The Metropolitan Opera's 2015-16 Season to Open with OTHELLO

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 131st season on Monday, September 21 with a new production of Verdi's Otello. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met opening night, a staging by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher of the late Verdi masterpiece based on Shakespeare's tragic drama of jealousy and deceit. Aleksandrs Antonenko, who has starred as the doomed Otello around the world to acclaim, makes his Met role debut opposite rising Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva in her first-ever performances of Otello's innocent wife Desdemona. Željko Lu?i? adds a new role to his company repertory as the evil Iago, as do Dimitri Pittas as Iago's pawn Cassio and Günther Groissböck as the Venetian ambassador Lodovico. Sher's staging will feature scenic design by acclaimed designer Es Devlin in her Met debut; costume design by six-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber; lighting design by two-time Tony winner Donald Holder; and video design by Luke Halls in his Met debut.

As part of the Met's ongoing commitment to making opera more accessible to all audiences, the opening night performance will be broadcast for free to numerous giant screens in Times Square. Also, for the first time in history, the company's Rush Tickets program will be extended to include opening night, allowing at least 100 lucky opera lovers to purchase $25 orchestra tickets to the gala performance. In addition, the October 17 matinee will be transmitted worldwide as part of the tenth season of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world.

Beginning April 20, Otello returns for a run of spring performances, with Adam Fischer conducting a second cast led by Antonenko and Lu?i?, with Hibla Gerzmava in her role debut as Desdemona, Alexey Dolgov as Cassio, and James Morris as Lodovico.

Cast and Conductor Bios

Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his Met debut in 2009 leading Carmen, and since then, he has conducted Verdi's Don Carlo and La Traviata, Gounod's Faust, and Dvo?ák's Rusalka with the company. Maestro Nézet-Séguin has also led other companies around the world including the Dutch National Opera, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He is currently the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has been the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitan (Montreal) since 2009. This season, he will also conduct Strauss's Elektra at Opéra de Montréal.

Aleksandrs Antonenko makes his Met role debut as Otello, a role he has sung to acclaim under Riccardo Muti at Carnegie Hall, at Paris Opera, and at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He will reprise the role with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona later this season. His Met repertory includes Don José in Bizet's Carmen, Pollione in Bellini's Norma, Grigory in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Luigi in Puccini's Il Tabarro, and the Prince in Rusalka. His recent appearances with other opera companies include Radamès in Verdi's Aida and Ghermann in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades at Zurich Opera; Samson in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila at Rome Opera; Radamès at Vienna State Opera; and Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

After her widely acclaimed company role debuts as Violetta Valéry in La Traviata and Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème at the Met last season, Sonya Yoncheva adds a new role to her Met repertory as Desdemona. The Bulgarian soprano made her Met debut in 2013 as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. She can be seen later this year as Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the Vienna State Opera, Mimì in La Bohème at the Berlin State Opera, and Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Dimitri Pittas makes his role debut as Cassio. He made his company debut in 2005 as Herald in Don Carlo followed by roles such as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, and Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute. He can be seen later this season at the Met as Alfred in Johan Strauss's Die Fledermaus.

Željko Lu?i? sings Iago for the first time at the Met after previously singing the role at the Zurich Opera and Frankfurt Opera. Lu?i? made his Met debut in 2006 as Barnaba in Ponchielli's La Gioconda and has sung ten roles with the company. His other Met appearances include Verdi baritone roles such as the title roles in Macbeth and Nabucco, Amonasro in Aida, and di Luna in Il Trovatore. This fall, he will also add the role of Scarpia in Tosca to his Met repertory and reprise the title role in Rigoletto.

Günther Groissböck makes his Met role debut as Lodovico. Previous roles with the company include Banquo in Macbeth and his Met debut as Colline in La Bohème in 2010. This fall, he will also appear as the Landgraf in Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Met. Next year, he sings Zaccaria in Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Pogner in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg at the Paris Opera, Vogler in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera, and Baron Ochs in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Adam Fischer made his Met debut conducting Otello in 1994 and has since led Aida, Die Fledermaus, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the company. Fischer is the founder and music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. This season, he will also conduct Die Zauberflöte at La Scala and Der Rosenkavalier, Siegfried, and Parsifal at the Bavarian State Opera.

Hibla Gerzmava makes her role debut as Desdemona at the Met this spring. Previous performances with the company include Stella and Antonia in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Mimì in La Bohème, and Liù in Puccini's Turandot, a role she will reprise with the company this season. Recently, she sang Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera and Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Mimì in La Bohème at the Bavarian State Opera and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, and Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Alexey Dolgov starred as Cassio in the Met's 2013 staging and at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in 2010. He will reprise the role in the spring at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. His first Met performance was as Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor on the company's 2011 tour of Japan. Recent performances with other opera companies include the title role in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux at the Opéra de Montréal and on tour with the Bavarian State Opera in Japan, and Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Washington National Opera, Rome Opera, and Opéra de Montréal.

James Morris reprises Lodovico, a role he sang with the company in 2012. He has sung more than 948 Met performances including Verdi roles such as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Ramfis in Aida, and Iago in Otello, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Oroveso in Norma. In the fall, he can also be seen at the Met as Timur in Puccini's Turandot as well as Scarpia in Tosca.

Director and Creative Team Bios

Bartlett Sher returns to the Met for his sixth new production. He made his Met debut in 2006 with his production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, a family-friendly, English-language adaptation of which will be performed during the holiday season. Sher's staging of L'Elisir d'Amore will also be performed later this season. His other stagings for the company include Nico Muhly's Two Boys, Rossini's Le Comte Ory, and Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Es Devlin makes her Met debut with Otello. Previously, she has designed for other opera companies including the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, Vienna State Opera, Gran Teatre de Liceu, Hamburg State Opera, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her New York theater productions have included the recent Broadway revival of Machinal, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, and Julie Taymor's staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Theater for a New Audience. In addition to her opera and theater productions, she has worked on a variety of projects ranging from the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony to concerts for popular music artists including Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, and U2.

Catherine Zuber made her Met debut in 2006 designing costumes for Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Her previous designs for the Met include John Adams's Doctor Atomic; Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Le Comte Ory; L'Elisir d'Amore; and Two Boys. She won Tony Awards for the recent Broadway stagings of South Pacific, The Royal Family, Awake and Sing!, The Light in the Piazza, The Coast of Utopia, and The King and I. This fall, she will design costumes for Bartlett Sher's Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof.

Lighting designer Donald Holder's previous credits at the Met include Die Zauberflöte and Two Boys. His Broadway credits include The Lion King and South Pacific (Tony Awards for both) as well as Ragtime and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. His upcoming projects include Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway this fall and Salome with the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.

Luke Halls makes his Met debut as the projection designer for Otello. Recent credits with other operas include Don Giovanni and Szymanowski's King Roger at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. His most recent project was Hamlet at the Barbican Center in London, and his upcoming work will be featured in von Weber's Der Freischütz at the Danish Royal Opera.

Live Opening Night Screening in Times Square

On September 21, the Otello premiere will be transmitted live to numerous large screens in Times Square. The opera will begin at 6:30 p.m., preceded by pre-taped content previewing the upcoming Met season at 6 p.m. Attendance is free and will accommodate a total of 2,000 seated audience members. These seats are available on a first-come first-served basis in Times Square at Military Island (between 43rd and 44th Streets) and at Duffy Square (between 46th and 47th Streets), with additional standing room available at both locations.

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 11 participating screens in Times Square include 21st Century Fox-Sony Times Square, ABC SuperSign, American Eagle Times Square, Bank of America Times Square, Branded Cities (Reuters Sign and Nasdaq Tower), City Outdoor USA, Disney Store Spectacular, Express Times Square, Samsung Times Square, and Toshiba Vision Times Square.

The live transmission to Times Square is made possible with the cooperation of the City of New York, with leadership support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Additional funding is provided by the Metropolitan Opera Guild and Opera News. 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.

The simulcast is presented in partnership with Times Square Arts, the public art program for the Times Square Alliance.

Otello Related Events

On Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. as part of the Guggenheim Works & Process series, Met General Manager Peter Gelb will lead a conversation with director Bartlett Sher about his vision for the company's opening night premiere of Otello at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In addition to this talk, artists from the cast will sing excerpts from the score. Tickets are $40 for the general public and $35 for members and friends of Works & Process at the Guggenheim. For tickets or more information, visit here or call (212) 423-3575.

Otello on October 2 will kick off "Fridays Under 40," a new series designed to provide discounted tickets and exclusive social events for audience members aged 40 and under. "Fridays Under 40" ticket buyers will have the opportunity to socialize and learn more about the Met before each performance. Grand Tier or Orchestra tickets are available for $60 or $100 as part of the program. For more information or to order tickets, visit here.

Otello Fun Facts

Otello had its Met premiere in 1891 and has been performed by the company 325 times. James McCracken has sung the title role a record 59 times at the Met. Notable singers who have starred in the opera at the Met include Plácido Domingo, Giovanni Martinelli, and Jon Vickers as Otello; Montserrat Caballé, Renée Fleming, and Kiri Te Kanawa as Desdemona; and Renato Bruson, Tito Gobbi, and Sherrill Milnes as Iago. The opening night performance on September 21 will be dedicated to the memory of Jon Vickers, who died in July.

Otello has historically been a popular choice to open the Met season. The 1891-92 season opened with a staging on tour in Chicago starring Jean de Reszke as Otello and Emma Albani as Desdemona, and the opera opened six more Met seasons, most recently in 2004-05. Bartlett Sher's staging is the eighth production in Met history. It replaces a production by Elijah Moshinsky that premiered in 1994.

Otello Live in HD and Radio Broadcasts

The October 17 matinee performance of Otello will be transmitted live around the world at 12:55 p.m. ET hosted by Eric Owens. The transmission will be seen in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 70 countries around the world. The September 21 performance of Otello will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performance on October 6, 14, April 23, and May 2. The September 21 and May 2 performances will also be streamed live on the Met's web site, www.metopera.org.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is also provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. 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.

The April 23 performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

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