Iphigénie en Tauride Was To Be Saturday Matinee Broadcast Feb. 26, 2022

Summary: Iphigénie en Tauride was to be the Feb. 26, 2022, Saturday matinee broadcast, numbering as the 10th of 24 in the 2021-2022 Met Opera season's schedule.

American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey returned to Met Opera in the 2021-2022 season for the title role in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride; her last Met Opera role was Nerone (Nero) in the 2019-2020 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of George Frideric Handel's Agrippina; photo by New York City-based portrait photographer Dario Acosta: Kate Lindsey Mezzo Soprano, via Facebook Jan. 9, 2011

Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride was to be the Feb. 26, 2022, Saturday matinee broadcast, airing as the 10th of 24 scheduled Saturday matinee radio broadcasts during the 2021-2022 Met Opera season.

In mid-July 2021, however, Met Opera announced the cancellation of Iphigénie en Tauride. The opera's cancellation ensued from accommodation of "technical prepartions" necessitated by Met Opera's 16-month, COVID-19 closure.

Prior to the cancellation notice, Met Opera had provided cast and performance information for the opera on the opera company's website. That information is presented here as a record of the 2021-2022 season's original roster.

The 2021-2022 Met Opera season's staging of Iphigénie en Tauride by 18th-century German classical composer Christoph von Gluck (July 2, 1714-Nov. 15, 1787) was scheduled for five performances in the 2021-2022 season. The opera's first performance would have taken place Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The second through fifth, closing performances were to be offered Saturday, Oct. 2, at 1:00 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 6, at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 9, at 8:00 p.m.; and Friday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m.

The opera's autumn Saturday matinee of Oct. 2 originally had been planned as the 2021-2022 season's Saturday matinee broadcast for Feb. 26, 2022. The opera's cancelled Feb. 26 Saturday matinee broadcast had been scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

French contralto and conductor Nathalie Stutzmann was to be Iphigénie en Tauride's conductor. Her conductorship of the opera's first performance, Wednesday, Sept. 29, would have marked her Met Opera debut.

Kate Lindsey was to sing the title role of Princess and High Priestess Iphigénie, whom a shipwreck reunites with her brother, Oreste, and his friend, Pylade. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005, as Javotte in the opera company's 250th performance of Manon by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Ben Bliss was to appear as the Feb. 26 matinee broadcast's Pylade. He would have sung the role in the opera's first three (Wednesday, Sept. 29; Saturday, Oct. 2; Wednesday, Oct. 6) and fifth, closing (Friday, Oct. 15) performances. The American tenor had made his Met Opera debut Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, as Vogelgesang in the opera company's 410th performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by German Romantic era composer-librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883).

Iphigénie en Tauride would have numbered as the first of two Saturday matinee broadcasts in which Ben Bliss performed in the 2021-2022 season. His second (now his only) Saturday matinee broadcast appearance occurs in The Rake's Progress by Russian-born composer, conductor and pianist Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882-April 6, 1971). Ben Bliss sings the title role of Tom Rakewell in the 2021-2022 season's 24th, last Saturday matinee broadcast, June 11.

Ben Bliss shared his Iphigénie en Tauride role with David Portillo, who would have sung Pylade in the opera's fourth (Saturday, Oct. 9) performance. The American tenor made his Metropolitan Opera debut Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, as Count Almaviva in the opera company’s 614th performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by 19th-century Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868).

Etienne Dupuis would have appeared as the 2021-2022 season's Oreste. The French-Canadian baritone had made his Met Opera debut Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, as Marcello in the opera company’s 1,321st performance of La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Iphigénie en Tauride would have numbered as the first of two Saturday matinee broadcast performances for Etienne Dupuis. He makes his second (now first and only) Saturday matinee broadcast appearance in the 2021-2022 season's 13th opera, Don Carlos by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). Etienne Dupuis sings Rodrigue in the opera's Saturday matinee broadcast, March 26.

Elchin Azizov would have sung Thoas, King of Scythia, doomed for his possession of a stolen statue of Goddess Diane (Diana). The Azerbaijani operatic baritone made his Metropolitan Opera debut Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015, as Ibn-Hakia in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Iolanta by Russian late-Romantic composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840-Nov. 6, 1893).

The 2021-2022 Met Opera season's staging of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride would have marked the second revival of Stephen Wadsworth's production. His new production debuted in the 2006-2007 season and received its first revival in the 2010-2011 season. Stephen Wadsworth (born April 3, 1953, as Stephen Wadsworth Zinsser) had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004, in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Rodelinda by German-British baroque composer George Frideric Handel (Feb. 23, 1685-April 14, 1759).

The takeaways for Iphigénie en Tauride as the Feb. 26, 2022, Saturday matinee broadcast are that Gluck's opera was intended as the 2021-2022 season's 13th of 24 Saturday matinee opera broadcasts; that the 2021-2022 season's staging would have marked the second revival of Stephen Wadsworth's new production, which had debuted in the 2006-2007 season; and that Iphigénie en Tauride's Saturday matinee broadcast would have numbered as the first of two Saturday matinee broadcast appearances in the 2021-2022 season for Ben Bliss and Etienne Dupuis.

Gluck's happily-ending Iphigénie en Tauride contrasts with the 2021-2022 Met Opera season's other opera about ancient Greece's dysfunctional House of Atreus, Strauss's horrific Elektra; Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia, 1766 oil on canvas by American artist Benjamin West (Oct. 10, 1738-March 11, 1820), Tate Britain, Room 6, London UK: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey returned to Met Opera in the 2021-2022 season for the title role in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride; her last Met Opera role was Nerone (Nero) in the 2019-2020 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of George Frideric Handel's Agrippina; photo by New York City-based portrait photographer Dario Acosta: Kate Lindsey Mezzo Soprano, via Facebook Jan. 9, 2011, @ https://www.facebook.com/162309323815960/photos/t.100063481159490/162862610427298/

Gluck's happily-ending Iphigénie en Tauride contrasts with the 2021-2022 Met Opera season's other opera about ancient Greece's dysfunctional House of Atreus, Strauss's horrific Elektra; Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia, 1766 oil on canvas by American artist Benjamin West (Oct. 10, 1738-March 11, 1820), Tate Britain, Room 6, London UK: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_West_-_Pylades_and_Orestes_Brought_as_Victims_before_Iphigenia_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

For further information:

“Debut: Kate Lindsey.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351294 Manon {250} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/20/2005.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351294

“Debuts: David Portillo, Valeriano Lanchas.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356192 Il Barbiere di Siviglia {614} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/16/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356192

“Debuts: Ilya Bannik . . . Eichin [sic] Azizov.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355785 Metropolitan Opera Premiere (Iolanta) New Production (Bluebeard’s Castle) Iolanta {1} Bluebeard’s Castle {25} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/29/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355785

“Debuts: James Gaffigan, Nicole Car, Etienne Dupuis.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356999 La Bohème {1321} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/25/2018.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356999

"Debuts: Johannes Martin Kränzle, Benjamin Bliss, Martin Gantner." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355664 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg {410} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/02/2014. Metropolitan Opera Radio Sirius XM channel 74 Broadcast live Streamed at metopera.org.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355664

"Debuts: Kobie van Rensburg, Zachary Vail Elkind, Harry Bicket, Stephen Wadsworth, Thomas Lynch, Peter Kaczorowski." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351094 Rodelinda {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/02/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351094

Kate Lindsey Mezzo Soprano. "Agrippina is coming back to The Metropolitan Opera livestream tonight! Let me know if you catch it- I still haven’t quite worked up the courage to see it! This photo was taken as I was headed out to start the show one evening back in February. I do miss that moment headed to the stage with all these amazing folks.... Brenda Rae Joyce DiDonato Iestyn Davies MBE -- Countertenor Nicholas Tamagna -- Countertenor Matthew Rose Duncan Rock -- Baritone." Facebook. Oct. 27, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3505402239506635&id=162309323815960

Kate Lindsey Mezzo Soprano. "With Kate Lindsey Mezzo Soprano." Facebook. Jan. 9, 2011.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/162309323815960/photos/t.100063481159490/162862610427298/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Met Opera's 2021-2022 Season Has 28 Saturday Matinee Broadcasts." Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/11/met-operas-2021-2022-season-has-28.html

"New Production: Iphigénie en Tauride." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352202 New Production Iphigénie en Tauride {6} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/27/2007.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352202