15 January 2009

Met Futures: the dead of winter edition

First of all, brrrrrrrrrr!

Meanwhile, it's looking like the schedule for the next Met season is nearing completion. I have updated the Met Futures Page to incorporate Brad Wilber's new information. Here's a summary of the many changes:

For Die Zauberflöte, the conductors will be Bernard Labadie, in his Met debut, and Adam Fischer.

For Aida, Marianne Cornetti and Ambrogio Maestri have been deleted from the cast (as Amneris and Amonasro respecitvely); Carlo Colomara will sing some Ramfis; Kings of Egypt will be Stefan Kocan, in his Met debut, and Keith Miller. Paolo Carignani will share conducting duties with Daniele Gatti.

For Turandot, Salvatore Licitra will now share the role of Calaf with Giordani and Poretta; Marina Poplavskaya will do some Lius.

For From the House of the Dead, Willard White has been tapped for the lead role of Goranshikov; Richard Paul Fink has been deleted from the cast; Eric Stoklossa is singing Aljeja in his Met debut.

For Elektra, Susan Bullock will debut at the Met as Elektra, with Deborah Voigt reprising the role of Chrysothemis. In addition, Felicity Palmer will sing Klytamnestra, and Alan Held will sing Orest. Maestro Fabio Luisi conducts the entire run.

For Carmen, both Brandon Jovanovich, in his Met debut, and Jonas Kaufmann have been added as Don Jose; Kate Royal has been deleted from the cast list (as Micaela); Teddy Tahu Rhodes has been added as Escamillo.

For Ariadne auf Naxos, Nina Stemme takes the title role, while Zerbinetta will be Aleksandra Kurzak, the Komponist will be Sarah Connolly, and Bacchus will be Lance Ryan in his Met debut; Maestro Kirill Petrenko will lead.

For La Boheme, Gerald Finley replaces Marcus Kwiecien as Marcello.

For Hamlet, Toby Spence will debut at the Met as Laerte.

For Armida, Eric Cutler has been removed from the list of tenors. Currently, the six tenors are Lawrence Brownlee, Bruce Ford, Juan Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, Kobie van Rensburg, and Javier Camarena (in his Met debut), but we do not yet have firm information on specific role assignments; Keith Miller has been added for the role of Astarotte.

For Der Fliegende Hollander, Stephen Gould will be the lone Erik, deleting Johan Botha from the cast; Wendy White will be Mary and Russell Thomas will be Steersman.

For Lulu, Michael Schade has been added to the cast as Black Man/Painter.