Classic Arts NewsAnna Netrebko to Star in 3 Metropolitan Opera-Bolshoi Co-Productions, Including an Aida From Michael MayerThe New York and Moscow companies will also collaborate on new stagings of Salome and Lohengrin.
By
Ryan McPhee
October 09, 2017
Anna Netrebko
Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will star in three co-productions from New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Opera and Moscow鈥檚 Bolshoi Theatre. The two companies will partner on new stagings of Aida, Salome, and Lohengrin, each playing both houses between 2019 and 2022.
Spring Awakening Tony Award winner Michael Mayer will direct Verdi鈥檚 Aida, which is set to open the Met鈥檚 2020鈥�2021 season. The production will mark the first under the baton of Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin as the company鈥檚 music director. N茅zet-S茅guin, who will conduct the premieres of all three productions when they appear at the Met, was named music director designate following James Levine鈥檚 departure from the position in 2016.
Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Mayer, who is currently represented on Broadway with Michael Moore鈥檚 show The Terms of My Surrender, directed the Met鈥檚 current production of Rigoletto, which premiered in 2013 and sets the action in 1960s Vegas. He will also helm a future production of La Traviata for the company.
Claus Guth will direct Strauss鈥� Salome; the German director has yet to bring a production to the Met. Phelim McDermott, whose Coney Island-set Cos矛 fan tutte heads to Lincoln Center next year with a cast including Kelli O鈥橦ara, will return for Wagner鈥檚 Lohengrin.
Netrebko, who will sing Aida and Salome鈥檚 title roles and Elsa in Lohengrin, will star in David McVicar鈥檚 new production of Tosca at the Met in spring 2018. Each title demonstrates her evolution to darker, dramatic roles (including two in German鈥攁 rarity for the soprano) and a departure from her bel canto repertoire. Last year, Netrebko withdrew from two productions of Norma (including the Met鈥檚 2017 season opening), instead lining up performances of Il Trovatore.
鈥淲ith its recently renovated technical facilities and its highly skilled artisans, the Bolshoi's workshops are amongst the best in the world,鈥� said Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb in a statement. 鈥淲e're very pleased to be partnering with such a renowned company as the Bolshoi and to be pooling our resources with them.鈥�
Bolshoi鈥檚 General Director Vladimir Urin added, 鈥淚 am incredibly pleased that our new relationship, which has been in discussion for a year now, will happen and will result in several opera masterpieces appearing in New York and in Moscow. To collaborate with this great theater was our longtime dream.鈥�
The three operas mark the first co-productions between the two companies against the backdrop of continued political tensions. The Bolshoi Ballet, however, has repeatedly played the Metropolitan Opera鈥攆irst in 1959 (at 鈥渢he old Met鈥� in the Garment District, prior to the company鈥檚 move to Lincoln Center).
