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THE MET OPERA

Live in HD 2009 - 2010 season

Captured Live In High Definition And Screening Concurrently With The New York Season

OCTOBER 2009 - MAY 2010

The Met's 2009-10 season will open with Karita Mattila's assumption of the title role in Luc Bondy's new staging Tosca. Conducted by James Levine - who will lead performances of three other operas during the season - performances of Tosca will feature Marcelo Alvarez in the role of Cavaradossi; George Gagnidze will sing Scarpia.

Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher will direct a new Kafka-inspired production of The Tales of Hoffman featuring Joseph Calleja in the title role, alongside Kathleen Kim's Olympia, Anna Netrebko's Antonia and Stella, and the Guilietta of Ekaterina Gubanova; Elina Garanca sings Nicklausse and the Muse; Rene Pape will play the opera's Four Villains. In staging Offenbach's opera, Sher will be joined by several of the artists with whom he previously collaborated on the Met's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, including set designer Michael Yeargan and costumer Catherine Zuber.

Soprano Angela Gheorghiu takes the role of Carmen in a new production of Bizet's opera. Staged by Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre (whose film work includes Notes on a Scandal, Iris), the performance will feature Barbara Frittoli as Micaela and Roberto Alagna as Don Jose. Promising young conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin makes his Met debut leading the performances.

Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser's staging of Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, a production first mounted by the Grand Theatre de Geneve, takes the stage in April. Natalie Dessay sings the role of Ophelie alongside Simon Keenlyside, who takes on the title role. Joining them will be Jennifer Larmore's Gertrude, Toby spence - in his Met debut - as Laerte and James Morris as Claudius. The performances will employ the opera's alternative tragic ending, rather than the happy ending that has been used in previous performances of the production of Covent Garden.

Renee Fleming will be in the spotlight when a staging of the Rossini rarity Armida comes to the Met in a new production by Mary Zimmerman in May. The opera, which depicts the story of a sorceress who mesmerizes the inhabitants of her island-prison, features six principal tenor roles, which in the Met performances will include Lawrence Brownlee as Rinaldo, Bruce Ford's Goffredo, Jose Manuel Zapata's Gernando, Barry Banks as Carlo and Kobie van Rensburg as Ubaldo.

Casting highlights of the 2009-10 season's revivals include Placido Domingo singing the baritone title role of Simon Boccanegra, joined by Adrianne Pieczonka's Amelia, Marcello Giordani's Adorno and the Fiesco of James Morris; and Renee Fleming and Susan Graham as the Marschallin and Octavian in Rosenkavalier, which also features Ramon Vargas's Italian Singer.

Turandot will feature Maria Guleghina making her role debut as Puccini's princess alongside Marcello Giordani and Samuel Ramey. Dolora Zajick reprises the role of Amneris in Aida, which will also feature Violeta Urmana in the title role.

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