2017-2018 Met Season Stages Three Rare Operas and Premieres Cendrillon

Summary: The 2017-2018 Met season stages three rare operas by Massenet, Rossini and Verdi and also premieres Massenet’s Cendrillon.

1899 poster of Cendrillon’s world premiere by Émile Bertrand (1856-1927): Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The 2017-2018 Met season stages three rare operas by Jules Massenet, Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi and also premieres Massenet’s Cendrillon as the season’s second addition to its repertoire.

The 2017-2018 Met season offers two premieres. New York City’s famous opera company production of The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès marks the double milestone of the two-act operatic surreal fantasy’s simultaneous premieres at the Metropolitan Opera and in North America. British composer and conductor Thomas Adès’s third opera plays for eight performances, opening Thursday, Oct. 26, and closing Tuesday, Nov. 21.

In the spring, the Metropolitan Opera premieres Cendrillon by Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912). The first-ever staging of Massenet’s four-act, French-language operatic fairy tale runs for eight performances. Opening night is Thursday, April 12. Cendrillon closes Friday, May 11. French conductor Bertrand de Billy holds the baton for all performances.

French opera and theatre director Laurent Pelly directs the 2017-2018 season’s production of the French-language opera. Sets are by Belgian set designer Barbara de Limburg. The Metropolitan Opera describes Pelly’s staging as an “imaginative storybook production.”

Cendrillon’s world premiere took place May 24, 1899, at Salle Favart, the third of three theatres built successively at the same site on the Seine’s Right Bank for Paris’s Opéra-Comique’s. Located at Place Boïeldieu in Paris’s 2nd arrondissement (2e arrondissement de Paris), Salle Favart opened Dec. 7, 1898.

The 2017-2018 Met season revisits the company’s archives to stage three rarely performed operas. The trio sweeps across the 19th century to represent French opera by way of Jules Massenet and Italian opera by way of Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi. The trio's world premieres claim dates in 1823, 1849 and 1894.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s late autumn-early winter staging of Massenet’s Thaïs plays for seven performances. Opening night is Saturday, Nov. 11. Thaïs closes Saturday, Dec. 2. French conductor Emmanuel Villaume holds the baton for all dates.

The Metropolitan Opera’s last staging of Thaïs happened during the 2008-2009 season. The three-act, French language opera opened Dec. 8, 2008, and closed Jan. 8, 2009.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s staging revives the 2008-2009 season’s new production by English opera director John Cox. The 2008-2009 production includes costumes for American soprano Renée Fleming, in the title role , by French fashion designer Christian Marie Marc Lacroix.

The world premiere of Thaïs occurred March 16, 1894, at Opéra Garnier, located on the Seine’s Right Bank in Paris’s 9th arrondissement (9e arrondissement de Paris). On April 13, 1898, the Second Empire- and Beaux-Arts-styled opera house hosted the world premiere of Massenet’s revision of Thaïs.

The Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of Thaïs happened Feb. 16, 1917. Venetian conductor Giorgio Polacco conducted the premiere. Jules Speck directed the premiere’s staging. Sets were by Pieretto Bortoluzzi (1876-1937), known as Pietro Bianco.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s late winter-early spring production of Semiramide by Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868) offers eight performances. Monday, Feb. 19, is opening night. Semiramide closes Saturday, March 17. Italian conductor Maurizio Benini conducts for all dates.

The Metropolitan Opera’s last staging of Semiramide took place during the 1992-1993 season. Rossini’s two-act, Italian language opera opened Oct. 26, 1992, and closed Jan. 16, 1993.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s staging revives the 1990-1991 season’s new production by British opera and theatre producer John Michael Harold Copley. Sets are by American stage designer John Conklin.

Semiramide’s world premiere happened Feb. 3, 1823, at Teatro La Fenice in Italy’s Venetian archipelago. Semiramide claims the milestone of the last opera that Rossini premiered in Italy.

The composer’s relocation to Paris in July 1824 signaled his switch to French opera. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season’s productions included staging of Guillaume Tell. The French-language historical drama was Rossini’s final opera.

Semiramide’s Metropolitan Opera premiere took place March 22, 1892. Italian composer and conductor Luigi Arditi (July 16, 1822-May 1, 1903) conducted the season’s solitary performance of the opera.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s spring production of Luisa Miller by Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) offers seven performances. Opening night is Thursday, March 29. Luisa Miller closes Saturday, April 21. Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts all performances.

The Metropolitan Opera’s last staging of Luisa Miller occurred during the 2005-2006 season. Verdi’s three-act, Italian language opera centering on fatherly love opened March 13, 2006, and closed April 1, 2006.

The 2017-2018 Met season’s staging revives the 2001-2002 season’s new production by Australian opera and theatre director Elijah Moshinsky. Sets, as well as costumes, are by American dance, film and theatre designer Santo Loquasto.

Luisa Miller’s world premiere took place Dec. 8, 1849, at Teatro San Carlo (Teatro di San Carlo) in central Naples. The premiere took place at the second of two opera houses built successively at the same site in Piazza del Plebiscito. Opened Jan. 12, 1817, the second Teatro San Carlo replaced the first building, which was destroyed Feb. 13, 1816, by a fire.

Luisa Miller’s Metropolitan Opera premiere happened Dec. 21, 1929. Italian conductor Tullio Serafin (Sept. 1, 1878-Feb. 2, 1968) held the baton for the opera’s opening. Austrian stage director Ernst Joseph Maria Lert (May 12, 1883-Jan. 30, 1955) directed the premiere’s production. Austrian-American scenic designer Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872-July 10, 1933) was responsible for the sets.

The takeaway for the 2017-2018 Met season’s staging of three rare operas by Massenet, Rossini and Verdi and also premiering Massenet’s Cendrillon into the company’s repertoire is the expansion of the Metropolitan Opera’s 21st century playlist via debuts and also via revisits to the archives for less frequently performed operas.

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season's staging of Massenet's Thaïs revives John Cox's staging, which debuted Dec. 8, 2008, at Met Opera as a new production, with Renée Fleming's title role costumes designed by French designer Christian Lacroix: Mezzo TV @mezzo_tv, via Twitter Feb. 8, 2012

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

1899 poster of Cendrillon’s world premiere by Émile Bertrand (1856-1927): Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Émile_Bertrand_-_Jules_Massenet_-_Cendrillon_poster.jpg;
No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004675373/

The 2017-2018 Met Opera season's staging of Massenet's Thaïs revives John Cox's staging, which debuted Dec. 8, 2008, at Met Opera as a new production, with Renée Fleming's title role costumes designed by French designer Christian Lacroix: M“@reneesmusings dressed by Christian Lacroix is stunning as Thais at @MetOpera tonight at 9:00pm on Mezzo Live HD.”: Mezzo TV @mezzo_tv, via Twitter Feb. 8, 2012, @ https://twitter.com/mezzo_tv/status/167301085185314816

For further information:

“Jules Massenet Cendrillon.” The Metropolitan Opera > On Stage 2017-18.”
Available @ http://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/cendrillon-massenet-tickets/

Marriner, Derdriu. "2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera Season Offers Five New Productions." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 26, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/06/2017-2018-metropolitan-opera-season.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera Season Schedules 26 Productions." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 19, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/06/2017-2018-metropolitan-opera-season_19.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Music Director Emeritus James Levine Conducts Mozart and Verdi in 2017-2018." Earth and Space News. Monday, July 3, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/music-director-emeritus-james-levine.html

Metropolitan Opera. "Joyce DiDonato on the Met's New Production of Cendrillon." YouTube. June 13, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs1IfgUUnOs

Metropolitan Opera. "Thomas Adès and Tom Cairns on The Exterminating Angel." YouTube. June 5, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ7-PanwJCI&spfreload=5

Mezzo TV @mezzo_tv. “@reneesmusings dressed by Christian Lacroix is stunning as Thais at @MetOpera tonight at 9:00pm on Mezzo Live HD.” Twitter. Feb. 8, 2012.
Available @ https://twitter.com/mezzo_tv/status/167301085185314816

“New Production: Luisa Miller." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 350155 Luisa Miller {70} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/26/2001.
Available @ ” http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350155

“New Production: Semiramide." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 302670 Semiramide {10} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/30/1990.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=302670

“New Production: Thaïs." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352738 Thaïs {64} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/08/2008.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352738