A Service of UA Little Rock
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

April 12: Andrea Chénier

Marty Sohl
/
Metropolitan Opera

The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier Saturday, April 12 at noon on KLRE Classical 90.5.

Gianandrea Noseda conducts the verismo tragedy, which stars tenor Marcelo Álvarez in the title role of the real-life poet executed during the Reign of Terror; soprano Patricia Racette as his love, the aristocrat Maddalena; and baritone Željko Lu?i? as Carlo Gérard, the former servant turned revolutionary.  Andrea Chénier will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 12.

Earlier this season, GianandreaNoseda conducted the Met's acclaimed new production of Borodin’sPrince Igor, in a new performing version of the opera he created with director DmitriTcherniakov. Maestro Noseda made his Met debut in 2002 leading Prokofiev’sWar and Peace, and in subsequent Met seasons he has conducted Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Macbeth, as well as the new production premieres of Il Trovatore and La Traviata.  He is the Music Director of the TeatroRegio in Turin, Principal Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of Italy’s Stresa Festival.

Last season, Marcelo Álvarez starred as Gustavo in the new production of Un Ballo in Maschera. He made his Met debut in 1998 as Alfredo in La Traviata and has also sung Radamès in Verdi’s Aida, Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème, Don José in Bizet’sCarmen, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’sManon, the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, the Italian Singer in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca, and Manrico in Il Trovatore with the company. He will make his Met role debuts as both Turiddu in Mascagni’sCavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Leoncavallo'sPagliacci in next season’s new production of the popular verismo double bill.

Patricia Racette adds an eighteenth role to her diverse Met repertory as Maddalena. Earlier this season, she sang the title role in a revival of Tosca.  Tosca is one of seven Puccini heroines Racette has sung at the Met, along with Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Musetta and Mimì in La Bohème, and the principal soprano roles in the triple bill of Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi. In recent seasons, she has also sung Ellen Orford in the new production of Britten’sPeter Grimes, Leonora in Il Trovatore, and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’sDialogues des Carmélites. Next spring, she will sing Nedda in the new production of Pagliacci, opposite Marcelo Álvarez as Canio.

Željko Lu?i? made his Met debut in 2006 as Barnaba in Ponchielli’sLa Gioconda. He sang the title roles in the recent new production premieres of Verdi’s Macbeth and Rigoletto; his other roles with the company have included Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, di Luna in Il Trovatore, Michele in Il Tabarro, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the title role in Verdi’s Nabucco. Next season, he will make his Met role debut as Amonasro in Aida, sing Alfio in the new production of Cavalleria Rusticana, and reprise the title role in a revival of Macbeth.

The intermissions will include backstage interviews with the stars, and the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz with guest artist, soprano Olga Peretyatko, who will make her Met debut on April 17 starring as Elvira in Bellini’sI Puritani.