The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2014/15 season both in-house and the HD broadcasts.  The HD line up seems to continue this season’s approach of mainstream works with big name casts.  That said, John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer and the double bill of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle in a production by Polish director both get a cinecast. Three of the ten productions have previously been seen in the HD series and a fourth is available on DVD.  All five new productions this season get a broadcast which is to be welcomed.

Here’s the full line up with comments.

Macbeth – Verdi – October 11th 2014

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Production: Adrian Noble

Lady Macbeth: Anna Netrebko
Macduff: Joseph Calleja
Macbeth: Željko Lučić
Banquo: René Pape

I guess the attraction here is supposed to be Netrebko’s Lady Macbeth as Lučić has already done this in HD (with Guleghina) and it’s available on DVD.  I can’t get excited about it.

Le Nozze di Figaro – Mozart – October 18th 2014

Conductor: James Levine/Edo de Waart
Production: Richard Eyre

Countess Almaviva: Marina Poplavskaya
Susanna: Marlis Petersen
Cherubino: Isabel Leonard
Count Almaviva: Peter Mattei
Figaro: Ildar Abdrazakov

This is a new production which I imagine will be fairly conventional and continue the Met’s run of safe, dull Mozarts.

Carmen – Bizet – November 1st 2014

Conductor: Pablo Heras-Casado
Production: Richard Eyre

Micaëla: Anita Hartig
Carmen: Anita Rachvelishvili
Don José: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Escamillo: Massimo Cavalletti

There are three casts listed for this piece and it’s not entirely clear who will sing the HD.  Kaufmann is in the third cast but I imagine that will be for the spring run.  Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna are also listed but they’ve already had an HD in this production.  All in all an odd choice as it’s another one that has been out on DVD for some time.

The Death of Klinghoffer – Adams – November 15th 2014

Conductor: David Robertson
Production: Tom Morris

Marilyn Klinghoffer: Michaela Martens
Molqi: Sean Panikkar
The Captain: Paulo Szot
Leon Klinghoffer: Alan Opie
Mamoud: Aubrey Allicock
“Rambo”: Ryan Speedo Green

This is maybe the most interesting broadcast of the season. It’s the ENO production with a good cast. I thought it was ballsy of Gelb to run Klinghoffer in New York, It’s ballsier still to HD it. Bravo!

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Wagner – December 13th 2014

Conductor: James Levine
Production: Otto Schenk

Eva: Annette Dasch
Magdalene: Karen Cargill
Walther von Stolzing: Johan Botha
David: Paul Appleby
Hans Sachs: Johan Reuter
Beckmesser: Johannes Martin Kränzle
Pogner: Hans-Peter König
Nightwatchman: Matthew Rose

This production has been available on DVD for over a decade and the Penguin Guide says of it “Thank goodness for no quirky ideas” (Penguins are naturally conservative). Is this supposed to be Levine’s swansong? Surely that should be Lohengrin? Worth seeing for Anette Dasch and the up and coming Paul Appleby perhaps but for little more than the price of a cinema ticket you could have the DVD with Sir Thomas Allen, James Morris, Ben Heppner, René Pape and Karita Mattila.

The Merry Widow – Lehar – January 17th 2015

Conductor: Andrew Davis
Production: Susan Stroman

Hanna Glawari: Renée Fleming
Valencienne: Kelli O’Hara
Danilo: Nathan Gunn
Camille de Rosillon: Alek Shrader
Baron Mirko Zeta: Thomas Allen

The mandatory Renée broadcast. Stroman has a Broadway background and this is the New Year gala production so expect more sparklies than ideas.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Offenbach – January 31st 2015

Conductor: Yves Abel
Production: Bartlett Sher

Olympia: Hibla Gerzmava
Antonia/Stella: Hibla Gerzmava
Giulietta: Hibla Gerzmava
Nicklausse/The Muse: Kate Lindsey
Hoffmann: Vittorio Grigolo
Four Villains: Thomas Hampson

This is another one that has been done before in HD (2009) but is not, I think, available on DVD. I guess the schtick here is Gerzmava doing all three soprano roles.

Iolanta – Tchaikovsky and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle – Bartok – February 14th 2015

Conductor: Valery Gergiev/Pavel Smelkov
Production: Mariusz Treliński

Iolanta
Iolanta: Anna Netrebko
Count Tristan Vaudémont: Piotr Beczala
Robert: Alexey Markov
Ibn-Hakia: Elchin Azizov
René: Alexei Tanovitski

Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
Judith: Nadja Michael
Bluebeard: Mikhail Petrenko

An odd choice for Valentine’s Day but this could be very interesting. I’ve only seen one Treliński production but conservative it wasn’t. Oddly this is another situation where the Met is broadcasting a piece that is also playing that season at the COC (though Bluebeard is partnered with Erwartung in Toronto).

La Donna del Lago – Rossini – March 14th 2015

Conductor: Michele Mariotti
Production: Paul Curran

Elena: Joyce DiDonato
Malcolm Groeme: Daniela Barcellona
Giacomo V : Juan Diego Flórez
Rodrigo di Dhu: John Osborn
Douglas d’Angus: Oren Gradus

An air of inevitability about this one. Expect the screaming hordes of Joyce fandom.

Cavalleria Rusticana – Mascagni and Pagliacci – Leoncavallo – April 25th 2015

Conductor : Fabio Luisi
Production : David McVicar

Cavalleria Rusticana
Santuzza: Eva-Maria Westbroek
Turiddu: Marcelo Álvarez
Alfio: Željko Lučić

Pagliacci
Nedda: Patricia Racette
Canio: Marcelo Álvarez
Tonio: George Gagnidze
Silvio: Lucas Meachem

This is a new production. If the former bad boy Scot can find his mojo again this could be interesting. If not then it could be really pretty dull.