The Metropolitan Opera released its 2015-'16 season schedule yesterday, featuring six brand new productions and some classics to keep the seats filled as well (from Broadway World).
The first debut of the season will actually kick off the run as well, when Bartlet Sher's rendition of Otello by Verdi plays on September 21. From there, the Met will stage Lulu, the second Alban Berg production in three years. As with Wozzeck from the 2013-'14 season, James Levine will be conducting. George Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles will begin its run on New Year's Eve, marking the first time the opera has ben performed at the Met in close to a century. February 12 sees the first performance of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereaux will come next, on March 24, and finally Strauss's Elektra will run next April, reportedly the final production organized by Patrice Chéreau before his death during 2013.
All of the new productions will be featured as part of "The Met: Live in HD" series.
Some big names that will be gracing the stage at The Metropolitan next season: Plácido Domingo will appear as the title character in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, and Anna Netrebko will star as Leonora in the composer's Il Trovatore. The latter production will also be the first "Live in HD" broadcast of the season. Netrebko will later perform a solo recital during the season, her first in New York.
"We have a great array of operas this season, ranging from Verdi and Puccini to Berg and Strauss," Levine said in a statement. "I'm really looking forward to working on pieces I've loved performing with this company for decades, like Lulu and Tannhäuser. I'm glad that we can present a Mozart gem our audience doesn't get to see often, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and do my first performances of a terrific piece I haven't been able to make a priority in the past, Die Fledermaus. And of course, it's exciting to be working with Plácido again on a work as rich and moving as Simon Boccanegra."
Check out the full season schedule here.
