Falstaff Is the March 16, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: Falstaff is the March 16, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, numbering 16th of 24 in the 2018-2019 season’s schedule.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff revives Canadian opera director Robert Carsen’s staging, which debuted in the 2013-2014 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 19, 2018

Verdi’s Falstaff is the March 16, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, airing as the 16th of 24 scheduled Saturday matinee radio broadcasts during the 2018-2019 Met Opera season.

Nineteenth century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) set his musical score for Falstaff to an Italian libretto by Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito (Feb. 24, 1842-June 10, 1918). The literary sources for Boito’s libretto are a comedy and two historical plays by Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616). Sir John Falstaff appears in The Merry Wives of Windsor and also in Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2.

Verdi’s Falstaff premiered Feb. 9, 1893, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Lombardy, north central Italy. Almost six years earlier, on Feb. 5, 1887, another Shakespeare-inspired, Verdi-Boito collaboration, Otello, premiered at La Scala.

The Metropolitan Opera hosted Falstaff’s United States premiere Feb. 4, 1895. Including the premiere, Falstaff received 12 performances in the 1894-1895 Met Opera season.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season offers seven performances of Verdi’s Falstaff. Opening night took place Friday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The month’s second performance occurred Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 8 p.m.

Five spring performances are all slated for March. The month’s first performance, Saturday, March 2, at 8 p.m., is scheduled according to Eastern Standard Time. Eastern Daylight Time is in effect for the month’s four remaining performances, which take place Tuesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 8, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, March 12, at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, March 16, at 1 p.m. Closing night, March 16, airs as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 16th Saturday matinee radio broadcast.

Closing night is slated for Saturday, March 2, at 1 p.m. March’s only performance of La Fille du Régiment airs as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 14th Saturday matinee radio broadcast.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s Falstaff has an estimated run time of 2 hours 36 minutes. Act I and II span 84 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes follows. Act III is estimated at 42 minutes.

Golda Schultz appears in all performances as Nannetta, who participates in a ruse to marry her beloved suitor, Fenton, instead of her father’s choice, the grandfatherly Dr. Caius. The South African soprano’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Sept. 27, 2017, as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

Ambrogio Maestri appears in all performances in the title role as Sir John Falstaff, a rotund, self-delusional knight whose seduction plans are thwarted by his two targets, Alice Ford and Meg Page, and their friend, Miss Quickly. The Italian operatic baritone had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 15, 2004, as Amonasro in the opera company’s 1,074th performance of Verdi’s Aida.

Ailyn Pérez appears in the first six performances (Feb. 22, 27; March 2, 5, 12; Saturday matinee radio broadcast March 16) as Alice, Nannetta’s mother, who thwarts Falstaff’s lascivious plans and supports Alice’s love for Fenton. The American operatic soprano’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Feb. 6, 2015, as Micaëla in the opera company’s 994th performance of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875). In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Ailyn Pérez also appears as Mimí in La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Helena Dix appears as Alice in the seventh, closing night, March 8 performance. The Australian operatic soprano makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Verdi’s Alice.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux appears in all performances as Mistress Quickly, who merrily foils Falstaff’s amorous subterfuges and concocts a ruse so Nannetta and Fenton are able to marry. The Canadian coloratura contralto’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Jan. 15, 2019, as Geneviève in the opera company’s 115th performance of Pelléas et Mélisande by French Impressionist composer Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918).

Jennifer Johnson Cano appears in all performances as Meg Page, who joins with Alice and Mistress Quickly in circumventing Falstaff’s amorous intentions and in assuring Nannetta and Fenton’s happiness. The American operatic mezzo-soprano’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Sept. 22, 2009, as a Peasant in the opera company’s 442nd performance of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Jennifer Johnson Cano also appears as Emilia in Verdi’s Otello.

Francesco Demuro appears in all performances as Fenton, whose marriage to Nannetta takes place thanks to Nannetta’s mother, Meg and Mistress Quickly. The Italian operatic tenor’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Nov. 24, 2014, as Rodolfo in the opera company’s 1,266th performance of Puccini’s La Bohème.

Juan Jesús Rodríguez appears in all performances as Ford, who graciously accepts his unknowingly marrying his daughter, Nannetta, to her true love, Fenton, instead of to the grandfatherly Dr. Caius. The Spanish baritone’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Feb. 3, 2016, as Count Di Luna in the opera company’s 644th performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s performances of Verdi’s Falstaff revive Robert Carsen’s staging. The Canadian opera director’s staging debuted Dec. 6, 2013, in the opera company’s 176th performance of Falstaff.

Robert Carsen’s production team comprises Paul Steinberg, set designer; Brigitte Reiffenstuel, costume designer; and Robert Carsen and Peter Van Praet, lighting designers. Gina Lapinski is the production’s revival stage director.

The takeaway for Verdi’s Falstaff as the March 16, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the ebullient opera airs as the second of two Shakespeare-inspired, Verdi operas and as the 16th of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 24 scheduled Saturday matinee radio broadcasts.

In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri reprises the role of Verdi’s Falstaff; his role debut as Falstaff happened in the 2013-2014 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera Guild @metropolitanoperaguild, via Facebook July 17, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff revives Canadian opera director Robert Carsen’s staging, which debuted in the 2013-2014 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 19, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160137121675533/

In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri reprises the role of Verdi’s Falstaff; his role debut as Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera happened in the opera house's 2013-2014 season: The Metropolitan Opera Guild @metropolitanoperaguild, via Facebook July 17, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/metropolitanoperaguild/photos/a.10150144873997754/10156686710962754/

For further information:

“Debut: Francesco Demuro.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355650 La Bohème {1266} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/24/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355650

“Debut: Juan Jesús Rodríguez.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356292 Il Trovatore {644} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/03/2016.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356292

“Debuts: Ailyn Pérez, Gábor Bretz.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355797 Carmen {994} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/06/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355797

“Debuts: Ambrogio Maestri, Armando Braswell.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351078 Aida {1074} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/15/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351078

“Debuts: Dan Ettinger, Emma Bell, Jennifer Johnson Cano.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353075 Le Nozze di Figaro {442} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/22/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353075

“Debuts: Golda Schultz, Lucas Mann, Eliot Flowers.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356741 Die Zauberflöte {433} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/27/2017.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356741

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Stages 29 Operas.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 18, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/2018-2019-metropolitan-opera-season.html

Met Opera Guild ‏@MetOperaGuild. “Today's #TransformationTuesday takes us back to the Met's 2013-14 season when Baritone Ambrogio Maestri transformed into Falstaff- a role he will reprise this February!” Twitter. July 17, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOperaGuild/status/1019269272625872899

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Ambrogio Maestri brings back his larger-than-life portrayal of the title role. Robert Carsen’s insightful production -- which moves the action to postwar England in the 1950s -- features an exceptional cast that includes soprano Ailyn Pérez as Alice Ford and soprano Golda Schultz as Nannetta. Richard Farnes conducts. Opens February 22. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2BuntE2 Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera.” Facebook. Feb. 19, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160137121675533/

The Metropolitan Opera Guild @metropolitanoperaguild. “Today's #TransformationTuesday takes us back to the Met's 2013-14 season when Baritone Ambrogio Maestri transformed into Falstaff -- a role he will reprise this February!” Facebook. July 17, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/metropolitanoperaguild/photos/a.10150144873997754/10156686710962754/

“New Production: Falstaff.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355173 New Production Falstaff {176} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/06/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355173

“United States Premiere: Falstaff.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 14190 United States Premiere Falstaff {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/4/1895.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=14190