**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**

Met Opera’s 85th Season of Live Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts

Begins with Puccini’s Classic La Bohème

The cast features Barbara Frittoli, Ramón Vargas, Ana María Martínez,

and Levente Molnár in his network debut, conducted by Paolo Carignani

Saturday, December 5 at 1:00 p.m. ET

The 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season – the company’s 85th season on the air – begins with a broadcast of the most-performed opera in Met history, La Bohème. The performance, conducted by Paolo Carignani, stars Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, with soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta. Hungarian baritone Levente Molnár makes his network broadcast debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro. La Bohème will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 5.

Italian soprano Barbara Frittoli has previously sung the role of Mimì at the Met in 1995 and 2014, and on the company’s tour of Japan in 2011. Following her Met debut as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen in 1995, she has sung over 100 performances with the company, most recently in roles such as Elisabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Vitellia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She will be heard later this season in a new Met role, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, which will be broadcast on February 6.

Ana María Martínez, who is appearing at the Met for the first time since her 2005 company debut as Micaëla in Carmen, makes her role debut as Musetta. The Puerto Rican-born American soprano has sung the role of Mimì in numerous leading houses around the world. Her future engagements this season include a gala concert with Plácido Domingo at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title role of Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Houston Grand Opera, and Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Los Angeles Opera.

Ramón Vargas has sung the role of Rodolfo 33 times at the Met, where he has appeared in more than 215 performances over the course of 23 years. Later this season, the Mexican tenor will sing Riccardo in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, the Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, and the title role of Don Carlo at the Vienna State Opera, and Gabriele in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Levente Molnár makes his Met debut after previously singing the role of Marcello at the Bavarian State Opera, Hungarian State Opera, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. And this spring, he will return to the Met as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. His other performances this season include Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Bavarian State Opera.

Paolo Carignani made his Met debut in 2008 conducting Verdi’s La Traviata. Since then, he has returned to lead Verdi’s Aida and Nabucco, and later this season he will conduct Puccini’s Turandot, which will be broadcast on January 30. The Italian maestro was the chief conductor of the Frankfurt Opera from 1997-2008.

The intermissions will include backstage interviews, a conversation with Met General Manager Peter Gelb, and the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz, featuring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham.

THE STARS OF La Bohème

PHOTOS

Click here to download photos from La Bohème

(password: metphotos)

About the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 85th season of Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts—the longest-running classical music series in American broadcast history. Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts have brought opera into millions of homes and enriched the lives of many, playing a vital and unparalleled role in the development and appreciation of opera in this country. Mary Jo Heath hosts, joined each week in the broadcast booth by commentator Ira Siff.

The broadcasts are heard worldwide, reaching millions of opera lovers in more than 35 countries.

Listeners can visit www.operainfo.org for a wealth of information about the Met broadcasts. For details about all Met performances this season, as well as ticket information, visit the Met’s website at www.metopera.org.

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Contact: Silja Tobin

Metropolitan Opera

(212) 870-7457