Il Trovatore
Saturday, May 3rd, 1pm
Verdi’s charged drama of family strife and forbidden love stars tenor Michael Fabiano as Manrico, the bold troubadour unwittingly at war with his own brother, with Gwyn Hughes Jones singing the final two performances. Sopranos Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Angela Meade share the role of the noble Leonora, with mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Olesya Petrova trading off as Manrico’s tormented mother, Azucena. Baritone Igor Golovatenko is the unbending Count di Luna, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the soldier Ferrando. Italian conductor Daniele Callegari leads David McVicar’s Goya-inspired staging.
Listener’s Choice - Turnadot
Saturday, May 10, 1pm
Zubin Mehta; Birgit Nilsson (Turandot), Franco Corelli (Calàf), Mirella Freni (Liù), Bonaldo Giaiotti (Timur)
Salome
Saturday, May 17, 1pm
Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light. Headlining the new staging is soprano Elza van den Heever as the abused and unhinged heroine, who demands the head of Jochanaan, sung by celebrated baritone Peter Mattei. Tenor Gerhard Siegel is Salome’s lecherous stepfather, King Herod, with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung as his wife, Herodias, and tenor Piotr Buszewski as Narraboth.
Antony & Cleopatra
Saturday, May 24, 1pm
The most recent opera by preeminent American composer John Adams—a glorious adaptation of Shakespeare’s immortal drama—has its Met premiere. Following her debut in the company premiere of Adams’s El Niño in 2024, soprano Julia Bullock stars as the irresistible Cleopatra, one of theater’s most complex and captivating characters, opposite bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the conflicted Antony. Adams himself takes the podium to conduct his lyrical and richly orchestrated score, leading a new staging by groundbreaking director Elkhanah Pulitzer that transports the story of troubled romance and political strife from ancient Rome to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s. Tenor Paul Appleby is Caesar, who goes to war with Antony, and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong is Caesar’s sister and Antony’s forsaken wife Octavia.
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Saturday, May 31, 1pm
Rossini’s effervescent comedy retakes the stage in Bartlett Sher’s madcap production. Two star mezzo-sopranos—Isabel Leonard and Aigul Akhmetshina—headline a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside high-flying tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Baritones Davide Luciano and Andrey Zhilikhovsky star as Figaro, the inimitable barber of Seville, with baritone Nicola Alaimo and bass-baritone Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio rounding out the principal cast. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts.
Concierto
Sundays, 2pm
Concierto presents classical music in English and in Spanish. Music by Spanish and Latin American composers is alternated with classical favorites performed by Hispanic artists. Concierto is the first classical music program to specifically target Latino listeners. Host Frank Dominguez presents classical music in English and in Spanish. Music by Spanish and Latin American composers such as Enrique Granados and Astor Piazzolla is alternated with classical favorites performed by Hispanic artists such as conductor Gustavo Dudamel, pianist Gabriela Montero, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, and singer Placido Domingo. Through its bilingual presentation, Concierto provides an entry point for Latinos interested in learning more about classical music. It also appeals to Hispanics already familiar with classical music by celebrating the diversity of their culture and its contributions to classical music.
MEMORIAL DAY
Wind & Rhythm - Memorialize
Monday, May 26th, 10am
Music gives us a chance to express ourselves when we need help dealing with difficult emotions. It gives our minds a place to face all of the feelings associated with life and death. Without music, dealing with the gravity of death in a war setting is almost too much to consider. And when war-like activities mimic battlefield conditions it takes powerful music to help us cope. The holiday we celebrate has a specific scope. Decoration Day became Memorial Day and it honors combat heroes who died on the field of battle. We can’t repay them for their sacrifice but we can be diligent in honoring them. If they were able to tell us about duty and responsibility we would be humbled beyond measure. Most of our program honors them on this episode, but not all of it.
Alan Seeger: Instrument of Destiny
Monday, May 26th, 11am
From the trenches of The Great War, Alan Seeger's poems, letters and diaries spring to life in the voices of Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine. Recorded just before lockdown in the Cathedral, Patrick Zimmerli's new oratorio "Alan Seeger: Instrument of Destiny" fuses Seeger's formal writing with monkish chants and 20th Century music. Scott Simon hosts this moving hour of tribute to all those who saw combat, and those who awaited them at home.
The Score w/Edmund Stone - Civil War
Monday, May 26th, Noon
This week the heartbreak and valor of the American Civil War has inspired filmmakers and film composers since the earliest days of cinema.
From the Vault - Memorial Day
Monday, May 26th, 1pm
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day--a special day to gather and decorate the graves of Civil War veterans. Our Memorial Day version of From the Vault presents David Gillingham's Heroes Lost and Fallen, A Vietnam Memorial, Percy Grainger's Marching Song of Democracy, Gerard Schwarz's Above and Beyond, The Wound-Dresser by John Adams to words of Walt Whitman and the concluding work is Decoration Day by Charles Ives.
The Songs That Won the War
Monday, May 26th, 8pm
From 1939 to 1945, as World War II raged on, American Popular Music responded. On Afterglow’s Memorial Day special, we look at the songs of World War II, sung by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, and more.
I think it was Irving Berlin who once said “music makes history, history makes music.” And this week on this show, I’ll be exploring the music of an important historical event: World War II. Throughout the early 1940s, music played a key role in the war effort for America, serving as a way to boost morale, channel anger towards the Axis powers, or grapple with those complex, extraordinary feelings of loss. Coming up, it’s a Memorial Day special, focusing on these World War II songs performed by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, and more.
Folktale of Patriotism & Remembrance
Monday, May 26th, 9pm
As American founding father, and 2nd US President, John Adams noted: "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives". In honor of this weekend's Memorial Day celebrations, we're traveling the world for musical reflections, tributes and remembrances of those who gave their lives, for their country, and wise words on the importance of such patriotic acts. Beginning in our own United States, we'll be touring Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and beyond, w/ a special tribute to our original celebration of 'Decoration Day' in Civil War days. Featured musicians include Jay Unger, Bill Ellis, Calic, Moya Brennan & the Chieftans, Inkuyo, Rhythm Devils, Mizik Mizik and more. Have a safe and happy holiday, and hope you can join us for this powerful show.