Lucia di Lammermoor, with French soprano Natalie Dessay in one of her greatest roles as Donizetti’s fragile heroine, will air on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, June 26 at 12 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will air the production on Thursday, June 23 at 8 p.m. The telecast was originally seen live in movie theaters on March 19, 2011 as part of the groundbreaking series, The Met: Live in HD, which transmits live performances to more than 1500 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 46 countries around the world.
Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.
Dessay’s acclaimed portrayal was first seen on the Met stage in the 2007 premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s production, which was the Met’s opening night gala of that season. For this broadcast, she stars opposite the remarkable young tenor Joseph Calleja as Edgardo. They are joined by Ludovic Tézier as Enrico and Kwangchul Youn as Raimondo. Patrick Summers, the Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, conducts.
Dessay’s 2007 Met role debut, simulcast live on video screens in Times Square and Lincoln Center Plaza, earned the soprano excellent reviews that praised her dramatic commitment as well as her vocal performance in the demanding role. Now viewers nationally will be able to see the performance that the Associated Press called “a lesson in the art of a superb singing actress.” Dessay’s recent Great Performances at the Met appearances include Amina in La Sonnambula and Marie in La Fille du Régiment.
“Joseph Calleja was sensationally ardent as Lucia’s lover, Edgardo” (The New York Times), the sixth role in his growing Met repertory. His performances in the house have included the title character in Bartlett Sher’s new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann (a Great Performances at the Met broadcast) and the lead tenor roles in this season’s revivals of Rigoletto and La Bohème.
French baritone Ludovic Tézier sings Enrico, the villainous brother who forces Lucia into an arranged marriage for his own gain. Korean bass Kwangchul Youn is the chaplain Raimondo. Maestro Summers, who led the Iphigénie en Tauride broadcast in May, has conducted a varied repertory at the Met that includes recent revivals of Madama Butterfly, Salome, I Puritani, and Rodelinda.
Renée Fleming, who stars in the Great Performances at the Met telecast of Capriccio on August 14, is the host for Lucia di Lammermoor. Barbara Willis Sweete directs the broadcast and Jay David Saks is music producer.
Major funding for Great Performances at the Met: Lucia di Lammermoor was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Great Performances is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and Joseph A. Wilson. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®.
For the Met, Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.
