The Met Opera to Open 2014-15 Season With New Production of Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, 9/22

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 130th season on Monday, September 22 with a new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and directed by Richard Eyre. This is the first time since 1941 that Mozart's enormously popular comedy-in which various romantic entanglements complicate the nuptial plans of Figaro and his bride-to-be, the clever housemaid Susanna-has been chosen to open the Met season. The ensemble cast is led by Russian bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov as Figaro; German soprano Marlis Petersen as Susanna; Swedish baritone Peter Mattei as Figaro's lecherous employer, Count Almaviva; American soprano Amanda Majeski in her Met debut as Almaviva's wife, the long-suffering Countess; and American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in the trouser role of the feisty page Cherubino.

Continuing a tradition begun on Opening Night in 2006, the September 22 performance will be transmitted live to audiences in Times Square and on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza. In addition, the October 18 matinee will be transmitted live around the world as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 68 countries.

Beginning December 5, Edo de Waart leads a new cast in five performances of the production. Erwin Schrott stars as Figaro; Danielle de Niese as Susanna; American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen in her Met debut as the Countess; Italian mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi in her Met debut as Cherubino; and Mariusz Kwiecien as the Count.

Complete casting for this season's performances also includes Susanne Mentzer in her company role debut as Marcellina; Mentzer's more than 140 Met performances include Cherubino in the 1998 new production premiere of Le Nozze di Figaro. Ying Fang and Ashley Emerson sing Barbarina; Greg Fedderly and Alan Oke sing Don Basilio; Scott Scully sings Don Curzio; John Del Carlo sings Dr. Bartolo; and Philip Cokorinos sings Antonio.

James Levine conducts the opening night performance this season for the first time since 2010, and nine subsequent performances of the opera through October. This season, he returns to conducting a full schedule of operas, also including Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Verdi's Ernani and Un Ballo in Maschera, and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. Levine has led Le Nozze di Figaro a record 67 times at the Met-including the premieres of the company's two previous productions in 1985 and 1998. Over the course of his 43-year career with the company, he has conducted more than 2,400 performances total, including the first-ever Met performances of Mozart's Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito; Gershwin's Porgy and Bess; Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex; Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, I Lombardi and Stiffelio; Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; Schoenberg's Erwartung and Moses und Aron; Rossini's La Cenerentola; and Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, as well as the world premieres of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles and John Harbison's The Great Gatsby.

Richard Eyre's staging of Le Nozze di Figaro, his third Met collaboration with set and costume designer Rob Howell, sets the opera in late 1920s Seville. Eyre made his Met debut in the 2009-10 season with an acclaimed production of Carmen that returns to the repertory this season. Last season, he directed a new staging of Massenet's Werther. He is the winner of five Olivier Awards for stage productions in London, and his Broadway credits include Private Lives, Mary Poppins, Vincent in Brixton, The Crucible, Amy's View, and Judas Kiss. He has also directed numerous films, including the Oscar-nominated Iris (2001) and Notes on a Scandal (2006).

Ildar Abdrazakov made his company role debut as Figaro in 2012 and also sang the role last season at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg. His other starring roles at the Met have included the title character in last season's new production of Borodin's Prince Igor; the title role in the Met premiere of Verdi's Attila, conducted by Riccardo Muti; Masetto, Leporello, and the title character in Don Giovanni; Dosifei in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina; Enrico in the Met premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena; and the Four Villains in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Also this season, he will sing Escamillo in Carmen for two performances, including the worldwide HD transmission on November 1.

Amanda Majeski makes her Met debut as Countess Almaviva. She has sung the Countess with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Dresden Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival. Her other recent performances include Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Opera Philadelphia, Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at Zurich Opera, and the title role in Dvo?ák's Rusalka at Frankfurt Opera.

Marlis Petersen made her Met debut in 2005 as Adele in Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus. In 2010, she agreed at short notice to step in for an ailing colleague to sing the challenging role of Ophélie in a new production of Thomas's Hamlet. Later that season, she sang her first Met performances of the title role in Berg's Lulu. In recent seasons, she has sung Susanna with Los Angeles Opera and the Salzburg Festival.

Isabel Leonard first sang Cherubino at the Met in 2009 and has also performed the role at the Glyndebourne Festival and Paris Opera. Last season, she sang Dorabella in an acclaimed Met revival of Mozart's Così fan tutte, conducted by Levine. Her other Met roles have included Blanche de la Force in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Miranda in the company premiere of Thomas Adès's The Tempest, and Rosina in the premiere of the abridged, English-language holiday presentation of Rossini's The Barber of Seville-a role she sings in its full-length Italian version later this season. She is the winner of both the Met's 2011 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2013 Richard Tucker Award.

Peter Mattei made his Met debut as the Count in 2002 and returned to reprise the role in 2005. He has also sung the Count with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Bavarian State Opera; and San Francisco Opera. His numerous Met performances have included the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Amfortas in the new production premiere of Wagner's Parsifal, Figaro in the new production premiere of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Shishkov in the Met premiere of Janá?ek's >From the House of the Dead. Later this season, he will reprise the title role in Don Giovanni, a role he sang in the opera's 2011 new production premiere.

Edo de Waart conducted Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met in the 1999-2000 season. He made his Met debut the previous season leading Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and returned in 2009 to lead a revival of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. He is Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and a frequent guest conductor of other major orchestras, including recent engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.

Erwin Schrott first sang the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met in 2007; he has also sung the role at the Teatro Colón, Salzburg Festival, and Paris Opera. His other Met performances have included both the title role and Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Bohème, and Escamillo in Carmen. Last season, he sang Doctor Dulcamara in a revival of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen, a winner of the 2010 Met National Council Auditions, won the First Prize for Opera at this year's Operalia competition. She has sung the Countess with Detroit Opera and will sing the role later this season at Dresden State Opera, where she has performed extensively. In recent seasons, her roles with that company have included numerous Mozart heroines, such as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Elettra in Idomeneo. She has also sung Licenza in Mozart's Il Sogno di Scipione at Gotham Chamber Opera, Donna Anna at Houston Grand Opera, Fiordiligi at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and will sing Fiordiligi at Houston Grand Opera this fall.

Danielle de Niese made her Met debut at age 19 as Barbarina in the 1998 new production premiere of Le Nozze di Figaro. She sang Susanna with the company for the first time in 2009, and has also sung that role at the Dutch National Opera and San Francisco Opera. Other recent Met performances have included Despina in Così fan tutte, Ariel in the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island, Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare.

Serena Malfi makes her Met debut as Cherubino, a role she has sung at the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colón, and the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. Earlier this summer, she sang Despina in a new production of Così fan tutte at La Scala. Her other performances this season include the title role in Rossini's La Cenerentola at Vienna State Opera and Teatro San Carlo in Naples; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Canadian Opera Company and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Paris Opera.

Mariusz Kwiecien starred in the title role of last season's opening night production, Eugene Onegin, and made his company role debut as Riccardo in Bellini's I Puritani last spring. He first sang Count Almaviva at the Met in 2005 and has subsequently performed the role at Kraków Opera and Paris's Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. A graduate of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he has sung more than 170 Met performances in roles including the title character in Don Giovanni, Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale.

Le Nozze di Figaro will feature sets and costumes by Tony Award-winning designer Rob Howell, whose eight Broadway credits include the current hit Matilda. Howell also designed Eyre's two previous Met productions, Carmen and Werther. Paule Constable is lighting designer for the production-her fifth for the Met-where her past credits have included Anna Bolena, Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, and Satyagraha. Later this season, she will design lighting for new stagings of Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow and the verismo double-bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Choreographer Sara Erde made her Met debut last season with Werther and also served as Movement Coach for Eyre's production of Carmen.

Live Opening Night Screenings at Lincoln Center and in Times Square

On September 22 beginning at 6 p.m., the Le Nozze di Figaro premiere will be transmitted live to large screens on Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza and in Times Square. Attendance is free at both locations. The Lincoln Center plazacast will accommodate more than 2,500 audience members. Free tickets, with a limit of two per person, will be available via lottery on the Met's website: click here to enter before Friday, September 12 at 12 p.m.

Approximately 1,500 seats will be available on a first-come first-served basis in Times Square at Military Island (between 43rd and 44th Streets), with additional standing room available. Audience members can also view the presentation on additional screens at Duffy Square (between 46th and 47th Streets).

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 9 participating screens in Times Square include 21st Century Fox-Sony Times Square, ABC SuperSign, American Eagle Times Square, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bank of America Times Square, City Outdoor USA, Timessquare2 (Reuters Sign and Nasdaq Tower), and Toshiba Vision Times Square.

Star soprano Deborah Voigt will host the transmission and conduct intermission interviews during the performance.

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, All Mobile Video Inc and The Durst Organization.

Le Nozze di Figaro Fun Facts

Le Nozze di Figaro has been presented at the Met 458 times since 1894, making it one of the most frequently performed operas in the standard repertory. It has only been presented on opening night of the Met season once before, in 1941, with a cast led by Ezio Pinza, Bidú Sayao, Elisabeth Rethberg, John Brownlee, and Risë Stevens; in 2005, Act I was presented as part of a gala opening that also featured excerpts from Tosca and Samson et Dalila.

The Met's previous production of Figaro, by Jonathan Miller, premiered in 1998 with James Levine conducting a cast that included Danielle de Niese as Barbarina and Susanne Mentzer as Cherubino. This season, de Niese sings Susanna and Mentzer sings Marcellina. Levine also conducted the premiere of the previous Met production, by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, in 1985.

James Levine has conducted 67 performances of Figaro, more than any other conductor in company history.

Amanda Majeski (Countess Almaviva, September 22), Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Countess Almaviva, December 4), and Serena Malfi (Cherubino, December 4) make their Met debuts in this production, and Marlis Petersen (Susanna), Ying Fang (Barbarina), Susanne Mentzer (Marcellina), and Alan Oke (Don Basilio) make Met role debuts.

Le Nozze di Figaro Special Events

On Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 p.m., the Guggenheim's "Works & Process" series will preview the new production with a conversation between director Richard Eyre and designer Rob Howell, moderated by General Manager Peter Gelb. Met artists will perform excerpts from Mozart's opera as part of the event. For tickets or more information, visit www.worksandprocess.org.

On Tuesday, September 16 at 7 p.m., MetTalks, the Met's series of panel discussions related to new productions, will begin its season with a discussion of Le Nozze di Figaro. Stars and members of the production team will discuss this staging in the Met auditorium. Tickets are available through the Met Guild at $20 for the general public, $15 for Met Subscribers, and $10 for Guild Members and Young Associates. MetTalks are free to all Met Patrons. To purchase tickets, call 212-769-7028 or visit www.metguild.org/lectures. Patrons may call 212-870-4502 to reserve tickets to MetTalks.

Le Nozze di Figaro Live in HD and on the Radio

Le Nozze di Figaro will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world as part of the Met's Live in HD series on October 18 at 12:55 p.m EST. Soprano Renée Fleming hosts the transmission. Since the Live in HD series launched in 2006, more than 13 million tickets have been sold to opera lovers worldwide. The Met: Live in HD is now seen in more than 2,000 theaters in 68 countries around the world.

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 and Paul G. Desmarais Sr.

The September 22 opening night performance will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on October 7 and 14 and December 15 and 20. The September 22 performance will also be streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.

The December 20 performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

For more information on this season's performances of Le Nozze di Figaro, visit the Met's website at www.metopera.org.

Pictured: Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." Richard Eyre's new production of the opera, conducted by James Levine, opens the Met season on September 22, 2014. Photo: Anne Deniau/Metropolitan Opera.

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