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PAN PIPES • FALL 2016 • sai-national.org 20 who carries messages of love between them. NABUCCO Saturday, January 7, 2017 The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine. Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena. Dmitri Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people in this Verdi production. ROMÉO ET JULIETTE Saturday, January 21, 2017 The electrifying team of Vittorio Grigolo and Diana Damrau, who starred together in last year's Manon, reunites for a new production of Gounod's opera based on the Shakespeare play. Damrau makes her role debut as Juliette in Bartlett Sher's new production, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Elliot Madore sings Mercutio and Mikhail Petrenko sings Frère Laurent. Later performances will star Pretty Yende and Stephen Costello in the title roles. Sher's staging is a La Scala production, initially presented by the Salzburg Festival, where it premiered in 2008. RUSALKA Saturday, February 25, 2017 Kristine Opolais sings her first Met performances of the role that won her international acclaim, the tragic water nymph Rusalka. Sir Mark Elder conducts a new staging of Dvořák's fairy-tale opera directed by Mary Zimmerman, also starring Brandon Jovanovich as the Prince who captures Rusalka's heart; Katarina Dalayman as her rival, the Foreign Princess; Eric Owens as the Water Sprite, Rusalka's father; and Jamie Barton as the duplicitous witch Ježibaba. LA TRAVIATA Saturday, March 11, 2017 Sonya Yoncheva sings one of opera's most beloved heroines, the tragic courtesan Violetta, a role in which she triumphed on the Met stage in 2015, opposite Michael Fabiano as her lover, Alfredo, and Thomas Hampson as his father, Germont. Carmen Giannattasio sings later performances of the Verdi title role opposite Atalla Ayan, with the great Plácido Domingo as Germont. Nicola Luisotti conducts. IDOMENEO Saturday, March 25, 2017 Mozart's first operatic masterpiece returns to the Met in the classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production, conducted by Music Director Emeritus James Levine. The superb ensemble includes Matthew Polenzani as the king torn by a rash vow; mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of his noble son Idamante; soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia; and soprano Elza van den Heever as the volatile Elettra, who loves Idamante to the bounds of madness. EUGENE ONEGIN Saturday, April 22, 2017 Tchaikovsky's setting of Pushkin's timeless verse novel is presented on the Met stage in Deborah Warner's moving production, starring Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Tatiana and Onegin. Alexey Dolgov sings the role of Lenski, and Robin Ticciati conducts. DER ROSENKAVALIER Saturday, May 13, 2017 The Met's first new production since 1969 of Strauss's rich romantic masterpiece will be conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen, whose most recent Met production was the hit 2013 staging of Falstaff. SAI Honorary Member Renée Fleming will sing one of her signature roles as the Marschallin, opposite Elīna Garanča in her first North American performances as Octavian, the impulsive young title character. The cast also includes Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs, Erin Morley as Sophie, Marcus Brück in his Met debut as Faninal, and Matthew Polenzani as the Italian Singer. Der Rosenkavalier is a co-production with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Teatro Regio di Torino. DON GIOVANNI Saturday, October 22, 2017 Three charismatic singers, Simon Keenlyside, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Mariusz Kwiecien, share the role of the title hero, who goes to hell in Mozart's dazzling coup de théâtre. The ensemble of great Mozartean singers includes Isabel Leonard, Angela Meade, Matthew Polenzani, Marina Rebeka, Erwin Schrott, Ramón Vargas, and RolandoVillazón. Fabio Luisi and Plácido Domingo conduct. — metopera.org MET OPERA Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera. The final scene from Act II of Mozart's Idomeneo. MET continued from page 19

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