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Launched in 1931, the Met’s Saturday matinee broadcasts are the longest-running continuous classical radio series in American broadcast history. Mary Jo Heath is host and Ira Siff is commentator for the broadcasts, which include a range of dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz.
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The Schedule:
January 30
Gounod’s Faust
Performance from December 10, 2011
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite), Michèle Losier (Siebel), Jonas Kaufmann (Faust), Russell Braun (Valentin), René Pape (Méphistophélès)
February 6
Listeners’ Choice: Historic Met Broadcast
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor starring Maria Callas. This performance from December 8, 1956, is Callas’ only Met radio broadcast. Callas joined a cast featuring Giuseppe Campora as Lucia’s lover Edgardo, Enzo Sordello as Enrico, her brother and Edgardo’s sworn enemy, and Nicola Moscona as Raimondo. Fausto Cleva conducted.
February 13
Massenet’s Cendrillon
Performance from April 28, 2018
Bertrand de Billy; Kathleen Kim (La Fée), Joyce DiDonato (Cendrillon), Alice Coote (Le Prince Charmant), Stephanie Blythe (Madame de la Haltière), Laurent Naouri (Pandolfe)
February 20
Puccini’s La Rondine
Performance from January 10, 2009
Marco Armiliato; Angela Gheorghiu (Magda), Lisette Oropesa (Lisette), Roberto Alagna (Ruggero), Marius Brenciu (Prunier), Samuel Ramey (Rambaldo)
February 27
Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
Performance from May 13, 2017
Sebastian Weigle; Renée Fleming (Marschallin), El?na Garan?a (Octavian), Erin Morley (Sophie), Helene Schneiderman (Annina), Matthew Polenzani (A Singer), Alan Oke (Valzacchi), Markus Brück (Faninal), Günther Groissböck (Baron Ochs)
March 6
Bizet’s Carmen
Performance from November 1, 2014
Pablo Heras-Casado; Anita Hartig (Micaëla), Anita Rachvelishvili (Carmen), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Don José), Ildar Abdrazakov (Escamillo)
March 13
Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro
Performance from January 10, 2018
Harry Bicket; Ailyn Pérez (Countess), Nadine Sierra (Susanna), Isabel Leonard (Cherubino), Katarina Leoson (Marcellina), Mariusz Kwiecien (Count), Ildar Abdrazakov (Figaro), Maurizio Muraro (Dr. Bartolo)
March 20
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory
Performance from February 2, 2013
Maurizio Benini; Pretty Yende (Countess Adèle), Karine Deshayes (Isolier), Susanne Resmark (Ragonde), Juan Diego Flórez (Count Ory), Nathan Gunn (Raimbaud), Nicola Ulivieri (Tutor)
March 27
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Performance from March 10, 2012
Andrew Davis; Marina Rebeka (Donna Anna), Ellie Dehn (Donna Elvira), Isabel Leonard (Zerlina), Matthew Polenzani (Don Ottavio), Gerald Finley (Don Giovanni), Bryn Terfel (Leporello), Shenyang (Masetto), James Morris (Commendatore)
April 3
Dvo?ák’s Rusalka
Performance from February 8, 2014
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Renée Fleming (Rusalka), Emily Magee (Foreign Princess), Dolora Zajick (Ježibaba), Piotr Becza?a (Prince), John Relyea (Water Gnome)
April 10
Puccini’s La Bohème
Performance from October 2, 2017
Alexander Soddy; Angel Blue (Mimì), Brigitte Kele (Musetta), Dmytro Popov (Rodolfo), Lucas Meachem (Marcello), Duncan Rock (Schaunard), David Soar (Colline), Paul Plishka (Benoit/Alcindoro)
April 17
Janá?ek’s From the House of the Dead
Performance from December 2, 2009
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stefan Margita (Filka Morozov/Kuzmich), Eric Stoklossa (Alyeya), Peter Mattei (Shishkov), Willard White (Gorianchikov)
April 24
Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten
Performance from November 26, 2013
Vladimir Jurowski; Anne Schwanewilms (Empress), Christine Goerke (Dyer's Wife), Ildikó Komlósi (Nurse), Torsten Kerl (Emperor), Johan Reuter (Barak), Richard Paul Fink (Messenger)
May 1
Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux
Performance from April 16, 2016
Maurizio Benini; Sondra Radvanovsky (Elisabetta), El?na Garan?a (Sara), Matthew Polenzani (Roberto), Mariusz Kwiecien (Duke of Nottingham)
May 8
Anna Netrebko Puccini Gala
Performance from December 31, 2019
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; LA BOHÈME, ACT I: Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Matthew Polenzani (Rodolfo), Quinn Kelsey (Marcello), Davide Luciano (Schaunard), Christian Van Horn (Colline), Arthur Woodley (Benoit); TOSCA, ACT I: Anna Netrebko (Tosca), Yusif Eyvazov (Cavaradossi), Evgeny Nikitin (Scarpia), Patrick Carfizzi (Sacristan); TURANDOT, ACT II: Anna Netrebko (Turandot), Yusif Eyvazov (Calàf)
May 15
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde
Performance from October 8, 2016
Simon Rattle; Nina Stemme (Isolde), Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Stuart Skelton (Tristan), Evgeny Nikitin (Kurwenal), René Pape (King Marke)
May 22
Bellini’s I Puritani
Performance from February 18, 2017
Maurizio Benini; Diana Damrau (Elvira Walton), Javier Camarena (Lord Arturo Talbot), Alexey Markov (Riccardo Forth), Luca Pisaroni (Giorgio Walton)
May 29
Verdi’s Otello
Performance from October 17, 2015
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Sonya Yoncheva (Desdemona), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello), Dimitri Pittas (Cassio), Željko Lu?i? (Iago), Günther Groissböck (Lodovico)
June 5
Britten’s Billy Budd
Performance from March 8, 1997
Steuart Bedford; Philip Langridge (Captain Vere), Dwayne Croft (Billy Budd), James Morris (Claggart), Victor Braun (Mr. Redburn), Julien Robbins (Lt. Ratcliffe), James Courtney (Mr. Flint), Paul Plishka (Dansker)