WRTI is proud to present the 2024-25 season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts, hosted by Debra Lew Harder. Tune in Saturdays at 1 p.m., at 90.1 FM, here at wrti.org, or the WRTI Mobile App.
The broadcast, which first aired in 1931, is the longest-running classical program in American radio history. Last year it acquired a new title sponsor: The Robert K. Johnson Foundation, which will support the broadcast through its centennial 2031-2032 season.
This 2024-25 season includes new productions like Jeanine Tesori's Grounded; Jake Heggie's Moby Dick; John Adams' Antony and Cleopatra; and Osvaldo Golijov's Ainamadar, which dramatizes the life and work of poet-playwright Federico García Lorca. Also featured are operatic touchstones like Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Puccini's La Bohème, and archival gems like a 1964 performance of Verdi's Falstaff led by Leonard Bernstein, as selected by current music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
All broadcasts at 1 p.m. Eastern Time except as noted.
Dec. 7 - Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Elza van den Heever (Empress), Lise Lindstrom (Dyer’s Wife), Nina Stemme (Nurse), Michael Volle (Barak), Russell Thomas (Emperor), Ryan Speedo Green (Spirit Messenger)
Dec. 14 – Jeanine Tesori: Grounded – Libretto by George Brant – New Production/Met Premiere – Performance from Oct. 19, 2024
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Emily D’Angelo (Jess), Ben Bliss (Eric), Ellie Dehn (Also Jess), Kyle Miller (Sensor)
Dec. 21 – Mozart: The Magic Flute – Abridged English-language version
David Jackson; Duke Kim (Tamino), Emily Pogorelc (Pamina), Sean Michael Plumb (Papageno), Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night), Peixin Chen (Sarastro)
Dec. 28 – Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel – Performance from Dec. 25, 1982
Thomas Fulton; Frederica von Stade (Hansel), Judith Blegen (Gretel), Rosalind Elias (Witch), Jean Kraft (Gertrud), Michael Devlin (Peter), Betsy Norden (Dew Fairy), Diane Kesling (Sandman)
Jan. 4 – Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman – Performance from Oct. 5, 2024
Marco Armiliato; Benjamin Bernheim (Hoffmann), Christian Van Horn (Four Villains), Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (Nicklausse/The Muse), Pretty Yende (Antonia/Stella), Erin Morley (Olympia), Clémentine Margaine (Giulietta), Aaron Blake (Four Servants)
Jan. 11 – Verdi: Rigoletto
Maurizio Benini; Luca Salsi (Rigoletto), Erin Morley (Gilda), Pene Pati (Duke of Mantua), Soloman Howard (Sparafucile), Rihab Chaieb (Maddalena)
Jan. 18 – Puccini: Tosca – Performance from Nov. 23, 2024
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Lise Davidsen (Tosca), Freddie De Tommaso (Cavaradossi), Quinn Kelsey (Scarpia), Patrick Carfizzi (Sacristan)

Jan. 25 at 12:30 PM – Verdi: Aida – New Production
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Angel Blue (Aida), Piotr Beczała (Radamès), Judit Kutasi (Amneris), Quinn Kelsey (Amonasro), Dmitry Belosselskiy (Ramfis), Morris Robinson (King)
Feb. 1 – Verdi: La traviata – Artist's Choice – Chosen by Angel Blue: Renée Fleming in a performance from Nov. 7, 2007
Marco Armiliato; Renée Fleming (Violetta), Matthew Polenzani (Alfredo), Dwayne Croft (Germont)
Feb. 8 – Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer – Artist's Choice – Chosen by Ryan Speedo Green: George London in a performance from March 5, 1960
Thomas Schippers; George London (Dutchman), Leonie Rysanek (Senta), Karl Liebl (Erik), Giorgio Tozzi (Daland)
Feb. 15 – Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos – Artist's Choice – Chosen by Lise Davidsen: Jessye Norman in a performance from Jan. 5, 1985
Andrew Davis; Jessye Norman (Ariadne), Gianna Rolandi (Zerbinetta), William Cochran (Bacchus), Maria Ewing (Composer), Dale Duesing (Harlekin)
Feb. 22 – Verdi: Falstaff – Artist's Choice – Chosen by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Leonard Bernstein conducting a performance from March 21, 1964
Leonard Bernstein; Anselmo Colzani (Falstaff), Gabriella Tucci (Alice), Regina Resnik (Quickly), Mario Sereni (Ford), Judith Raskin (Nannetta), Luigi Alva (Fenton), Rosalind Elias (Meg)
March 1 – Bizet: Carmen – Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Bizet's opera with a performance from Jan. 16, 2010
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Elīna Garanča (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don Jose), Barbara Frittoli (Micaela), Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Escamillo)
March 8 – Puccini: La bohème
Alexander Soddy; Kristina Mkhitaryan (Mimì), Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo), Brittany Renee (Musetta), Luca Micheletti (Marcello), Nicolas Testé (Colline), Gihoon Kim (Schaunard), Donald Maxwell (Benoit/Alcindoro)
March 15 – Beethoven: Fidelio
Susanna Mälkki; Lise Davidsen (Leonore), David Butt Philip (Florestan), René Pape (Rocco), Tomasz Konieczny (Don Pizarro), Ying Fang (Marzelline), Magnus Dietrich (Jaquino), Stephen Milling (Don Fernando)
March 22 – Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges / Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tirésias – Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ravel's opera with a performance from Feb. 28, 1981
Manuel Rosenthal; Hilda Harris (Child), Ruth Welting (Fire), Gail Robinson (Princess) / Catherine Malfitano (Thérèse, Fortuneteller), David Holloway (Husband)

March 29 – Jake Heggie: Moby Dick – Libretto by Gene Scheer – New Production/Met Premiere
Kamensek; Brandon Jovanovich (Captain Ahab), Stephen Costello (Greenhorn), Peter Mattei (Starbuck), Ryan Speedo Green (Queequeg), Janai Brugger (Pip), Malcolm MacKenzie (Stubb), William Burden (Flask)
April 5 – Osvaldo Golijov: Ainadamar – Libretto by David Henry Hwang – New Production/Met Premiere – Performance from Fall 2024
Miguel Harth-Bedoya; Angel Blue (Margarita Xirgu), Daniela Mack (Federico García Lorca), Elena Villalón (Nuria), Alfredo Tejada (Ramón Ruiz Alonso)
April 12 – Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
Evan Rogister; Ben Bliss (Tamino), Golda Schultz (Pamina), Thomas Oliemans (Papageno), Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night), Stephen Milling (Sarastro), Thomas Ebenstein (Monostatos), Shenyang (Sprecher)
April 19 – Rossini: L'assedio di Corinto – Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Beverly Sills’s Met debut with a performance from April 19, 1975
Thomas Schippers; Beverly Sills (Pamira), Shirley Verrett (Neocle), Harry Theyard (Cleomene), Justíno Díaz (Maometto)
April 26 – Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Joana Mallwitz; Michael Sumuel (Figaro), Olga Kulchynska (Susanna), Federica Lombardi (Countess), Joshua Hopkins (Count), Marianne Crebassa (Cherubino), Elizabeth Bishop (Marcellina), Maurizio Muraro (Dr. Bartolo)

May 3 – Verdi: Il trovatore – Performance from October 29, 2024
Daniele Callegari; Michael Fabiano (Manrico), Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Leonora), Jamie Barton (Azucena), Igor Golovatenko (Count di Luna), Ryan Speedo Green (Ferrando)
May 10 – Listeners' Choice: Great Met Broadcasts – Opera TBA, to be selected by listener voting

May 17 – Strauss: Salome – New Production
Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Elza van den Heever (Salome), Peter Mattei (Jochanaan), Gerhard Siegel (Herod), Michelle DeYoung (Herodias), Piotr Buszewski (Narraboth)
May 24 – John Adams: Antony and Cleopatra – New Production/Met Premiere
John Adams; Julia Bullock (Cleopatra), Gerald Finley (Antony), Paul Appleby (Caesar), Elizabeth DeShong (Octavia)
May 31 – Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
Giacomo Sagripanti; Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Figaro), Aigul Akhmetshina (Rosina), Jack Swanson (Count Almaviva), Peter Kálmán (Dr. Bartolo), Alexander Vinogradov (Don Basilio)
June 7 – Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades
Keri-Lynn Wilson; Brian Jagde (Hermann), Sonya Yoncheva (Lisa), Violeta Urmana (Countess), Igor Golovatenko (Prince Yeletsky), Maria Barakova (Pauline), Alexey Markov (Tomsky)