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Feb. 15: Die Frau ohne Schatten

Ken Howard
/
Metropolitan Opera

The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues Saturday, February 15 at noon on KLRE Classical 90.5 with an archival broadcast of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten from last fall, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and featuring two highly acclaimed performances from the leading sopranos: Anne Schwanewilms in her network broadcast debut as the Empress; and Christine Goerke, who has recently emerged as a major dramatic soprano, singing the role of the Dyer’s Wife.

The cast also includes Johan Reuter as Barak, Ildikó Komlósi as the Nurse, and Torsten Kerl as the Emperor. Die Frau ohne Schatten will be heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 15.

Vladimir Jurowski made his Met debut in 1999 conducting Verdi’s Rigoletto. His subsequent performances with the company have included the 2003 new production premiere of Janá?ek’sJen?fa and the 2007 new production premiere of Humperdinck’sHansel and Gretel, as well as revivals of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. He is the Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra.

Anne Schwanewilms also sang the Empress in a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Salzburg Festival in 2011. She has sung many Strauss heroines with major opera companies, including the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at La Scala, Dresden State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Netherlands Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, and, later this season, the Vienna State Opera. This season, she also sings Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Munich Festival, Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Teatro Real, and Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello with Cologne Opera.

Christine Goerke is a graduate of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development program. In recent seasons she has achieved success in demanding dramatic soprano roles, particularly the title role in Strauss’s Elektra, which she has sung at the Teatro Real, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and, earlier this season, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her roles with the Met include the Foreign Princess in Dvo?ák’s Rusalka, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.

Baritone Johan Reuter made his Met debut in 2012 as Jaroslav Prus in Janá?ek’s The Makropulos Case, a role he also performed at the Salzburg Festival. He has sung Barak with the Royal Danish Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and will sing the role this spring at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. In recent seasons, he has appeared as Wotan in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Bavarian State Opera and Munich Festival; and Theseus in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur, Grigory Gryaznoy in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, and Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Tenor Torsten Kerl made his Met debut in 2007, as Menelas in the new production premiere of Strauss’s Die Ägyptische Helena. He has sung the Emperor in an Amsterdam concert performance conducted by Jurowski, and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. He recently sang Siegfried in Wagner’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung at the Lucerne Festival, Paris Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Bucharest Festival and Deutsche Oper Berlin.

In addition to the Nurse, mezzo-soprano Ildikó Komlósi has sung four roles at the Met: Herodias in Strauss’s Salome, Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Preziosilla in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, the role of her 1999 company debut. In recent seasons, she has sung Verdi’s Requiem with the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra, Cassandra in Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Ježibaba in Rusalka at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.     

The intermissions will include interviews with Anne Schwanewilms and Christine Goerke, as well as with mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, who sang the role of the Dyer's Wife for the Met premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1966.