The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues Saturday, April 5 at noon on KLRE Classical 90.5 with a live broadcast of Puccini’s classic La Bohème.
Tenor Vittorio Grigolo makes his network broadcast debut as Rodolfo, alongside Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, who makes her Met debut this season as Mimì. The cast also features Susanna Phillips as Musetta, Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello, Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard, Oren Gradus as Colline, and Donald Maxwell as Benoit/Alcindoro. Stefano Ranzani conducts. La Bohème will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 5.
Vittorio Grigolo made his Met debut in 2010 as Rodolfo and returned last season to sing the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto. He has sung Rodolfo at La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. On March 9, Grigolo performed a solo recital on the Met stage, and he returns to the company next season in the title role of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
Anita Hartig has sung Mimì at La Scala, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Welsh National Opera and, later this season, Paris Opera. This season, she also sings Micaëla in Bizet’sCarmen, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Vienna State Opera; and Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at Bavarian State Opera.
Soprano Susanna Phillips made her Met debut in 2008 as Musetta, a role she has sung with the company more than 25 times. This season at the Met, she also stars as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and as Rosalinde in the new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus which opened on New Year’s Eve.
Baritone MassimoCavalletti made his Met debut in 2011 singing Schaunard in La Bohème. He sings Marcello for the first time with the company this season, having performed the role at the Zurich Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, and the Salzburg Festival.
Stefano Ranzani first conducted at the Met in the 2009-10 season, when he led a revival of Puccini’s Il Trittico. He has conducted La Bohème at the TeatroColón in Buenos Aires, Strasbourg Opera, Avenches Opera Festival, and Las Palmas Opera. His other engagements this season include Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at La Scala; Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani in Piacenza, Modena, and Reggio Emilia; Rigoletto at Bavarian State Opera; Puccini’s Tosca at Berlin State Opera; and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Helsinki Opera.
The intermissions will include backstage interviews with the stars, and the Opera Quiz with guest artist Michael Volle who is currently at the Met singing the role of Mandryka in Strauss’s Arabella.