Anna Netrebko leads a starry cast in Verdi’s Il Trovatore on the season premiere of Great Performances at the Met Friday, January 22 at 9 p.m. on PBS, and repeated Sunday, January 24 at 12 p.m. (check local listings).
Soprano Anna Netrebko appears in her highly anticipated Met role debut as Leonora, the tortured heroine who sacrifices her own life for the love of the Gypsy troubadour. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Count di Luna, Yonghoon Lee is Manrico in his Met role debut as the title character, Dolora Zajick sings her signature role of the gypsy Azucena, and Štefan Kocán is Ferrando. Marco Armiliato conducts Sir David McVicar’s Goya-inspired production.
When the production debuted earlier this season, The New York Times observed, “Ms. Netrebko sounded wonderful, singing with plush, penetrating sound and affecting character.”
The Financial Times wrote about the dramatic circumstances behind the scenes. “The performance on Friday was dominated, triumphantly, by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, 52, who returned to the romantically evil, nobly melodic stances of il Conte di Luna. Back in June, he announced that he had suffered a brain tumor and would undergo treatment in London. Yet here he was…looking vital, singing heroically and acting with unexpected degrees of expressive intensity. When he made his entrance, the house erupted. Even the conductor applauded. The baritone beamed, clutched his heart and took a bow. Three hours later, at his curtain call, the orchestra showered him with white roses.”
Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham hosts the broadcast.
Il Trovatore was originally seen live in movie theaters on October 3, 2015, as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 2,000 movie theaters and performing arts centers in over 70 countries around the world. The Live in HD series has reached a record-breaking 18 million viewers since its inception in 2006.
Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.
