Week of January 29 - February 5, 2015

All links are live!

This week!

Saturday,  January 31, 2015

MET OPERA HD

1:00 PM 

Offenbach's

Les Contes d'Hoffmann

The magnetic tenor Vittorio Grigolo takes on the tortured poet and unwitting adventurer of the title of Offenbach’s operatic masterpiece, in the Met’s wild, kaleidoscopic production. Hibla Gerzmava, Erin Morley, and Christine Rice sing the three heroines—each an idealized embodiment of some aspect of Hoffmann’s desire. Thomas Hampson portrays the shadowy Four Villains, and Yves Abel conducts the sparkling score.

DURATION: 210 MIN

DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]

GENRE: PARENTS PICKS

Synopsis: http://www.metopera.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?customid=15

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This week on Rhode Island Public television,

WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

Saturday, January 31, 2015, 8:00pm

Sunday, February 1, 2015  3:00am

Monday, February 2, 2015 12:00am

GREAT PERFORMANCES

Le Nozze di Figaro

The Season 9 premiere features "Le Nozze di Figaro," Mozart's 1786 comic masterpiece, which has been updated to take place in 1930s-era Spain. It brings to life the upstairs-downstairs romantic complexities at an 18th-century manor house.

DURATION: 240 MIN

DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]

GENRE: PARENTS PICKS

Synopsis: http://www.metopera.org/metopera/season/synopsis/figaro?customid=834

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GREAT PERFORMANCES

Sunday, February 1, 2 pm WGBH 2

MacBeth

Anna Netrebko moves boldly into Verdi with her searing portrayal of Lady Macbeth, the mad and murderous mate of Željko Lucic’s doomed Macbeth. Adrian Noble’s chilling production also stars Joseph Calleja as the noble Macduff and René Pape as Banquo. Fabio Luisi conducts.

Approximate running time 2 hrs. 55 min.

SYNOPSIS: http://www.metopera.org/metopera/season/synopsis/macbeth

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

The Met's upcoming performance of Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" this Saturday (January 31) dominates the schedules of most internet radio stations, and as many opera fans are aware, will be presented as an HD-transmission in certain area movie theatres. With tenor Vittorio Grigolo heading the cast, it promises to be a wonderful performance!

(www.wrti.org/)

Fans of tenor Jonas Kaufmann have reason to rejoice, since BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting a LIVE performance from London's Royal Opera House of Giordano's most popular opera "Andrea Chenier" with Kaufmann singing the title role. (It is also being shown in movie theatres in Europe and will hopefully make its way into the USA one of these days.) Also in the cast are soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Maddalena and baritone Zeljko Lucic as Gerard.

(www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/)

Enjoy!

DAVE

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Free tickets to Harvard Book Store's event with tenor Ian Bostridge!

BLO is excited to share with you Harvard Book Store's upcoming event, Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession with author and tenor Ian Bostridge – and we're giving away a limited number of free tickets.

When: Wednesday, February 4th at 6:00pm
Place: Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge)

Win a free ticket Reply to this email with your answer to "What's your favorite piece of classical music that celebrates a season and why?" Feel free to share a video or anecdote about your pick! Entries are due by midnight.Thursday, January 29. Winners will be randomly selected on Friday, January 30. This contest is available on our Facebook & Twitter pages as well.

Learn more about the event

Visit our blog to get all the details about Ian Bostridge, his new book, & the event.

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The Met

Saturday afternoon radio broadcast 

Offenbach's 

LES CONTES D'HOFFMAN 

January 31, 2015 1:00 pm ET

Abel; Morley, Gerzmava, Rice, Lindsey, Grigolo, Hampson

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YES!

Opera on WGBH this week!

Week of January 22 - January 29, 2015

All links are live!

This week on Rhode Island Public television,

WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

Saturday, January 24, 2015, 8:00pm

Sunday, January 25, 2015  3:00am

Monday, January 26, 2015 12:00am

GREAT PERFORMANCES

Faust

A production of Gounod's "Faust" updates the story to the mid-20th century, with Faust (Jonas Kaufmann) now a nuclear scientist who strikes a deal with the devil (René Pape) in order to win the affections of a young woman (Marina Poplavskaya).

DURATION: 210 MIN

DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]

GENRE: PARENTS PICKS

Synopsis: http://www.metopera.org/metopera/season/synopsis/faust?customid=254

♫♫♫♫♫♫

MET OPERA HD

Saturday,  January 31, 2015

1:00 PM

Offenbach's

Les Contes d'Hoffmann

The magnetic tenor Vittorio Grigolo takes on the tortured poet and unwitting adventurer of the title of Offenbach’s operatic masterpiece, in the Met’s wild, kaleidoscopic production. Hibla Gerzmava, Erin Morley, and Christine Rice sing the three heroines—each an idealized embodiment of some aspect of Hoffmann’s desire. Thomas Hampson portrays the shadowy Four Villains, and Yves Abel conducts the sparkling score.

♫♫♫♫♫♫

♫♫♫♫♫♫

OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

This coming Saturday afternoon (January 24), various internet radio stations will be carrying the LIVE broadcast from the Met of Puccini's ever-popular "La Boheme." Soprano Kristine Opolais will be singing the role of Mimi, and many listeners will recall how she substituted last season for an ailing soprano and appeared in the HD-transmission of this same opera, having performed the title role of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" the night before.

(www.wrti.org/)

There's more Italian opera on tap, as ORF (Austria) will be broadcasting a LIVE performance from Vienna of Bellini's "La Straniera." I can safely say that if you enjoy this composer's more popular operas (such as "La Sonnambula" & "Norma"), you won't be disappointed while listening to this melodious score.

(http://oe1.orf.at/)

If your taste runs more towards modern operas, you can't go wrong with George Benjamin's "Written on Skin" (2012) which will be broadcast LIVE on Swedish Radio (from Stockholm).

(http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)

Then on Monday (January 26), BBC Radio 3 has scheduled a broadcast from the Royal Opera House of Mozart's "Idomeneo" with tenor Matthew Polenzani singing the title role.

(www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/)

In the meantime, the Met's FREE audio-stream has 2 tantalizing offerings on tap for us this week. Tonight at 7:55, it's Verdi's "La Traviata." Then, on Monday evening at the same time, you can treat yourself to an audio preview of the upcoming HD-transmission of the double bill to be featured on February 14 at local movie theatres: Tchaikovsky's "Yolanta" & Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle." Superstar Anna Netrebko sings the title role in the Tchaikovsky opera, with tenor Piotr Beczala as her love interest.

(www.metopera.org/)

Enjoy!

DAVE

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The Met

Saturday afternoon radio broadcast 

Puccini's 

La Bohème 

January 24, 2015 1:00 pm ET

Frizza; Opolais, Rebeka, Borras, Kwiecien, Arduini, Soar,

Del Carlo

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Oh no!

No opera on WGBH this week!