The live Metropolitan Opera broadcast season starts back up on December 10 and runs through June 10. From world premieres to old war horses, here’s a look at some of this season’s highlights!

         Our first broadcast on December 10th is a star-studded world premiere production of Kevin Puts’ The Hours. Listeners may remember Puts’ name from his Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night about the spontaneous ceasefire on Christmas night of 1914, in the start of WWI. The Hours is an adaptation of the novel by Michael Cunningham, about three women who struggle with society’s expectations as well as their own personal battles. The book was also made into a movie in 2002 starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman. We get an equally fierce cast for our broadcast with one of my all-time favorite opera singers, Joyce DiDonato, joined by Kelli O’Hara, and Renée Fleming making her highly anticipated return to the Met stage. A little later in the month, for our holiday broadcast on Dec. 24, we will have an abridged version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute sung in English.

         The first broadcast of the New Year is an opera finally having its Met premiere, Luigi Cherubini’s Medea. This opera inspired by the Greek myth is a vehicle for sopranos to show their dark and vengeful side and was made famous to “modern” audiences by Maria Callas. Sondra Radvanovsky will be our sorceress, with Matthew Polenzani as Medea’s Argonaut husband, Giasone. A week later we get a new production of another great Italian opera, Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, which hasn’t been in the Met's repertory in 25 years. It tells the story of a princess that falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer. It will star Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Beczała, and Rosa Feola.

         Throughout February, while the company has time off, we will have some pre-recorded offerings from earlier in the fall, as well as the ever-popular listeners’ choice broadcast. We resume live broadcasts with a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin on March 18. Piotr Beczała will star in the title role, with Tamara Wilson as Elsa in a production from François Girard. On April 29 we get our next opera from Terence Blanchard, Champion. It tells the story of the boxer Emile Griffith, who won world titles in three weight divisions. Hampton Roads’ own Ryan Speedo Green will star as the young version of Griffith, while Eric Owens portrays him in modern times, haunted by his past.

         Mozart gets quite a shout-out at the end of the Met season with new productions of two of his most popular operas. The first, on May 20, is a new production of Don Giovanni from Tony Award-winning director Ivo van Hove, known for his work on Broadway on shows like West Side Story. Peter Mattei stars as Don Giovanni, with Adam Plachetka as Leporello, and sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang. On June 3 Mozart’s The Magic Flute has its turn in the spotlight, with Lawrence Brownlee in the role of Tamino, Erin Morley as Pamina, Kathryn Lewek as The Queen of the Night, and Netherlands native Thomas Oliemans making his anticipated Met debut as Papageno.

         Our season closes on June 10 with a broadcast of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. Tomasz Konieczny stars as the accursed seamen, with soprano Elza van den Heever as Senta. I’ll be joining you each week from the radio booth – I look forward to hearing what's in store for us this Met broadcast season!

Ryan Speedo Green as Young Emile Griffith in Terence Blanchard's "Champion." Photo: Zenith Richards / Met Opera

Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role of Cherubini's "Medea." Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

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