Met Futures: Happy Spring Semester Edition

First of all, I'm issuing a public apology to Brad Wilber, who's been infinitely patient with Sieglinde, who'd been buried in academic bs for a few months and so couldn't churn out roster updates in a more timely manner. I also want to apologize to the half-dozen readers who have hung around.

But let's get on with the business, shall we. The following changes have been made to Brad's Met Futures page:

For the 2010-2011 season:
1. Das Rheingold will see Richard Croft as Loge, joining his brother in the cast.
2. The cast of Les Contes d’Hoffmann has been revised. In place of Aleksandra Kurzak, Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Stefano Secco, and Isabel Leonard, we now have a cast that includes Olga Borodina (Giulietta), Giuseppe Filianoti (Hoffmann), and Kate Lindsey (Nicklausse).
3. For Rigoletto, the role of the Duke will be shared by Francesco Meli (debut), Joseph Calleja, and Giuseppe Filianoti.
4. The Boris Godunov will be conducted by Maestro Valery Gergiev, and Aleksanders Antonenko and Oleg Balashov have been added to the cast as The Pretender and Shuisky respectively.
5. La Boheme will not see Cristina Gallardo Domas and Luca Salsi. Instead, two gentlemen will make their Met debuts: Fabio Capitanucci as Marcello and Dimitris Tiliakos as Schaunard.
6. Il Trovatore's Leonoras will be shared by Patricia Racette and Sondra Radvanovsky (dropping Micaela Carosi). Stefan Kocan returns as Ferrando.
7. Barry Banks will do a number of Ernestos for Don Pasquale.
8. Don Carlo's Elisabetta will be Marina Poplavskaya, replacing Patricia Racette in the roster, while Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin has been tapped to lead.
9. The cast of The Magic Flute will include Ying Huang as Pamina and Erika Miklosa as Queen.
10. La Traviata will see Marina Poplavskaya as Violetta, Matthew Polenzani and Francesco Meli as Alfredo, and Marco Nistico as d’Obigny (in his Met debut). Rolando Villazon is out.
11. Tosca will be shared by Sondra Radvanovsky and Violeta Urmana (dropping Angela Gheorghiu).
12. John Adams will conduct his Nixon in China in his Met debut. Richard Paul Fink will be Henry Kissinger.
13. For Iphigenie en Tauride, Paul Groves has been added as Pylade (while Elizabeth Bishop has been dropped).
14. Armida will see Renee Fleming again. Lawrence Brownlee returns, but as Goffredo this time.
15. Ludovic Tezier returns as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor.
16. Romeo et Juliette will have Lucas Meachem as Mercutio.
17. For The Queen of Spades, Peter Mattei will sing Tomsky.
18. Joyce DiDonato will be Isolier in Le Comte Ory.
19. Capriccio will not see Anne Sofie von Otter, Matthew Polenzani, and Gerard Finley. Instead, we will have Sarah Connolly as Clairon, Joseph Kaiser as Flamand, and Russell Braun as Olivier.
20. Wozzeck will witness Waltraud Meier's Marie (in place of Katarina Dalayman). Philippe Castagner returns as The Fool; Stuart Skelton makes his Met debut as the Drum Major.
21. For Orfeo ed Euridice, Kate Royal will be Euridice in her Met debut.
22. Aleksandra Kurzak has been dropped from Ariadne auf Naxos.

For the 2011-2012 season:
1. Turandot and La Rondine have been nixed.
2. La Traviata has been added to the list of operas, with Natalie Dessay as Violetta.
3. Madama Butterfly has also been added, with Luca Salsi as Sharpless.
4. Stefan Kocan returns as Commendatore in Don Giovanni.
5. Piotr Beczala replaces Rolando Villazon in the roster of the new production of Manon.
6. Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin will lead the Met's new Faust; Alexei Markov will return as Valentin (Rene Pape has been dropped from the list).
7. The William Christie endeavor has a new and improved title of Enchanted Island. Director Jeremy Sams and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon will join the creative team. Stars will include Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, and Placido Domingo.
8. Alessandro Corbelli returns as Dulcamara in l'Elisir d'amore.
9. Nathan Gunn joins the cast of Billy Budd.
10 Khovanshchina will see Olga Borodina as Marfa and Ildar Abdrazakov as Ivan.

For the 2012-2013 season.
1. Francesca da Rimini will be led by Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and will feature Eva-Maria Westbroek and Marcello Giordani.
2. A revival of Le Comte Ory has been added to the roster.
3. A new production of Un Ballo in Maschera will have Karita Mattila and Maestro Fabio Luisi.
4. Carmen enters the repertory in the fall, with Maestro Michele Mariotti. Ekaterina Shcherbachenko will make her Met debut as Micaela. Vesselina Kasarova will sing a number of Carmens in the latter part of the run (in the spring).
5. Dialogues des Carmelites will see Kristine Jepson as Mere Marie and Felicity Palmer as Mme. de Croissy.
6. Otello will have Krassimira Stoyanova as Desdemona.
7. Simon O'Neill will share some of the Parsifals.

For the 2013-2014 season:
1. The complete Ring has been removed from the list.
2. The season will see the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Roberto Devereux, with Sondra Radvanovsky.
3. The Bartered Bride will be featured as the season's Family Program, with a new English translation by J.D. McClatchy.

For the 2014-2015 season (just added to the Futures Page!!):
A new production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci double bill, with Marcello Alvarez and Maestro Fabio Luisi.