Tosca Is Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday  matinee broadcast is Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini.

Tosca (Sonya Yoncheva), Cavaradossi (Vittorio Grigolo) and Scarpia (Željko Lučić) are locked in a tragic triangle in which heightened emotions reflect historical and political turbulence: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 2, 2018

Tosca, a three-act opera centered on a tempestuous diva by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924), is the Jan. 27, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

The Italian libretto for Puccini’s operatic tragedy represents one of three successful collaborations between Italian librettist and playwright Giuseppe Giacosa (Oct. 21, 1847-Sept. 1, 1906) and Italian librettist Luigi Illica (May 9, 1857-Dec. 16, 1919) on Puccini operas. Giacosa and Illica are also credited with librettos for La Bohème (1896) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

The literary source is La Tosca, a five-act drama written by 19th century French playwright Victorien Sardou (Sept. 5, 1831-Nov. 8, 1908) specifically for famed French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt (Oct. 22/23?, 1844-March 26, 1923). Sardou’s play premiered Nov. 24, 1887, at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris’s 10th arrondissement (10e arrondissement de Paris) on the Right Bank (rive droite de la Seine).

Puccini’s opera premiered Jan. 14, 1900, at Teatro Costanzi, now known as Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, in Rome, Lazio region, western central Italy. Two other Puccini operas subsequently premiered at the opera house. La Fanciulla del West’s Italian premiere took place June 12, 1911. Gianni Schicci’s Italian premiere occurred Jan. 11, 1919.

Tosca is one of five new productions offered during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. The opera’s premiere as a new production takes place Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

During the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, seven performances are offered in January 2018. The first performance of the new year happens Saturday, Jan. 6, at 8 p.m. The month's subsequent performances take place Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 18, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27’s performance begins at 1 p.m. as the new year’s fourth Saturday matinee broadcast.

Three performances are scheduled for April: Saturday, April 21, at 8 p.m.; Thursday, April 26, at 8 p.m.; Monday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. Three performances are offered in May: Friday, May 4, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m.

Estimated run time for the new production is 2 hours 53 minutes. Act I spans 45 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes precedes Act II, which spans 41 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes precedes the final act, Act III, which spans 27 minutes.

Emmanuel Villaume conducts Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also conducts opening night, Dec. 31, and six additional performances in January (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 23). His birthplace is Strasbourg, Grand Est, northeastern France. The French conductor debuted Sept. 22, 2004, at the Metropolitan Opera in Madama Butterfly by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Emmanuel Villaume also conducts Thaïs by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Emmanuel Villaume shares the Tosca conductorship with Gareth Morrell and Bertrand de Billy. Gareth Morrell conducts the Jan. 18 performance. His birthplace is Southport, Merseyside, North West England. The British conductor debuted Jan. 20, 1999, at the Metropolitan Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Bertrand de Billy conducts the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). His birthplace is Paris, Île de France, north central France. The French conductor debuted March 16, 1998, at the Metropolitan Opera in Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also conducts Massenet’s Cendrillon and Luisa Miller by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Sonya Yoncheva appears in the title role for Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. She also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in six additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 15, 18, 23). Her birthplace is Plovdiv, south central Bulgaria. The Bulgarian operatic soprano debuted Nov. 21, 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, she also appears as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème and in the title role in Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Sonya Yoncheva shares the role of Tosca with Jennifer Rowley and Anna Netrebko. Anna Netrebko appears in the title role for the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). Her birthplace is Krasnodar, southwestern Russia. The Russian operatic soprano debuted Feb. 14, 2002, at the Metropolitan Opera as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace by Soviet composer, conductor and pianist Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891-March 5, 1953).

Jennifer Rowley appears in the Jan. 12 performance. Her birthplace is Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, northwestern Ohio. The American soprano debuted March 19, 2014, at the Metropolitan Opera as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Update: Jennifer Rowley replaces Anna Netrebko, who is ill, for the Friday, May 4 performance. (Update per The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Twitter May 4, 2018.)

Vittorio Grigolo appears as Cavaradossi, Tosca’s painter lover, in Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in seven additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 23). His birthplace is Arezzo, Tuscany, north central Italy. The Italian operatic tenor debuted Oct. 16, 2010, at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880) and as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Vittorio Grigolo shares the role of Cavaradossi with Marcelo Álvarez, who is scheduled to appear in the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). His birthplace is Córdoba, central Argentina. The Argentine lyric tenor debuted Nov. 23, 1998, at the Metropolitan Opera as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata.

Update: Yusif Eyvazov replaces Marcelo Álvarez for all three April performances (April 21, 26, 30) and the first two of May's three performances (May 4, 8). He was born in Algiers, north central Algeria, where his father held a position as a visiting professor of meteorology. The Azerbaijan dramatic tenor debuted Nov. 7, 2015, as Calaf in the Metropolitan Opera's 305th performance of Puccini's Turandot. (Update via The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera's Twitter tweet April 11, 2018.)

Update: Najmiddin Mavlyanov replaces Yusif Eyvazov for the May 8 performance and Vittorio Grigolo for the closing night May 12 performance. His birthplace is Samarkand, east central Uzbekistan, Central Asia. The Uzbekistani tenor makes his Metropolitan Opera debut with his appearance as Cavaradossi for the May 8 performance. (Update via The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera's Twitter tweet April 23, 2018.)

Željko Lučić appears as Scarpia, Tosca and Cavaradossi’s nemesis, in Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in nine additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 23; May 8, 12). His birthplace is Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, northern Serbia. The Serbian operatic baritone debuted Sept. 26, 2006, at the Metropolitan Opera as Barnaba in La Gioconda by 19th century Italian opera composer Amilcare Ponchielli (Aug. 31, 1834-Jan. 16, 1886).

Željko Lučić shares the role of Scarpia with Michael Volle, who appears in four spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4). His birthplace is Freudenstadt, Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. The German baritone debuted April 3, 2014, at the Metropolitan Opera as Mandryka in Arabella by German composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

Patrick Carfizzi appears in all performances as the sacristan, who disapproves of Cavarodossi’s fresco of Mary Magdalene. His hometown is Newburgh, Orange County, southeastern New York. The American bass-baritone debuted Dec. 24, 1999, at the Metropolitan Opera as Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as a Mandarin in Puccini’s Turandot.

Met Opera’s new production is under the direction of Scottish opera and theatre director Sir David McVicar, who aims to convey the opera’s grandeur. The setting is an eventful day in Rome in June 1800 during the Italian campaign of Napoléon Bonaparte (Aug. 15, 1769-May 5, 1821). Sir McVicar’s production team comprises John Macfarlane, set and costume designer; David Finn, lighting designer; Leah Hausman, movement director.

Tosca appears as the ninth of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 23 Saturday matinee broadcasts. Massenet’s Thaïs was the season’s eighth Saturday matinee broadcast. Thaïs aired Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, at 1 p.m.

The season’s 10th Saturday matinee broadcast is Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Il Trovatore is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2018, at 1 p.m.

Online database Operabase places Giacomo Puccini at number three in a worldwide ranking of 1,281 composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. First and second places are occupied by Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Mozart, respectively. Tosca places fifth in the worldwide list of 2,658 most popular operas.

Tosca’s Metropolitan Opera debut took place Feb. 4, 1901. Prior to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Tosca’s most recent Met Opera performances occurred during the 2015-2016 season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Repertory Report provides statistics for the opera house’s operatic performances. Tosca occupies fifth place. The first four places are held, respectively, by Puccini's LaBohème, Verdi's Aida, Verdi's Traviata and Bizet's Carmen.

Tosca appears as the first of four Puccini operas offered during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. The second opera, La Bohème, is the Feb. 24, 2018, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast. Madama Butterfly is the March 3, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast. Turandot is the March 24, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast.

The takeaway for Tosca as the Jan. 27, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s ninth Saturday matinee broadcast places compelling, impassioned characters in a historical setting enlivened by betrayal, courage, idealism and doomed love.

Sir David McVicar's production team painstaking recreates the grandeur of Tosca's architectural settings: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 28, 2017

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Tosca (Sonya Yoncheva), Cavaradossi (Vittorio Grigolo) and Scarpia (Željko Lučić) are locked in a tragic triangle in which heightened emotions reflect historical and political turbulence: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 2, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159937795490533

Sir David McVicar's production team painstakingly recreates the grandeur of Tosca's architectural settings: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 28, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159916116955533

For further information:

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Cooper, Michael. "See How the Met Built 'Tosca,' Its Biggest Production of the Season." The New York Times > Music. Dec. 28, 2017.
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“Debuts: Anita Hartig, Jennifer Rowley, Nicolas Testé.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355378 La Bohème {1251} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/19/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355378

“Debuts: Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Oleg Balashov . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] Metropolitan Opera Premiere CID: 350257 War and Peace {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/14/2002.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350257

“Debuts: Christopher Wheeldon, Holly Hynes, Zeljko Lucic . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351556 La Gioconda {275} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/26/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351556

“Debuts: Emmanuel Villaume, Felicia Velazquez.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351017 Madama Butterfly {789} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/22/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351017

“Debuts: Marcelo Álvarez, Raimonda Gaetani.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331168 La Traviata {819} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/23/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331168

“Debuts: Michael Volle, Catherine Wyn-Rogers. . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355411 Arabella {53} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/03/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355411

“Debuts: Patrick Carfizzi, Gloria Watson, Vladimir Jurowski.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 332264 Rigoletto {736} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/24/1999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=35398

“Debuts: Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Vittorio Grigolo . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353598 La Bohème {1218} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/16/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353598

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

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/thais-is-jan-20-2018-met-opera-saturday.html

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "For the performances of Tosca on April 21eve, 26, 30, May 4, 2018, Yusif Eyvazov sings Cavaradossi, replacing Marcelo Álvarez. #CastChange." Twitter. April 11, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/984088401833091077

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "For the performances of TOSCA on May 8 and 12, Cavaradossi will be sung by Najmiddin Mavlyanov (making his debut). #CastChange." Twitter. April 23, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/988516058058420224

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Jennifer Rowley will sing the title role in tonight’s performance of Puccini’s Tosca, replacing Anna Netrebko who is ill. #castchange." Twitter. May 4, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/992526074138517504

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "The new production of Tosca opened to critical praise on New Year's Eve. Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo star in Puccini's grand melodrama through January 27." Facebook. Jan. 2, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159937795490533

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "'Rome wasn’t built in a day. When the Metropolitan Opera decided to create a new production of Puccini’s 'Tosca' true to the work’s Roman settings, the company’s army of artists and artisans started work nearly a year before its opening night, on New Year’s Eve.' -- The New York Times." Facebook. Dec. 28, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159916116955533

"Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml