Two of opera's biggest stars, soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna, will perform together in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on June 20 at 8pm, together with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, in what is anticipated will be one of the Metropolitan Opera's largest outdoor concerts in company history. Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park has the potential of being attended by an audience of up to 150,000 people, who will be drawn from all five boroughs and the suburbs. The performance will be broadcast live on WQXR-FM (96.3 FM), and streamed live on the Met's website, www.metopera.org.
"We are trying something new this summer, which we think will be especially appealing to all New Yorkers," said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. "This is the first time in some years that leading Met stars will sing outdoors in a parks concert."
The married star couple of Gheorghiu and Alagna will sing popular arias and duets by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Massenet, and others, conducted by Ion Marin. Gheorghiu and Alagna will perform on a larger than normal stage in Prospect Park's Long Meadow baseball fields, surrounded by six jumbo video screens that will be strategically placed throughout the area to maximize the viewing experience.
Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park is presented in partnership with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Commissioner Kate D. Levin; Department of Parks & Recreation, Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Bank of America, corporate sponsor; and the office of the Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, with support from the Borough Presidents of Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island.
"This concert builds on the Metropolitan Opera's extraordinary history of free presentations in the City's parks," said Commissioner Levin. "Peter Gelb and the Met leadership are committed to reaching new audiences, and this summer's concert in Brooklyn provides a unique opportunity for thousands of New Yorkers to experience some of the most exciting performers in opera today."
"For forty-two years, the Metropolitan Opera has brought world-class performances to New Yorkers free of charge," said Commissioner Benepe. "We are thrilled that this summertime tradition will return on the eve of the summer solstice to Prospect Park, one of the largest public greens in the United States."
In order to attract the widest possible audience for Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park, 25,000 pre-paid MTA MetroCards will be provided by Bank of America at selected banking locations in each of the five New York City boroughs. The MetroCards, which come in a commemorative holder, will be available beginning Monday, June 16, on a first-come, first-served basis at the following bank branches (one in each borough): 1515 Times Square (Manhattan); 449 Myrtle Avenue (Brooklyn); 299 East 204th Street (Bronx); 90-53 Sutphin Boulevard (Queens); and 2196 Forest Avenue (Staten Island).
"Bank of America was the first sponsor of the Metropolitan Opera free parks concerts, and has supported the Met in this role for the past eight years," said Rena DeSisto, Bank of America Global Arts & Culture Executive. "As one of this country's leading supporters of arts and culture, we believe in the power of the arts to create and sustain economic vitality. It has been gratifying to be a part of these programs that reach our communities – and our customers – so effectively. As a member of the Metropolitan Opera family, we are delighted to be associated with one of the world's premier music institutions and to work with them as they seek ways to bring the opera to more people throughout this country and around the globe."
Each person who picks up a MetroCard will also receive a card that, once scanned at Prospect Park, will make them eligible for free prizes, which include tickets to a performance during the Metropolitan Opera's upcoming season, or Grand Prizes of a vacation package or a cash gift provided by the bank.
"Brooklyn has produced some of the most celebrated voices in opera, so it's only fitting that two of the world's biggest opera stars will be performing in our beloved Prospect Park. I thank Bank of America for its ongoing support of the Parks series, and look forward to welcoming the thousands of opera fans who will certainly be singing Brooklyn's praises as the cultural capital of New York City. This summer, the Met—and opera—hit the big time!" said Borough President Markowitz.
WQXR, The New Yorker magazine, and NY1 are the official media sponsors for the event and will provide promotional and editorial support to provide maximum visibility and accessibility to opera lovers throughout the city. The concert begins at 8:00 p.m.; the rain date is scheduled for Saturday, June 21, also at 8:00 p.m. For more information on Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park please call (212) 362-6000 or visit
www.metopera.org/park.
About the Artists:
Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna are two of the world's most renowned opera singers. They were married backstage at the Met during a run of La Bohème in 1996 by former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Gheorghiu made her international debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1992 as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni. The Romanian soprano made her Met Opera debut the following year as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème. She reprised the role this season at the Met, and her performance on April 5 was seen by more than 130,000 people in movie theaters around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Her other acclaimed Met roles include Micaëla in Carmen, Violetta in La Traviata, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Faust, Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, and Amelia in Simon Boccanegra. Next season, she stars in the Met's new production of Puccini's La Rondine and returns to the role of Adina.
Roberto Alagna had the distinction of singing three leading tenor roles within a single week last October, when he replaced an ailing colleague on short notice as Radamès in Aida between his scheduled performances of Roméo in Roméo et Juliette and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. In December, his Roméo was seen by a worldwide audience in the season's first The Met: Live in HD performance. The French tenor made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata with the Glyndebourne touring company. Alagna debuted at the Met in 1996 as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème, and has sung Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore, the Duke in Rigoletto, Don José in Carmen, and the title roles in Faust and Werther with the company. Next season, he sings the role of Ruggero opposite Gheorghiu in La Rondine and the double-header roles of Turiddu in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
Composer, conductor, and pianist Ion Marin debuted at the Met in 1992 leading performances of Rossini's Semiramide, and has conducted Met performances of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. He has conducted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Opera Bastille, Rossini Opera Festival, Hamburg State Opera, Dresden Opera, and the Nuovo Piccolo Teatro in Milan, which he inaugurated. He is also a frequent conductor of major symphony orchestras and has performed with, among others, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, and Dresden Staatskapelle.
About the Met:
Under the leadership of General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, the Met has a series of bold initiatives underway that are designed to broaden its audience and revitalize the company's repertory. The Met has made a commitment to presenting modern masterpieces alongside the classic repertory, with highly theatrical productions featuring the greatest opera stars in the world.
The Met has several audience development initiatives underway that are designed to reach the widest possible audience for opera, such as Open House dress rehearsals, the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, reduced ticket prices—including an immensely popular new rush ticket program, and an annual Holiday Series presentation for families.
Building on its 76-year-old international radio broadcast history – heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network – the Met now uses advanced media distribution platforms and state-of-the-art technology to attract new audiences and reach millions of opera fans around the world. Global distribution of The Met: Live in HD, the company's series of live performance transmissions, shown in high definition (HD) in movie theaters around the world, tripled this season to reach over 600 participating venues in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, including 8,500 New York City public school students who attended the transmissions for free. These performances are currently airing on PBS, and a selection of these HD performances will be available on DVD. In 2008-09, The Met: Live in HD series will expand from eight to eleven transmissions, beginning in September 2008. Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Channel 85) is a subscription-based audio service broadcasting both live and rare historical performances. In addition to providing audio recordings through the new Met on Rhapsody on-demand service, the company also presents free live audio streaming of performances on its website once every week during the opera season with support from RealNetworks®.
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