In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting some of our favorite singers.
Who’s your favorite leading lady of this season’s Great Performances at the Met? Let us know in the comments!
Christine Goerke – Turandot
Christine Goerke in the title role of Puccini’s “Turandot.”
Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Recent GMET favorite Christine Goerke leads the season’s first primetime opera in the title role as the icy princess in Turandot. After watching her performance in last season’s Die Walkure (you can catch a clip of her in the role here!), we were thrilled to see her take on this powerful leading role. Watch a clip of her perform “In questia reggia” from Turandot.
Fun fact: Goerke made her debut at the Met performing in the ensemble in The Ghosts of Versailles in 1995.
Joyce DiDonato – Agrippina and Maria Stuarda
Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Handel’s “Agrippina.” Photo: Paola Kudacki / Met Opera
Joyce DiDonato graces our screen twice this season again after recently appearing in the title role of 2018’s Great Performances at the Met: Cendrillon and Great Performances at the Met: Norma. In addition to portraying this cunning empress, this Olivier and GRAMMY award-winner is also hosting Great Performances at the Met: Akhnaten, premiering April 5.
Angel Blue – Porgy & Bess
Eric Owens as Porgy and Angel Blue as Bess in the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess.” Photo: Paola Kudacki / Met Opera
A native of Los Angeles, this leading lady of Great Performances at the Met: Porgy and Bess earned national acclaim for her “radiant” performance which “captured both the pride and fragility of the character” (The New York Times). After making her Met Opera debut as Mimi in La Bohème in 2017, she has sung all over the world, even including the role of Violetta in La Traviata at the famed Teatro alla Scala. Great Performances at the Met: Porgy and Bess premieres Friday, July 17 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
Sonya Yoncheva – Tosca
Sonya Yoncheva in the title role of Puccini’s “Tosca.”
Photo: Ann Ray/Metropolitan Opera
After appearing three times on Great Performances at the Met in 2018 (Luisa Miller, Tosca, and La Bohème), this Bulgarian soprano said she approached Tosca with a certain fragility, despite other interpretations of the character as a diva. According to a 2019 interview with The New York Times, she said, “Yes, she is a diva, but she’s ready to die, to kill, to love, to destroy everything or risk everything to save her partner. When you are young, you just go for it.”
Watch a clip of Yoncheva performing Tosca’s Act II aria as she thinks of her lover and their fate: