The Metropolitan Opera Comes to Wellfleet

For the next seven months Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater will be a virtual home-away-from-home for the world’s most famous divas performing in the world’s most spectacular operas. The high drama and high Cs will be beamed to Wellfleet via satellite courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera’s popular high definition broadcast series.

SERIES

Salome – Strauss

Live Broadcast: Saturday, October 11, 2008 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, October 25, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Karita Mattila caused a sensation when she sang Salome at the Met for the first time in 2004. She reprises her stunning interpretation of the part, including her unforgettable Dance of the Seven Veils.

Conductor: Mikko Franck; Production: Jürgen Flimm; Karita Mattila, Ildikó Komlósi, Juha Uusitalo, Kim Begley, Joseph Kaiser

Doctor Atomic (Met Premiere) – Adams

Live Broadcast: Saturday, November 8, 2008 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, November 15, 2008 (1:00 pm)

John Adams’s contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb. Director Penny Woolcock makes her Met debut with this gripping story that changed the course of history. Baritone Gerald Finley plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the title character.

Conductor: Alan Gilbert; Production: Penny Woolcock; Sasha Cooke, Meredith Arwady, Gerald Finley, Eric Owens, Richard Paul Fink

La Damnation de Faust (New Production) – Berlioz

Live Broadcast: Saturday, November 22, 2008 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, November 29, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Robert Lepage, one of theater’s most imaginative directors, applies his artistry to Berlioz’s contemplation of good and evil. Using projections, Lepage has created a vision for La Damnation de Faust that seamlessly marries art and technology. Marcello Giordani stars in the title role opposite Susan Graham as Marguerite and John Relyea as Méphistophélès. James Levine conducts this rarely staged masterwork.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Robert Lepage; Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani, John Relyea

Thaïs (New Production) – Massenet

Live Broadcast: Saturday, December 20, 2008 (12:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, December 27, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Renée Fleming stars as the Egyptian courtesan in search of spiritual sustenance. Thomas Hampson is the monk who falls from grace. Massenet’s sensual opera is presented in a new production by John Cox.

Conductor: Jesús López-Cobos; Production: John Cox; Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Michael Schade

La Rondine (New Production) – Puccini

Live Broadcast: Saturday, January 10, 2009 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, January 17, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna provide the star power to deliver this ravishing romance from the world’s most popular opera composer. Gheorghiu plays the kept woman who gambles on true love, and Alagna is the man who makes her question the cost of her glittering existence. Nicolas Joël directs the new production of this gorgeously melodic look at love.

Conductor: Marco Armiliato; Production: Nicolas Joël; Angela Gheorghiu, Lisette Oropesa, Roberto Alagna, Marius Brenciu, Samuel Ramey

Orfeo ed Euridice – Gluck

Live Broadcast: Saturday, January 24, 2009 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, January 31, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Mark Morris’s acclaimed production returns. This complete vision for Gluck, with choreography by Morris and costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, features the artistry of Stephanie Blythe in the male title role. The alluring Danielle de Niese is Orfeo’s adored wife, Euridice, who inspires the hero to face the underworld for her sake. Music Director James Levine conducts.

Conductor: James Levine; Production: Mark Morris; Stephanie Blythe, Danielle de Niese

Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti

Live Broadcast: Saturday, February 7, 2009 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, February 14, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Anna Netrebko sings the title role of Donizetti’s fragile heroine for the first time at the Met, with tenor Rolando Villazón in the part of her lover, Edgardo. Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien is her tyrannical brother. Mary Zimmerman’s hit production is staged as a Victorian ghost story.

Conductor: Marco Armiliato; Production: Mary Zimmerman; Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Mariusz Kwiecien, Ildar Abdrazakov

Madama Butterfly – Puccini

Live Broadcast: Saturday, March 7, 2009 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, March 14, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Cristina Gallardo-Domâs returns to the title role of Anthony Minghella’s stunning production, a new classic of the Met repertory, opposite Marcello Giordani.

Conductor: Patrick Summers; Production: Anthony Minghella; Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, Marcello Giordani

La Sonnambula (New Production) – Bellini

Live Broadcast: Saturday, March 21, 2009 (1:00 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, March 28, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Mary Zimmerman, who directed Natalie Dessay in last season’s hit production of Lucia di Lammermoor, underlines La Sonnambula’s dual elements of sleep and wakefulness in an intriguing staging set in the present. Bellini’s hauntingly lyrical score soars as performed by Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez, back from their sensational run together in La Fille du Régiment.

Conductor: Evelino Pidò; Production: Mary Zimmerman; Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, Michele Pertusi

La Cenerentola – Rossini

Live Broadcast: Saturday, May 9, 2009 (12:30 pm)
Encore Screening: Saturday, May 16, 2008 (1:00 pm)

Hot on the heels of her triumphant Met debut as Rosina in last season’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, El?na Garan?a portrays another Rossini charmer in this bel canto Cinderella story. Lawrence Brownlee is her Prince Charming. Veteran baritone Alessandro Corbelli demonstrates his impeccable comic timing to match the gravitas of Met favorite John Relyea.

Conductor: Maurizio Benini; Production: Cesare Lievi; Elana Garana, Lawrence Brownlee, Simone Alberghini, Alessandro Corbelli, John Relyea