2010-11 Season announcements begin: Metropolitan Opera
Details of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-11 season were announced this week. It’s an impressive lineup, as ever.
The Met Live in HD simulcast programme was announced at the same time, and is as follows:
Das Rheingold / Wagner (October 9, 2010) – conductor James Levine, director Robert Lepage, singers include Bryn Terfel (Wotan), Stephanie Blythe (Fricka)
Boris Godunov / Mussorgsky (October 23, 2010) – conductor Valery Gergiev, director Peter Stein, singers include René Pape (Boris)
Don Pasquale / Donizetti (November 13, 2010) – conductor James Levine, director Otto Schenk, singers include Anna Netrebko (Norina)
Don Carlo / Verdi (December 11, 2010) – conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, director Nicholas Hytner, singers include Roberto Alagna (Don Carlo), Marina Poplavskaya (Elisabeth de Valois), Simon Keenlyside (Rodrigo), Ferruccio Furlanetto (King Philip)
La Fanciulla del West / Puccini (January 8, 2011) – singers include Deborah Voigt (Minnie) and Marcello Giordani (Dick Johnson)
Iphigénie en Tauride / Gluck (February 26, 2011) – singers include Susan Graham (Iphigénie) and Plácido Domingo (Oreste)
Lucia di Lammermoor / Donizetti (March 19, 2011) – singers include Natalie Dessay (Lucia)
Le Comte Ory / Rossini (April 9, 2011) – conductor James Levine(?), director Bartlett Sher, singers include Juan Diego Flórez (Ory), Diana Damrau (Adèle), Joyce DiDonato (Isolier)
Capriccio / Richard Strauss (April 23, 2011) – singers include Renée Fleming (Countess)
Il Trovatore / Verdi (April 30, 2011) – singers include Marcelo Álvarez (Manrico)
Die Walküre / Wagner (May 14, 2011) – conductor James Levine, director Robert Lepage, singers include Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), Deborah Voigt (Brünnhilde), Bryn Terfel (Wotan), Stephanie Blythe (Fricka)
Understandably, they’re making a big deal out of it being the 40th anniversary of musical director James Levine’s company debut, and he will be conducting the first two parts of a new Ring Cycle (Wagner), produced by the innovative Canadian director Robert Lepage, who also directed the Met’s Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) a couple of years ago. Directors making their first productions for the Met will be Peter Stein (Boris Godunov/Mussorgsky), Nicholas Hytner (Don Carlo/Verdi), Willy Decker (La traviata/Verdi) and Peter Sellars (Nixon in China/Adams). Two operas will receive their Met premieres: Nixon in China (1987) by John Adams and Le Comte Ory (1828) by Rossini.
Conducting debuts will include Sir Simon Rattle (Pelléas et Mélisande/Debussy – Rattle conducting his partner, Magdalena Kozena, in the title role) and William Christie (Così fan tutte/Mozart). More details for all of the above will follow, no doubt.
The Opera Page 
Das Rheingold last night was absolutle wonderful in every way – great singing, amazing set, fantastic orchestra. It has turned me into a Wagnerian. Pity about the breaks in video transmission.