adriana

FRANCESCO CILEA

lecouvreur
conductor Opera in four acts
Gianandrea Noseda
Libretto by Arturo Colautti, based
production
Sir David McVicar on the play Adrienne Lecouvreur by
Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé
set designer
Charles Edwards Saturday, January 12, 2019
costume designer 1:00–4:20 pm
Brigitte Reiffenstuel
lighting designer
New Production
Adam Silverman
choreographer
Andrew George
The production of Adriana Lecouvreur
associate director
Justin Way was made possible by a generous gift from
The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund

Co-Production of the Royal Opera House, Covent

Garden, London; Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona;
Wiener Staatsoper; San Francisco Opera; and
general manager
L’Opéra National de Paris
Peter Gelb
jeanette lerman - neubauer This production was first seen at the Royal Opera
music director
Yannick Nézet-Séguin House, London, on November 18, 2010.
 2018–19 season

The 77th Metropolitan Opera performance of

adriana
FRANCESCO CILEA’S

This performance

lecouvreur
is being broadcast
live over The
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homebuilder , with
in order of vocal appearance
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t h e a b b é o f ch a zeu i l
Metropolitan
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Carlo Bosi

This performance is t h e pr i n ce o f b o u i l lo n

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live on Metropolitan
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SiriusXM channel 75. Anna Netrebko

Saturday, January 12, 2019, 1:00–4:20PM

 m au r izi o
Piotr Beczała

t h e pr i n ce s s o f b o u i l lo n
Anita Rachvelishvili

major-domo
Christian Rozakis

ch a m b er m a i d
Anne Dyas

m l l e . d u clos
Snezhana Chernova

pa n ta lo n e
Bill Corry

j u d g m e nt o f par i s b a l l e t

pa r i s
Kfir Danieli

s h eph er d e s s e s
Jennifer Cadden
Cara Seymour

m er cu r y
Bradley Shelver

j u pi t er
Arthur Lazalde

juno
Erin Monteleone

v en u s
Cajai Fellows Johnson

m i n er va
Sarah Kay Marchetti
* Graduate of the
Lindemann Young Artist d i s co r d
Development Program Maria Phegan

Saturday, January 12, 2019, 1:00–4:20PM

2018–19 season

A scene from Verdi’s Otello

e Metropolitan Opera is pleased to salute

Rolex in recognition of its generous support
during the 2018–19 season.

PHOTO: KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA

 This afternoon’s performance is being transmitted live
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Chorus Master  Donald Palumbo
Assistant Choreographer  Adam Pudney
Musical Preparation  Gareth Morrell, Bradley Moore*,
Joshua Greene, and Nimrod David Pfeffer*
Assistant Stage Directors  Gregory Keller and Daniel Rigazzi
Italian Coach  Loretta Di Franco
Prompter  Joshua Greene
Met Titles  Sonya Friedman
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Costumes executed by Royal Opera House
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 Synopsis

Act I
Paris, 1730. The company of the Comédie Française is preparing for a
performance of the tragedy Bajazet, which will include both the great actress
Adriana Lecouvreur and her rival Mlle. Duclos. Michonnet, the stage manager,
is fielding various complaints and demands from the actors. The Prince of
Bouillon—a patron of the theater whose current mistress is Mlle. Duclos—and
the Abbé de Chazeuil come backstage to compliment the performers. Adriana
appears, rehearsing some of her lines. She is embarrassed when the prince and
the abbé praise her and claims to be only a servant to her dramatic art. With the
performance starting, Michonnet is left alone with Adriana. He has long been
secretly in love with her and, on the basis of a recent inheritance, intends to admit
his feelings and propose marriage. He is prevented from doing so, however, by
Adriana’s confession of love for an officer in the service of Maurizio, the Count
of Saxony and pretender to the Polish throne. Unknown to her, the officer is
actually Maurizio himself. He arrives and declares his passion for Adriana. They
arrange to meet after the performance, and she gives him a nosegay of violets
as she leaves to go on stage.

The abbé has intercepted a letter to Maurizio, arranging an assignation later that
evening. He mistakenly thinks it is from Mlle. Duclos because the rendezvous is
at a villa that the prince keeps for her. But La Duclos is in fact the go-between for
the Princess of Bouillon, a former lover and political supporter of Maurizio. The
prince, who is tiring of his mistress, decides to surprise the couple by holding a
party at the same time and place. Maurizio receives the letter from the princess.
Because of the potential political importance, he decides that he must meet the
princess and sends a note on stage to Adriana breaking his appointment with
her. Although Adriana is upset by his message, she keenly accepts an invitation
by the prince to his party: She has heard that the Count of Saxony will be there
and hopes to have the opportunity to advance the career of her “officer” lover.

Act II
At Mlle. Duclos’s villa by the Seine, the princess is anxiously waiting for Maurizio;
she still loves him jealously. When he arrives, she notices the violets, so to allay
her suspicions that they are from another woman, he gives them to her. When
the princess tells Maurizio of her conversation with the queen of France on his
behalf, he does not respond as passionately as she wishes. He admits to loving
another but does not reveal who. The sound of the prince arriving surprises
them, and Maurizio hides the princess in an adjacent room.

36
The prince and the abbé arrive and congratulate Maurizio on his latest mistress,
thinking it to be Mlle. Duclos. Maurizio plays along with their mistake in order
to protect the princess. When Adriana arrives, she discovers that her lover
is the Count of Saxony himself. The abbé tells Adriana that Maurizio had an
assignation at the villa, and Maurizio admits to her that it was with another
woman, but about his political situation. He asks her to trust him and to help the
other woman get away in the dark, undiscovered. Adriana agrees and follows his
instructions. Yet despite Adriana’s help, the princess’s jealousy gets the better
of her. Through an exchange in the dark, each suspects the identity of her rival
for Maurizio’s love. The rest of the party return. Adriana determines to expose
the princess, but she has already gone, leaving her bracelet behind. Adriana is
convinced that Maurizio has betrayed her.

Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 2:20PM)

Act III
In the Prince of Bouillon’s palace, the abbé is supervising the arrangements for
a party. He flirts with the princess, who becomes tired of his attentions.Adriana
arrives. The princess recognizes Adriana’s voice as that of the woman who
helped her in the dark. To satisfy herself that Adriana is indeed her rival, she
tells her husband—so that Adriana will overhear—that Maurizio has been fatally
wounded in a duel. Observing Adriana’s shocked reaction confirms everything
the princess suspects. To Adriana’s surprise, relief, and joy, Maurizio arrives.
With the prince’s encouragement, Maurizio describes to the party his victory in
the battle for Courland. As entertainment for the party, there is a ballet on the
Judgment of Paris. (In the myth, the goddess of discord threw a golden apple
down at the feast of the gods, inscribed “to the fairest.” The shepherd-prince
Paris was charged to judge the contest.)

Still consumed by jealousy, the princess taunts Adriana in a series of increasingly

pointed and bitter exchanges. When the princess mentions a violet nosegay,
Adriana displays the bracelet, which the prince recognizes as his wife’s.
Compromised, the princess attempts to distract everyone by inviting Adriana
to perform a speech from one of her famous roles. The prince suggests Phèdre,
and Adriana chooses a speech in which Phèdre confesses her adulterous and
incestuous passion. She aims her lines straight at the princess. While the party
is delighted with the performance, the princess is consumed with rage at this
insult and vows revenge.

Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 3:20PM)

Visit metopera.org 37
 Synopsis CONTINUED

Act IV
Convinced that Maurizio no longer loves her, Adriana has retreated into solitude,
abandoning the stage. It is her name day, and Michonnet arrives in an attempt
to cheer her up. Four members of the Comédie Française visit to persuade
her back to the company. They give her presents, as does Michonnet, who has
used his inheritance to redeem Adriana’s pawned jewelry. Touched by these
attentions, Adriana decides that she will return to the stage.

A package marked as “from Maurizio” arrives for Adriana. In it are the violets,
now withered, which she interprets as a sign that he no longer loves her. She is
stricken with grief and with an air of finality, kisses the violets and throws them
on the fire.

Michonnet has already summoned Maurizio, who now arrives to declare his
continuing devotion to Adriana. He proposes to her, but she sadly tells him that
their lives can never be lived together. She asks about the violets, but he knows
nothing about the package: He did not send it. Suddenly, Adriana begins to
feel unwell, then becomes delirious. She declares herself to be Melpomene, the
muse of Tragedy, and seems to be in a world of her own, reliving moments on
stage. The princess has taken her revenge: She sent the violets and laced them
with poison. Adriana dies in Maurizio’s arms.

Reproduced courtesy of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden

Adriana Lecouvreur on Demand

Looking for more Adriana Lecouvreur? Check out Met Opera on
Demand, our online streaming service, to enjoy other outstanding
performances from past Met seasons, including three classic radio
broadcasts. Montserrat Caballé and Fiorenza Cossotto square off in
a performance from 1978, Renata Scotto shines in the title role in
1983, and Plácido Domingo celebrates his 40th anniversary with the
company singing Maurizio, the role of his Met debut, in 2009. Start
your seven-day free trial and explore the full catalog of nearly 700
complete performances at metoperaondemand.org.

38
In Focus

Francesco Cilea

Adriana Lecouvreur
Premiere: Teatro Lirico, Milan, 1902
Adriana Lecouvreur occupies a unique place in the repertory: largely dismissed
by experts from its premiere to the present day, yet cherished by its fans for the
dramatic possibilities provided by the lead roles. The opera is a deft combination
of frank emotionalism and flowing lyricism, with pseudo-historical spectacle.
It is based on a play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé, who found rich
material in the lives of Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692–1730) and Maurice of Saxony
(1696–1750). She was the stage sensation of her day; he was the illegitimate son
of the future king of Poland and legendary as both a soldier and a lover. (He
participated in the Battle of Malplaquet at age 12 and fathered his first known
child at 13, and his last acknowledged child was the grandmother of novelist
George Sand.) Maurice and Adrienne had a tumultuous affair for nine years, with
the actress at one point pawning her possessions to finance his unsuccessful
attempt to establish himself as an independent monarch in the Baltic. Back in
Paris, a jealous duchess, wanting Maurice for herself, bribed a claque to harass
Adrienne during a performance of Phèdre. The actress, however, spewed the
lines of the play back at her rival, who ran out of the theater amid jeers and
boos. Shortly afterward, Adrienne died under mysterious circumstances. It was
inevitable that such a tale would find its way to the stage. Cilea’s work quickly
became a favorite of charismatic soloists, and the title character in particular is
a quintessential diva role.

The Creators
Francesco Cilea (1866–1950) belonged to the generation of Italian composers
that produced such greats as Puccini and Mascagni. Adriana Lecouvreur was
his only major success with the public, though his opera L’Arlesiana also played
for many years and is occasionally revived. Eugène Scribe (1791–1861)—who
collaborated with French playwright, poet, and lecturer Ernest Legouvé (1807–
1903) on the play Adrienne Lecouvreur—was a prolific French dramatist whose
works, both as a playwright and a librettist, formed the basis of literally dozens
of important 19th-century operas, including Bellini’s La Sonnambula, Donizetti’s
L’Elisir d’Amore, Verdi’s Les Vêpres Siciliennes, and many of Meyerbeer’s works.
Arturo Colautti (1851–1914), who transformed Scribe’s play into a libretto, was a
poet, novelist, and creator of comedies. He also wrote the libretto for Umberto
Giordano’s opera Fedora.

Visit metopera.org 39
 In Focus CONTINUED

The Setting
Adriana Lecouvreur unfolds in Paris in 1730. The setting reflects a nostalgia for
the Rococo era that swept over Europe and the Americas around the turn of
the 20th century when Cilea was composing, evident in other operas (Puccini’s
Manon Lescaut, for one) and in architecture.

The Music
The score of Adriana Lecouvreur relies on elegance and a deft weaving of themes
rather than symphonic grandeur. There are nods to a neo-Rococo style, especially
in Act III’s dance sequences, but generally the score serves to showcase the
singers. Lyricism abounds in the solos, particularly in the tenor’s “La dolcissima
effigie sorridente” in Act I (which evolves into a love duet whose themes recur
throughout the opera) and Adriana’s Act I aria “Io son l’umile ancella,” whose
arching line and theme of the singer as “the humble handmaiden of the creative
genius” have made it a soprano anthem of sorts. In some of the important solos,
the score strays from traditional forms in a strikingly modern way, most notably in
the dramatic soprano narrative “Poveri fiori” toward the opera’s climax. Perhaps
the most daring moment in the score comes at the end of Act III, when the
music practically stops: The soprano’s recitation of lines from Phèdre embodies
the trend among Italian composers of the time to have extremely emotional
lines spoken rather than sung.

Met History
Adriana Lecouvreur was first seen at the Met on opening night of the 1907–08
season with Enrico Caruso (who had created a sensation at the Milan premiere
five years previously) and the glamorous Lina Cavalieri in the lead roles.
Despite this grand introduction and two subsequent performances, the opera
disappeared from the repertoire until a new production appeared in 1963. It
featured Silvio Varviso conducting Renata Tebaldi (a great champion of the
work) and Franco Corelli. The production was revived at the Met’s new home at
Lincoln Center for 19 performances in the 1968–69 season, a run that included
the unscheduled company debut of Plácido Domingo as Maurizio. The opera
returned in each of the subsequent decades with remarkable casts: conductor
Jesús López-Cobos debuted in 1978 leading Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras,
and Fiorenza Cossotto; actor Raf Vallone directed Renata Scotto and Neil
Shicoff in 1983; and 1994 saw the debut of conductor Roberto Abbado leading
Mirella Freni, Luis Lima, Stefania Toczyska, and Sherrill Milnes. On New Year’s
Eve 2018, Gianandrea Noseda took the podium for the premiere of Sir David
McVicar’s new production, leading a cast that included Anna Netrebko, Piotr
Beczała, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Ambrogio Maestri.

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Program Note

F
rancesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera some people love to
hate. “Tawdry costume drama,” is one of the dismissive descriptions one
encounters, along with jeers at the way the heroine dies. Others love it
for the non-stop drama, the vividly drawn characters with their memorable arias,
and the always-resplendent music. It is true that dying after sniffing a bouquet of
violets that have been poisoned is an unusual ending, even in the world of opera,
but mystery still surrounds the premature death of the great actress Adrienne
Lecouvreur on which the opera is based, and some of the real-life plots against
her by her rivals are not too far removed from her operatic end.
Adriana Lecouvreur is the only one of Cilea’s six completed operas to retain
a foothold in the standard repertoire, though his previous opera, L’Arlesiana,
gave the world the famous tenor aria, “È la solita storia del pastore,” perhaps
better known as “Federico’s Lament.” It was first sung by a young tenor named
Enrico Caruso, and it immediately made his name in Italy. Caruso was also in
the cast of Adriana when it premiered in Milan in 1902. His recording, a few
weeks later, of Maurizio’s “No, più nobile” with the composer at the piano, is
sensational. And since the first Adriana (Angelica Pandolfini) and Michonnet
(Giuseppe De Luca) also made recordings of at least one of their arias, Adriana
is likely the earliest major opera for which we have so much documentation in
sound by the creators of its major roles. (Caruso also appeared in the Met’s first
Adriana five years later.)
The libretto, by Arturo Colautti, is based on the 1849 play Adrienne
Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. The principal characters are
fascinating historic figures, and much of their interaction is generally true, if not
always accurate in the specifics. To condense the five-act play to a manageable
length for a libretto, Colautti deleted the play’s first act, which takes place in
the boudoir of the Princess of Bouillon. Beginning the opera with the drama’s
second act, backstage at Paris’s Comédie-Française, helps focus attention
squarely on Adriana and her theatrical world. But in doing so, the opera loses
a delicious sense of the sexual game-playing that suffuses the culture in which
the events take place, and that finally leads to Adriana’s death. It’s the world of
Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the basis of the play and movie
Dangerous Liaisons as well as the film Valmont.
Adriana is, of course, the famous actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692–1730),
who had become a member of the Comédie-Française at the age of 25. She
revolutionized the French theater by rejecting the chanted declamation used
by other actors in favor of a simpler, more natural style that made her a great
favorite of the public. She was not an acclaimed beauty but, in the words of a
contemporary, she was “well built and has that noble air which speaks in her
favor. Her features are appropriately drawn to express sadness, joy, tenderness,
terror, and pity.” Everyone agreed that she was extraordinarily charming and

Visit metopera.org 41
 Program Note CONTINUED

had exquisite manners—so much so that she was received socially by members
of the aristocracy as an equal, a fact that caused amazement at the time when
actors were usually only admitted into those homes to perform. She was a close
friend and confident of Voltaire, who wrote three roles for her and hailed her
as “that inimitable actress who practically invented the art of speaking from
the heart, and who put sentiment and truth where before there had been
merely pomposity and rhetoric.” Her love affairs fueled gossip, and she had two
illegitimate children while still quite young. Naturally, her gifts and popularity—
on stage as well as off—made her a target for jealousy. There is at least one
well-documented plot against her life involving both the nobility and the clergy,
and this, coupled with her personal life, only added to her fame.
There is no doubt that the great love of her life was the swashbuckling
Maurice de Saxe (Maurizio in the opera), the illegitimate, but acknowledged,
son of the legendary Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. (Known
as “Augustus the Strong,” a bright gold, life-size statue of Augustus on a rearing
horse sits on the opposite side of the Augustus Bridge from the Semperoper
in Dresden and can easily be seen from over a mile away on a sunny day.) His
mother was Countess Maria Aurora of Königsmarck, a Swedish beauty. Like
his father, Maurice was renowned for his great physical strength (it was said
he could bend a horseshoe with his bare hands) and his military prowess. One
biographer described him as “short, even stocky, and his complexion was rather
too swarthy to be quite in fashion but the appeal of the golden earring which
he wore was hard to resist.” One Parisian aristocratic lady noted he was “not
particularly handsome, but he is young, seductive, and possessed fine manners.”
He was an ambitious man but could not inherit his father’s thrones. “He
was a soldier in search of a kingdom,” as an early biographer put it. In the first
act of Scribe’s play, his entrance is greeted by cries of “Welcome, conqueror!”
and “Future emperor, welcome!” Maurice responds, “Oh yes, ladies. A duke
without a duchy; a general without an army; an emperor without subjects; that
is my position.” Twice he missed his chance to be tsar of Russia, and he spent
much of his life angling for a throne of his own. He met Adrienne in 1720 when
he was 24, and their love affair eventually was the talk of Europe. Her beautifully
written letters to him still have the power to move a reader. She encouraged
him in his efforts to be elected sovereign of the Duchy of Courland (modern-
day Latvia) and even loaned him 30,000 pounds for his quest. Eventually, he
became marshal general of France, one of only six men to hold the title in all
of French history.
Adrienne’s love was frequently tested. Maurice’s career often took him from
Paris, and in addition to wooing influential women as a way to gain their support
for his political ambitions, he was the object of considerable feminine fawning.
Perhaps Adriana’s most serious rival—certainly the best-known today—was the

42
opera’s Princess of Bouillon. In real life, she was Marie Charlotte, Duchess of
Bouillon, the fourth wife of a man 40 years her senior. “At a time when it caused
no astonishment for ladies of rank to indulge their amorous whims, the young
Duchess de Bouillon’s outrages finally wore down the public’s indulgence,”
writes Jack Richtman in Adrienne Lecouvreur. She set her sights on Maurice de
Saxe and was not at all pleased to be initially turned down. In the opera, she
sends Adriana poisoned violets that kill the actress. In real life, she was at the
center of several scandals involving attempts to murder Adrienne and, when
those did not work, of attempting to make her fall out of love with Maurice
by magical means. Many of her schemes involved a hunchbacked priest, the
Abbé Bouret, who was imprisoned in the Bastille for two years for his part in
the Duchess’s plots. The only person who remembered him was Adrienne, who
wrote to him and sent him presents, including money and books. In the opera,
Adriana turns a speech from Phèdre (one of her greatest roles) against her rival
during a recitation in the princess’s home. In real life, Adrienne did so onstage,
to the delight of the audience who applauded her daring.
Throughout the opera, there are marvelous opportunities for a soprano,
mezzo, tenor, and baritone to create vivid characters, both histrionically and
vocally. All four major characters have memorable arias, and Cilea repeatedly
allows singers the freedom to put their own stamp on a performance by the way
they mold phrases and color the words. He did not seem to know how to write an
ugly or disagreeable note (maybe because he worshipped Paisiello and Bellini).
That is not to suggest that Adriana is a bland, pleasant-sounding work with no
substance. Quite the contrary. It deals with a wide variety of emotions—love, hate,
despair, joy, rage, jealousy, lust for revenge—all of which are starkly conveyed to
the listener. But, somehow, even the darkest emotions are rendered beautiful
in Cilea’s score. As Julian Budden has pointed out, unlike the music of many of
Cilea’s fellow verismo composers, the score never “descends to brutal excess.”
His touch can even be delicate at times, for instance in the ensembles that are
sprinkled throughout, especially in Act I, that bring to mind Verdi’s Falstaff.
But as entertaining as some of the other characters are, in the opera our
attention is focused on Adriana. Everyone else revolves around her, and our
sympathies are fully with her. The role is so superbly constructed and the music
so excellently written for the soprano voice that it is no wonder it has tempted
so many artists. The way Adriana is presented as a great actress is quite skillful.
We see her first backstage, trying out a few lines. Next we see Michonnet
responding with great admiration to her performing on stage, though we don’t
see what he sees, so her artistry is secondhand. Only in Act III do we finally get
to experience Adriana performing as an actress, and the result is riveting.
Cilea largely abandoned the world of opera before the First World War and
turned to teaching piano, harmony, and composition (including piano music

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 Program Note CONTINUED

that deserves to be much better known), and he ended his career as head of the
Naples Conservatory. But he will always be remembered as the man who gave
voice to one of the most enticing actresses who ever lived, in one of the most
sumptuous operas in the Italian repertoire.

—Paul Thomason
Paul Thomason, who writes for numerous opera companies and symphony orchestras
in the U.S. and abroad, has contributed to the Met’s program books since 1999.

The New South Entrance

This season, the Met introduces
a new entrance to the opera
house for eligible Patrons and
Subscribers. The area inside the
South Entrance will also be used
for intermission and education
events. The South Entrance will
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For information on how you can support the Met, visit metopera.org/support.

The South Entrance is made possible thanks to the generosity of

Betsy Z. Cohen and Edward E. Cohen.

44
The Cast and Creative Team

Gianandrea Noseda
conductor (milan, italy)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met; Aida in Muscat and in concert at Switzerland’s

Gstaad Menuhin Festival; Tristan und Isolde, Turandot, and Salome in Turin; Macbeth and
La Bohème in concert in Paris; Mozart’s Requiem in Barcelona and Madrid; and Rigoletto
at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre.
met appearances  Roméo et Juliette, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Andrea Chénier, Prince Igor,
Macbeth, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, War and
Peace (debut, 2002), and La Forza del Destino.
career highlights  He has served as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra
since 2017 and is principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, principal conductor of Catalonia’s Orquestra de Cadaqués,
artistic director of Italy’s Stresa Festival, and music director of Georgia’s Tsinandali
Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra. He will become general music director of
the Zurich Opera beginning with the 2021–2022 season, and between 2007 and 2018, he
was music director of Teatro Regio Torino. He has also held guest conductorships with
the BBC Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre, Rotterdam
Philharmonic, and Italy’s Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI.

Sir David McVicar

director (glasgow, scotland)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met, Les Troyens at the Vienna State Opera,
Charpentier’s Médée in Geneva, and Verdi’s I Masnadieri at La Scala.
met productions  Tosca, Norma, Roberto Devereux, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Maria
Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Giulio Cesare, and Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).
career highlights  He has directed Andrea Chénier, Les Troyens, Adriana Lecouvreur, Aida,
Salome, Le Nozze di Figaro, Faust, Die Zauberflöte, and Rigoletto at Covent Garden; Die
Entführung aus Dem Serail, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Giulio Cesare, Carmen, and
La Bohème at the Glyndebourne Festival; Britten’s Gloriana in Madrid; Andrea Chénier
at San Francisco Opera; La Traviata in Barcelona; Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and
Don Giovanni at Opera Australia, and Les Troyens at the Vienna State Opera and La
Scala. His productions have also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, St.
Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Scottish
Opera, Opera North, and in Aix-en-Provence, Tokyo, Strasbourg, Brussels, and Paris.
He was knighted in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Honors List and also made Chevalier de
l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
Visit metopera.org 45
 The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

Charles Edwards
set designer (newcastle - upon -tyne, united kingdom)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met; Kát’a Kabanová in Barcelona; Faust in Poznań,

Poland; Verdi’s I Masnadieri at La Scala; and Jenůfa at the Santa Fe Opera.
met productions  Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).
career highlights  As a director, his credits include Pagliacci, Handel’s Joshua, Rigoletto,
and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at Opera North; Elektra at Covent Garden; Massenet’s Don
Quichotte and Idomeneo at Grange Park Opera; Così fan tutte at Mid Wales Opera; John
Woolrich’s The Sea and Its Shore at the Almeida Opera Festival; and Donizetti’s Maria di
Rohan at Wexford Festival Opera. His designs for Adriana Lecouvreur have also appeared
at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and in
Barcelona. He has also designed productions for the Canadian Opera Company, English
National Opera, Opera Australia, Norwegian National Opera, Israeli Opera, Lyric Opera
of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Opera North, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas
Opera, and for opera companies in numerous cities throughout Europe.

Brigitte Reiffenstuel
costume designer (munich, germany)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met, Kiss Me, Kate in Graz, Verdi’s I Masnadieri at
La Scala, and Faust at Opera Australia.
met productions  Der Rosenkavalier, Falstaff, Un Ballo in Maschera, Giulio Cesare, and
Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).
career highlights  She has designed costumes for Covent Garden, including Der
Rosenkavalier, Falstaff (also at La Scala and the Canadian Opera Company), Adriana
Lecouvreur (also at the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, and in Barcelona), Faust (also in
Florence, Lille, Monte Carlo, Trieste, and Valencia), and Elektra; English National Opera,
including Peter Grimes (also in Oviedo, Antwerp, and at Deutsche Oper Berlin), Tosca,
and Lucia di Lammermoor (also in Bonn, Madrid, and at the Norwegian National Opera,
Washington National Opera, and Canadian Opera Company); and Lyric Opera of Chicago,
including Giulio Cesare (also at the Glyndebourne Festival and in Lille), and Il Trovatore (also
at San Francisco Opera). Her numerous credits also include Britten’s Gloriana in Madrid,
Kiss Me, Kate in Paris and Luxembourg, Don Giovanni at La Scala, Madama Butterfly (also
at LA Opera) and Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Santa Fe Opera, Lulu at the Bavarian State
Opera, and for Kate Bush’s 2014 concert tour.

46
 Adam Silverman
lighting designer (chicago, illinois)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met, The Makropulos Case in Bonn, and Verdi’s
I Masnadieri at La Scala.
met productions  Un Ballo in Maschera (debut, 2012).
career highlights  Recent productions include Lohengrin at Covent Garden, The Wind at
London’s Royal Ballet, Britten’s Gloriana in Madrid, Il Turco in Italia at the Polish National
Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor in Bonn, and Donnacha Dennehy’s The Last Hotel, a co-
production between Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera. Additional operatic
credits include Andrea Chénier at Covent Garden; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Dutch
National Opera; Otello, The Turn of the Screw, Billy Budd, Giulio Cesare, Peter Grimes, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jenůfa and Kát’a Kabanová at English National Opera; Verdi’s
La Battaglia di Legnano, I Due Foscari, and I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata in Hamburg;
Norma at Opera North; and Tannhäuser at San Francisco Opera. His designs have also
appeared on Broadway, in the West End, and at the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, London’s National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company,
Young Vic, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Atlantic
Theatre Company, and Manhattan Theatre Club, among others.

Andrew George
choreographer (london, england)

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met.

met productions  Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Anna Bolena, Giulio Cesare, and Don
Giovanni (debut, 2000).
career highlights  His British opera credits include Andrea Chénier, Les Troyens, Adriana
Lecouvreur (also at the Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, and in Barcelona) and Salome at
Covent Garden; The Turn of the Screw, Agrippina (also in Barcelona), Poul Ruders’s The
Handmaid’s Tale, and Die Walküre at English National Opera; Die Entführung aus dem
Serail, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (also at Lyric Opera of Chicago), Giulio Cesare,
(also at Lyric Opera of Chicago and in Lille), and Carmen at the Glyndebourne Festival;
The Rake’s Progress (also in Turin), La Traviata (also at Welsh National Opera and in Geneva,
Barcelona, and Madrid), and Der Rosenkavalier (also at English National Opera and Opera
North) at Scottish Opera; and Prokofiev’s A Love for Three Oranges and Bellini’s I Capuleti
e i Montecchi at Grange Park Opera. He has also choreographed productions for La Scala,
Dutch National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, the Salzburg Festival,
New York City Opera, and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre.
Visit metopera.org 46A
TOP TEN
Introducing Aria Code, a new ten-podcast series that explores some of
the greatest arias in the repertoire

PHOTOS: JONATHAN TICHLER/MET OPERA; PAOLA KUDACKI/MET OPERA

Rhiannon Giddens, with portrait
of Leontyne Price, on a recent
backstage tour of the Met

Internationally acclaimed folk musician Rhiannon Giddens

has won a Grammy Award, performed for President Obama,
and been awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant, among
many other accolades. But before all that, she studied to be
an opera singer. So it’s fitting that the North Carolina-born
artist is now the host of a new ten-part podcast series, Aria
Code, a collaboration of the Met and New York’s classical
music station WQXR, in which she gets to revisit her original
musical passion. Each of the podcast episodes features a
star opera singer—starting with soprano Diana Damrau,
followed by tenor Vittorio Grigolo and eight others, including
the legendary Plácido Domingo—talking through the ins
and outs of one specific aria, with special guests providing
additional color.

“What we’re doing is really digging into each aria,” says

Giddens. “We’re talking to singers, scientists, historians, and
other kinds of specialists to unpack what’s going on in one
particular aria. It’s really exciting to get to spend the time with
one story within an opera. It’s a cool idea.”

Aria Code can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and

wherever else podcasts are available. Learn more at
ariacode.org.
The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

Justin Way
associate director (sydney, australia )

this season  Adriana Lecouvreur for his debut at the Met.

career highlights  He has staged more than 35 operas and concerts and has assisted on
more than 50 productions in Europe, Australia, and the U.S. He has created productions at
Covent Garden, English Touring Opera, Opera Australia, the Canadian Opera Company,
Washington National Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Minnesota
Opera, Central City Opera, and in Barcelona, Geneva, Rome, Sydney, and Seoul, among
others. Since 1999, he has been a member of the directing staff at Covent Garden, staging
major revivals and assisting in the direction of numerous new productions, culminating in
his debut directing a new production of Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera in 2009. Recently
appointed deputy head of stage directors for that company, he has worked with such
directors as David McVicar, Francesca Zambello, Tom Cairns, Willy Decker, Deborah
Warner, David Pountney, John Cox, Franco Zeffirelli, Graham Vick, Elijah Moshinsky, Ian
Judge, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Christof Loy, Moshe Leiser, and Patrice Caurier.

Anna Netrebko
soprano (krasnodar , russia )

this season  The title roles of Adriana Lecouvreur and Aida at the Met, Maddalena
di Coigny in Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera, and Leonora in La Forza del
Destino at Covent Garden.
met appearances  Since her 2002 debut as Natasha in War and Peace, she has sung nearly
200 performances of 20 roles, including Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Leonora in Il Trovatore,
Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, and the title roles of Tosca, Manon
Lescaut, Iolanta, Manon, Anna Bolena, and Lucia di Lammermoor. She has also given a
solo recital.
career highlights  Recent performances include Lady Macbeth at Staatsoper Berlin,
Covent Garden, and the Bavarian State Opera; Maddalena di Coigny at La Scala and in
concert at the Hungarian State Opera; Adriana Lecouvreur at the Vienna State Opera and
St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre; Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Vienna State Opera, Paris
Opera, and Staatsoper Berlin; Aida at the Salzburg Festival; Tatiana at the Paris Opera;
Violetta in La Traviata at La Scala; Manon Lescaut at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, the Vienna
State Opera, and in concert at the Salzburg Festival; and Elsa in Lohengrin in Dresden.

Visit metopera.org 46C

A L S O O N S TA G E

MARTY SOHL / MET OPERA

BIZET

CARMEN
Bizet’s ever-popular masterpiece stars Clémentine Margaine in the
blazing title role, opposite tenor Roberto Alagna as her tortured
lover, Don José. Louis Langrée conducts Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful
production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.

JAN 9, 12, 17, 21, 26 mat, 29 FEB 2 mat, 5, 8

Tickets from $25 | metopera.org

The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

Anita Rachvelishvili
mezzo - soprano (tbilisi, georgia )

this season  The Princess of Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, Amneris in Aida, and Dalila

in Samson et Dalila at the Met; Dalila in Monte Carlo; the title role of Carmen at the
Paris Opera; and concert appearances with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and
Staatskapelle Berlin.
met appearances  Azucena in Il Trovatore, Carmen (debut, 2011), and Konchakovna in
Prince Igor.
career highlights  Recent performances include Carmen in Athens, Dresden, Tbilisi, and
at the Bavarian State Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Amneris in Verona, Turin, Orange,
Tbilisi, and at the Vienna State Opera, Switzerland’s Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and Paris
Opera; Azucena at the Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Covent Garden; Santuzza
in Cavalleria Rusticana in Rome; and Dalila at the Paris Opera. She has also sung Amneris
at the Paris Opera, La Scala, and in Rome; Carmen at the Canadian Opera Company,
Covent Garden, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, San Francisco Opera,
and in Verona, Beijing, Mannheim, Turin, and Seattle; Marfa in Khovanshchina at Dutch
National Opera; Lyubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride at Staatsoper Berlin; and
the Princess of Bouillon in concert with the Opera Orchestra of New York.

Piotr Beczała
tenor (czechowice - dziedzice, poland)

this season  Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met, the title role of Faust in Madrid,
Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Vienna State Opera, des Grieux in Manon in Zurich, and
Rodolfo in Luisa Miller in Barcelona and in concert at the Salzburg Festival.
met appearances  Rodolfo in Luisa Miller and La Bohème, the Duke in Rigoletto (debut,
2006), Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera, Vaudémont in Iolanta, the Prince in Rusalka, Lenski
in Eugene Onegin, Faust, des Grieux, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Roméo in
Roméo et Juliette.
career highlights  Recent performances include the title role of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth
Festival; Rodolfo in La Bohème at Staatsoper Berlin, Torre del Lago’s Festival Puccini,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Prince Sou-
Chong in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns, the title role of Werther, and Lohengrin in Zurich;
Don José in Carmen, Maurizio, and Gustavo at the Vienna State Opera; Edgardo at the
Bavarian State Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Gustavo and Werther in Barcelona.
He has also appeared at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, San Francisco Opera,
San Diego Opera, and in Baden-Baden and Dresden.
Visit metopera.org 46E
A L S O O N S TA G E

MARTY SOHL / MET OPERA

DEBUSSY

PELLÉAS
ET MÉLISANDE
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Debussy’s entrancing
masterpiece. Tenor Paul Appleby and mezzo-soprano
Isabel Leonard star as the illicit title lovers, alongside
Kyle Ketelsen as Golaud and Ferruccio Furlanetto as Arkel.

JAN 15, 19 mat, 22, 25, 31

Tickets from $25 | metopera.org

The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

Carlo Bosi
tenor (livorno, italy)

this season  The Abbé de Chazeuil in Adriana Lecouvreur and Nick in La Fanciulla del

West at the Met, Trabuco in La Forza del Destino and the Incredibile in Andrea Chénier at
Covent Garden, and Nick in Beijing.
met appearances  Dr. Caius in Falstaff (debut, 2013).
career highlights  Recent performances include Dr. Caius, Goro in Madama Butterfly,
Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, and Tinca in Il Tabarro at Covent Garden; Abdallo in Nabucco
and the Messenger in Aida in Verona; Goro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Bavarian State
Opera, and in Orange; Dr. Caius in Budapest; the Incredibile, Dr. Caius, Goro, and Nick at
La Scala; Trabuco at the Dutch National Opera; Le Remendado in Carmen in Naples; and
Spoletta in Tosca at the Paris Opera. He has also appeared at leading opera companies
in Florence, Turin, Monte Carlo, Paris, Palermo, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, Cagliari, Genoa,
Parma, Modena, the Canary Islands, Pisa, Seville, and Cosenza.

Ambrogio Maestri
baritone (pavia , italy)

this season  Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur and the title role of Falstaff at the Met,
Germont in La Traviata in Tokyo, the title role of Don Pasquale and Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir
d’Amore at the Vienna State Opera, Scarpia in Tosca in Las Palmas, Michele in Il Tabarro
and the title role of Gianni Schicchi at the Bavarian State Opera, and the Composer in
Salieri’s Prima la Musica, poi le Parole and Gianni Schicchi at La Scala.
met appearances  Don Pasquale, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Falstaff, Dr. Dulcamara, and
Amonasro in Aida (debut, 2004).
career highlights  He has sung Falstaff at the Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera,
La Scala, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival,
Astana Opera, and in Chicago, Birmingham, Paris, Budapest, and Dresden, among others.
Recent performances include Dr. Dulcamara at the Bavarian State Opera; Amonasro
in Verona; the title role of Rigoletto at LA Opera and in Hamburg; Don Pasquale at La
Scala; Michele and Gianni Schicchi in Reggio Emilia, Piacenza, and Modena; Scarpia at
the Vienna State Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; the title role of Simon Boccanegra in
Naples; and Amonasro in Muscat.

Visit metopera.org 46G

 The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

Maurizio Muraro
bass - baritone (como, italy)

this season  The Prince of Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, Talpa in Il Tabarro, Simone in

Gianni Schicchi, and Sulpice in La Fille du Régiment at the Met; Geronte in Manon Lescaut
in Tokyo; Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Hamburg; and Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di
Figaro at Covent Garden.
met appearances  Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro (debut, 2005) and Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
the Bailiff in Werther, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Sulpice.
career highlights  Recent performances include Simone, Giacomo Balducci in Berlioz’s
Benvenuto Cellini, and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola at the Paris Opera; Dr. Bartolo
in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Dresden; and the title role of Don Pasquale at San Francisco
Opera. He has also sung Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Loredano in Verdi’s I Due Foscari, and
Geronte at Covent Garden; Bonifacio in Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini in concert with the BBC
Symphony Orchestra; Giacomo Balducci in Barcelona; Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia
at Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, and in Tokyo; and Osmin
in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Paris Opera.

46H