Week of October 15 - October 22, 2015

  All links are live!

MET-HD Simulcast

This Saturday,

October 17, 2015

1:00pm

at a movie theater near you. 

(See column on right.)

Aleksandrs Antonenko

OTELLO

Director Bartlett Sher's season-opening new production of Verdi’s masterful Otello probes the Moor’s dramatic downfall with an outstanding cast led by Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role, Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona, and Željko Lučić as Iago. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

Synopsis: http://www.metopera.org/Discover/Synopses/Otello/

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Great Performances at the Met

This week on Rhode Island Public television,

WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

 Saturday, October 17, 2015 @ 8:00pm

Sunday, October 18, 2015 @ 3:00am

Monday, October 19, 2015 @ 12:00am  

Iolanta; Bluebeard's Castle

A double bill marries Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta," about a blind princess who has a psychological awakening, with Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle," in which a bride ponders what lies beyond seven locked doors in her new husband's castle.

Length: 180 

Synopsis:  HTTP://WWW.METOPERA.ORG/METOPERA/SEASON/SYNOPSIS/IOLANTA-BLUEBEARD?CUSTOMID=82

5

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I Went to a Wedding and an Opera Broke Out

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

By Fred Plotkin

You can go to quite a few operas in which a wedding takes place but last week, Fred Plotkin had a new experience.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/i-went-wedding-and-opera-broke-out/

Learning Italian at the Metropolitan Opera

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

By Fred Plotkin

Fred Plotkin looks at how you can study Italian by attending the opera. There are no fewer than 19 such opportunities at the Met this season.

 http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/learning-italian-metropolitan-opera/ 

Review: Metropolitan Opera Searches Dark Heart of 'Otello' in Season Opener

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

By David Patrick Stearns

Even if the new Bartlett Sher production of Verdi's late masterpiece wasn't all one could hope for, much of it was, writes David Patrick Stearns.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/review-metropolitan-opera-season-opens-verdi-otello/

Must Opera Be 'Relevant'?

Friday, September 18, 2015

By Fred Plotkin

"I am asked, even more than usual, the exhaustingly trite question of whether opera is still 'relevant,'" writes Fred Plotkin. You might be surprised at his response.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/must-opera-be-relevant/

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

This coming Saturday afternoon (October 17) many opera-lovers will, no doubt, be heading over to their local cinemas for the LIVE HD-transmission from the Met of Verdi's "Otello" featuring tenor Aleksandr Antonenko as Otello and soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona, a role she had never sung until starring in this production for the Met.

Verdi enthusiasts can also delight in the LIVE audio-stream (free, courtesy of the Met) of "Rigoletto" on Tuesday evening (October 20).

(www.metopera.org/)

There's also a (delayed) broadcast on Saturday of tonight's performance of "Aida" which is due to take place later today in Turin.

(www.radio3.rai.it/)

And there's even more Verdi on the schedule, with a LIVE performance from Umea of "Rigoletto" to be heard on Swedish Radio. Even if you're unable to tune in to that live performance, the Saturday broadcasts on this Swedish station are usually available for at least a full week afterwards.

(http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)

If you'd prefer a bit of Puccini, there's his ever-popular "La Boheme" which NPR will be airing. The performance on the schedule is one that took place this past November as part of the San Francisco Opera's 2014/2015 season.

(www.wrti.org/)

20th century opera is also on tap, with a double-bill from Toulouse on French Radio; the 2 operas to be heard are Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" and a relative rarity: Luigi Dallapiccola's 1949 opera "Il Prigioniero." These 2 operas were performed earlier this month.

(www.francemusique.fr/)

Moving ahead to the 21st century, "The Tempest" by Thomas Ades (premiered in London in 2004 & seen in a Met HD-transmission a couple of seasons ago) can be heard on Radio 4 (the Netherlands) in a Vienna State Opera performance from June 14 of this year. As it so happens, this opera is also on the Vienna State Opera's schedule for a LIVE video presentation on this coming Sunday (Oct. 18), with a slightly different cast from the June performance (and available for a fee of, usually, about $16.00).

(www.radio4.nl/)

Enjoy!

DAVE

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The Met Saturday afternoon
 radio broadcast season starts again 

December 5.   

(Oh, how will I wait until December??)

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No opera on

WGBH this week!