, the Met's Rush Tickets program will return for its ninth season in 2014-15, once again making more than 30,000 seats in prime locations available to the general public for $20-$25. Rush Tickets will be available for every performance in the season, excluding the Opening Night and New Year's Eve galas.

In keeping with a tradition begun on Opening Night in 2006, the September 22 premiere performance of Le Nozze di Figaro will be transmitted live to numerous large screens in Times Square and on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza. Attendance will be free at both locations; information on ticket distribution will be released at a later date. The Times Square relay of the Opening Night Gala is presented in cooperation with the City of New York and the Times Square Alliance. The live transmissions to Times Square and the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center are made possible with the cooperation of the City of New York, with leadership support provided by Bloomberg and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. This program is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

In Summer 2014, two free programs that further expand the Met's programming beyond the auditorium will return. The Summer Recital series will again present Met artists in recital in each of the five boroughs, and the Summer HD Festival will show operas from the Live in HD series on a large screen at Lincoln Center Plaza to an audience of approximately 3,000 people per night. Together, the Met's summer programs are expected to allow approximately 50,000 New Yorkers to experience the Met for free.

MEDIA RELEASES

The Met will continue to release performances from its vast archive of current and historic performances on CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital platforms in the 2014-15 season, with the trademark artistic and production quality that has earned the company three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording.

More than 60 titles are currently available for purchase through the iTunes store, including 29 video performances, 17 audio performances, and 16 ringtones built from Met audio. In addition, 10 full-length videos from the Live in HD series are available through Amazon Instant. All four operas in Wagner's Ring cycle as well as Wagner's Dream, the accompanying documentary about the staging of Robert Lepage's recent Met production, will be released to Amazon Instant in early March.

Met Opera on Demand

The Met's online subscription streaming service now features nearly 500 full-length Met performances, available worldwide for anytime access through the Met's website and the Met Opera on Demand iPad app. This online catalogue includes more than 70 presentations from the Live in HD series, as well as hundreds of other telecasts and radio broadcasts dating back to 1935.

Earlier this season, the Met expanded the reach of this online catalogue with the launch of Met Opera on Demand: Student Access, a new offering that allows university and college libraries to make this unparalleled digital resource from the Met accessible through their online collections. Student Access, which offers exclusive educational resources to students and faculty along with access to the full library of Met Opera on Demand performances, is already used by more than 30 schools around the world.

The Met on the Radio and the Web

The Met's 84th consecutive Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast season kicks off on December 6 with a live broadcast of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and continues through the May 9 matinee of The Rake's Progress. The broadcast season will once again be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. Margaret Juntwait returns for her eleventh season as host and Ira Siff returns for his eighth season as commentator for the broadcasts, which feature a range of dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz. The 2014-15 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season will be sponsored by Toll Brothers, America's luxury homebuilder, with generous long-term support from The Annenberg Foundation, The Neubauer Family Foundation, and the Vincent A. Stabile Endowment for Broadcast Media, and through contributions from listeners worldwide.

Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 74 will present its ninth season as the country's premier subscription radio channel dedicated to opera. Up to three live performances will be broadcast each week during the season, hosted by Margaret Juntwait with commentator William Berger, as well as historic broadcasts from the Met's vast collection. "This Month at the Met," an hour-long program, features lively interviews and previews of upcoming Met performances. The live broadcast season begins with the Met's Opening Night performance of Le Nozze di Figaro on September 22. Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM is available to subscribers in the United States and Canada.

The Met will continue to stream one live performance per week during the 2014-15 season on its website at metopera.org. The Met website also features artist interviews, video and audio clips, photo galleries, and other information about Met productions and initiatives.

The Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program

The Met/LCT New Works Program continues in 2014-15 with one work in development and three new composers added to the program. Composer Ricky Ian Gordon is beginning work on Intimate Apparel, which Lynn Nottage has adapted from her acclaimed play about an African-American seamstress in turn-of-the-century New York. The play follows her pursuit of a better life, through a letter-writing relationship with a laborer working on the Panama Canal, and her interactions with a cross-section of New York City denizens.

Matthew Aucoin, David T. Little, and Joshua Schmidt, three critically heralded young composers, have signed on to develop new operas through the program. Each has achieved renown in recent years. Matthew Aucoin is the youngest assistant conductor in the history of the Met, and is currently finishing his third opera, which has been commissioned by the American Repertory Theater. David T. Little's operas include Dog Days, which premiered in 2012, and a forthcoming commission for the Fort Worth Opera currently titled JFK. Joshua Schmidt won considerable acclaim as the composer of the musical Adding Machine, an off-Broadway success in 2008, and A Minister's Wife, his musical adaptation of Shaw's Candida, which was produced by Lincoln Center Theater in 2011. For the Met/LCT program, Schmidt will collaborate with librettist Dick Scanlan, a Tony nominee whose Broadway credits include Thoroughly Modern Millie and Everyday Rapture.

The Met/LCT New Works Program is funded by a generous gift to the Met from the Francis Goelet Charitable Trusts.

Educational and Audience Development Initiatives

The Met's HD Live in Schools program will continue for its eighth season, offering free opera transmissions to New York City schools in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. The program will now enter its seventh season nationally, partnering with 34 school districts across the country to bring the Met's live HD transmissions to students and teachers. The Met's HD education program includes backstage visits for students, where they learn how costumes and scenery are constructed; Q&As with artists; access to final dress rehearsals; in-school workshops; and teacher training workshops. Program and curriculum guides are created for in-school use in conjunction with HD screenings. Major funding for HD Live in Schools is made possible by Bank of America, with program support provided through a partnership with the New York City Department of Education.

Met Opera Students, the Met's popular initiative for full-time college and graduate students, will return in 2014-15. The program offers students access to steeply discounted tickets, invitations to artist lectures, discounts at the Met Opera Shop, and the opportunity to mingle with other young opera lovers at special pre-performance events.

The MetTalks series of panel discussions with the stars and creative teams of new productions will return for a fifth season in 2014-15.

The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met

During the 2014-15 season, the contemporary art space located in the Met's south lobby will present two new exhibitions. The gallery will present two shows during the season, one in Fall 2014 and one in Spring 2015, in conjunction with productions from the opera season. Participating artists and subject matter will be announced at a later date. Admission is free and Gallery Met is open to the public six days a week; the hours are Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. through the last intermission, and Saturdays from noon through the last intermission of the evening performance. For more information, visit metopera.org/gallerymet.

Pictured: Franz Lehár's THE MERRY WIDOW. Renée Fleming as Hanna and Nathan Gunn as Danilo in Lehár's "The Merry Widow." Susan Stroman's new production opens on December 31, 2014. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera.

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