Canadian artists and creatives appear steadily throughout the Metropolitan Opera’s recently announced September-June 2022/23 season, starting on its opening night when soprano Sondra Radvanovsky takes on the title role in a new production of Cherubini’s Medea. The production runs from September 27 to October 28, and will be seen in Toronto at some point since Canadian Opera Company is a co-producer along with Greek National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
From February 26 to April 1, director François Girard confirms his reputation as a leading Wagnerian with a new production of Lohengrin, and also returns for a revival of his staging of Der fliegende Holländer, a co-production with Opéra de Québec and the Abu Dhabi Festival that runs May 30 to June 10.
Bass John Relyea dies from poisoned mushrooms as Boris Izmailov in the production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk running Sept 29 to Oct 21, but then exerts his authority as the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlo from Nov 3 to Dec 3.
Director Robert Carsen enjoys a revival of his Verdi Falstaff, a co-production of the Canadian Opera Company, from March 12 to April 1, and of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in later March; Contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux brings a signature role to the Met as Mistress Quickley in the Falstaff.
Starting December 16, Baritone Joshua Hopkins returns as Papageno in the Met’s popular, truncated Holiday version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and then gets another opportunity to strut his comic skills as Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore from January 10 to April 29.
On May 19, the Met also debuts a new production of Die Zauberflöte, with Michael Levine, arguably Canada’s busiest designer on the international scene, on hand to create the sets.
On the podium, Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes on the brand new with Kevin Puts’s The Hours in late November and Terence Blanchard’s Champion in April, and later the tried-and-true in Lohengrin and Puccini’s La bohème. Meanwhile, Keri-Lynn Wilson, wife of Met General Manager Peter Gelb, makes her house conducting debut with Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth in the fall.
From December 2 to May 18, the Verdi Aida staged by 2021 Opera Canada Award winner Sonja Frisell adds another 15 performances to the more than 250 it has enjoyed since its 1988 premiere.
Medea, Don Carlo, The Hours, Lohengrin, Der Rosenkavalier, Champion and Die Zauberflöte can all be seen on the Met’s Live in HD 2022/23 cinema transmissions.
For full details of Metropolitan Opera’s 2022/23 season, click here.
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Angela Bell is Opera Canada’s Digital Media Specialist. She has held digital and PR roles with various businesses including the Walt Disney Company, Sullivan Entertainment and Toronto International Film Festival.
