**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**
Puccini’s Classic La Bohème, Starring Vittorio Grigolo
and Anita Hartig in Their Network Broadcast Debuts
Stefano Ranzani conducts a cast that also features
Susanna Phillips and Massimo Cavalletti
Saturday, April 5 at 1:00 p.m. ET
The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Puccini’s classic La Bohème. Tenor Vittorio Grigolo makes his network broadcast debut as Rodolfo, alongside Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, who makes her Met debut this season as Mimì. The cast also features Susanna Phillips as Musetta, Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello, Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard, Oren Gradus as Colline, and Donald Maxwell as Benoit/Alcindoro. Stefano Ranzani conducts. La Bohème will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 5.
Vittorio Grigolo made his Met debut in 2010 as Rodolfo and returned last season to sing the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto. He has sung Rodolfo at La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. On March 9, Grigolo performed a solo recital on the Met stage, and he returns to the company next season in the title role of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
Anita Hartig has sung Mimì at La Scala, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Welsh National Opera and, later this season, Paris Opera. This season, she also sings Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Vienna State Opera; and Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at Bavarian State Opera.
Soprano Susanna Phillips made her Met debut in 2008 as Musetta, a role she has sung with the company more than 25 times. This season at the Met, she also stars as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and as Rosalinde in the new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus which opened on New Year’s Eve.
Baritone Massimo Cavalletti made his Met debut in 2011 singing Schaunard in La Bohème. He sings Marcello for the first time with the company this season, having performed the role at the Zurich Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, and the Salzburg Festival.
Stefano Ranzani first conducted at the Met in the 2009-10 season, when he led a revival of Puccini’s Il Trittico. He has conducted La Bohème at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Strasbourg Opera, Avenches Opera Festival, and Las Palmas Opera. His other engagements this season include Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at La Scala; Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani in Piacenza, Modena, and Reggio Emilia; Rigoletto at Bavarian State Opera; Puccini’s Tosca at Berlin State Opera; and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Helsinki Opera.
The intermissions will include backstage interviews with the stars, and the Opera Quiz with guest artist Michael Volle who is currently at the Met singing the role of Mandryka in Strauss’s Arabella.
LA BOHÈME LIVE IN HD TRANSMISSION
This performance of La Boheme will also be transmitted live as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, which now reaches more than 2,000 theaters in 66 countries around the world. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato hosts the live transmission and conduct backstage interviews with the opera’s stars. Since the Live in HD series launched in 2006, over 14 million tickets have been sold to opera fans around the world. For more information and listings of local theaters, please visit www.metopera.org/liveinhd.
THE STARS OF LA BOHÈME
PHOTOS & VIDEO
Click here to download photos and video from La Bohème (password: met13photos)
About the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 83rd season of Saturday Afternoon 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. Host Margaret Juntwait returns for her tenth season, 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