Met Opera's 2009-10 Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast Season Kicks Off 12/12 ...

20.11.09

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill. The 22-week season, carried over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, runs through May 8 and features 19 live matinee performances broadcast direct from the Met stage, one pre-recorded performance, and one archival performance. (The broadcast on Saturday, March 6 at 1:00 p.m. will be announced at a later date). Four operas that have never been broadcast on the Met's Saturday Matinee series highlight the season: Shostakovich's The Nose, Janá?ek's From the House of the Dead, Thomas's Hamlet, and Rossini's Armida. Three more new productions from the Met season are also on the broadcast schedule: Tosca and Les Contes d'Hoffmann, both conducted by Met Music Director James Levine , and Carmen. Levine also conducts the broadcast of Simon Boccanegra with Plácido Domingo singing the title role for the first time at the Met, and Lulu. Margaret Juntwait returns for her sixth season as host of the broadcasts.

Source: Broadway World