Yes, it's that time of the year again.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
A lecherous Italian duke sets his sights on Las Vegas.
An English queen gets ready to die--again.
An opera house stage overflows with blood.
Anna Netrebko's face is appearing on the New York subways more frequently than Doctor Jonathan Zizmor's.
All this means one thing: the Metropolitan Opera season for 2012-2013 is on sale to the general public. This is the company's first season in four decades without music director James Levine, who is taking a year (and possibly more) of convalescent leave as he recuperates from various unknown injuries and ailments.
This season the Met is celebrating the legacies of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, composers who celebrate their 200th birthdays in 2013. (If you're wondering, Verdi's is October 10, 2013. Wagner's is May 22, and both dates fall outside the Met's coming season.) In any case, the company is offering seven Verdi operas and five Wagner music dramas, making up almost half of the schedule for the coming year.
Starting with L'Elisir d'Amore, and ending with Les Dialogues de Carmelites, regular readers (and subscribers) of this blog will receive a new preview article, one for each of the next 28 days. They will appear in the main blog feed, and will also be linked below. (It's my job, as BlogMaster, to turn the links on each day and I will endeavour to be responsible about doing so.) The Previews will of course alternate with our usual mix of opera, concert and CD reviews, saucy commentary and news items as they develop, and will re-appear on the site in the course of the season as needed.
Please note that the previews below are subject to casting changes and will be updated (to the best of my ability) in the course of the 2012-2013 season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
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| Joyce DiDonato prepares to mount the scaffold as Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda, opening at the Met Dec. 31. Image © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera. |
An English queen gets ready to die--again.
An opera house stage overflows with blood.
Anna Netrebko's face is appearing on the New York subways more frequently than Doctor Jonathan Zizmor's.
All this means one thing: the Metropolitan Opera season for 2012-2013 is on sale to the general public. This is the company's first season in four decades without music director James Levine, who is taking a year (and possibly more) of convalescent leave as he recuperates from various unknown injuries and ailments.
This season the Met is celebrating the legacies of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, composers who celebrate their 200th birthdays in 2013. (If you're wondering, Verdi's is October 10, 2013. Wagner's is May 22, and both dates fall outside the Met's coming season.) In any case, the company is offering seven Verdi operas and five Wagner music dramas, making up almost half of the schedule for the coming year.
Starting with L'Elisir d'Amore, and ending with Les Dialogues de Carmelites, regular readers (and subscribers) of this blog will receive a new preview article, one for each of the next 28 days. They will appear in the main blog feed, and will also be linked below. (It's my job, as BlogMaster, to turn the links on each day and I will endeavour to be responsible about doing so.) The Previews will of course alternate with our usual mix of opera, concert and CD reviews, saucy commentary and news items as they develop, and will re-appear on the site in the course of the season as needed.
Please note that the previews below are subject to casting changes and will be updated (to the best of my ability) in the course of the 2012-2013 season.
