Donizetti’s beloved Lucia di Lammermoor stars the Met’s brightest star, Anna Netrebko, Wednesday, April 15 at 9 p.m. (ET) on Great Performances at the Met on PBS HD (check local listings).
Soprano Netrebko, returning to the Met stage for the first time since giving birth to son Tiago in September, dazzles in the demanding title role, a young woman driven to madness by love and politics. Piotr Beczala co-stars as Lucia’s head-strong lover Edgardo. The telecast is conducted by Marco Armiliato and presented by THIRTEEN in 5.1 surround sound.
Watch a preview:
“These enormously gifted and appealing artists won ardent ovations,” cheered The New York Times. “We are lucky to have them around.”
Eschewing the work’s traditional 1700s Scottish setting, the production – by Mary Zimmerman and which opened the Met last season – was hailed by AP as “handsomely traditional and imaginatively provocative.” Zimmerman – along with set designer Daniel Ostling, costume designer Mara Blumenfeld, lighting designer T. J. Gerckens, and choreographer Daniel Pelzig – stages the bel canto favorite as a Victorian ghost story
The piece, with its famous Mad Scene (and Sextet), has long served as a vehicle for beloved coloratura sopranos. Since its premiere in 1836, it has showcased such legendary interpreters as Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, and, most recently Anna Netrebko and Natalie Dessay.
Also featuring baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as Lucia’s brother, Enrico, and Ildar Abdrazakov as Raimondo, Great Performances at the Met: Lucia di Lammermoor is the sixth of 11 productions airing this season on the series. It is sung in Italian with English surtitles; Salvatore Cammarano wrote the libretto. The production was transmitted onstage as part of The Met: Live in HD February 7, 2009, and recorded for this telecast. Gary Halvorson directs, with Natalie Dessay as host. Jay Saks is audio producer.
Great Performances at the Met is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG – one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.
Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers.
For the Met, Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.
Thanks to The Met and PBS for this classic Lucia. Anna Netrebko fits right in with Sutherland, Callas and Pons as spectacular Lucia’s. Mad Scene is one of the best of all time thanks to terrific actress/vocalist together with impressive cinematography. High praise to all.
This was a fantastic production absolutely riveting.If you mentioned the date of the next Met. opera on PBS at the end of the broadcast it would help !
Absolutely wonderful! Great stars, great singing and although as a rule I prefer the original libretto’s intended setting, the Victorian setting was quite appropriate and I thought the wedding photo scene was sheer genius!
Absolutely wonderful! What a cast, what a performance! Fantastic production! Also, having two of my countryman, Piotr Beczala and Mariusz Kwiecien by Anna Netrebko’s side was a trill! Thanks MET!!!
Thank you! Thank you! That was the best opera, and the best singers. Anna is incredible, as were all the singers in this performance. Please, give us a repeat of this performance again and DVD version to purchase!
Fabulous. Two requests: cast list and, for the subtitles, could they be shown on a faintly grayed background? Some essential ones could barely be read and took too much attention from the singing while trying to make them out.
Superb performance. Anna Netrebko was brillant and her acting superb! Will this performance be repeated and if so, how soon? Thank you for this outstanding program.
It is delightful to see (from what I know), the entire “Lucia di Lammermoor”!! The cast was outstanding!! I loved the addition of the ghost. It was unforgetable! Thank you for airing this opera.
the cast was outstanding… Lucia’s voice is
memorable… she is a phenomenal actress.
Edgardo was also unforgettable. Thank you so much for airing this opera
I tuned in during the second act and would love to see the entire performance. Will it be playing again?
Another vote for a DVD of this performance!
Elliot Sevier,
Out of curiosity, how old are you? Excellence in opera is very subjective, but in my opinion Lily Pons is the finest Lucia I have ever heard (she retired about 1960). Better than Sutherland, Callas or Sills. The best currect Lucia for my money is Sumi Jo.
If you get a chance, try the Columbia Masterworks recording (now available in CD) of Lucia with Pons and Tucker in the key roles.
I loved seeing the faces with the singing. Impressive to see “young” stars in the big roles.
They were all beautiful. Loved it!
I fell in love with Anna Netrebko all over again when I saw her in this performance. I also would love a dvd of this!
I missed the show but I would like to have a copy of this production asap. Please advise how can I obtain a copy. Thanks so much for your prompt respond.
On your site I am trying to find what you have scheduled this year for rebroadcasting Live At the Met, but by genre I can’t get past March 2009, and by month (the calendar option) I get everything, which is too much to wade through. Which Live At the Met performances are coming up? I’m disappointed that I couldn’t plan ahead to watch the ones done so far. will you be doing the Minghella production of Madama Butterfly? (Your website needs a little fine-tuning.)
I am not an opera buff, but came across this while channel surfing and was mesmerized. Bravo!
I adored this production of Lucia! It was a masterpiece!! Thank you so much for airing it on PBS! I hope that a DVD is made from this particular “Lucia.” All I can say is “BRAVO”!!!
Why can you not list the complete cast of the operas? Of course, the gaffer wants to see his name on TV, but I am more interested in the singers. Thank you.
Luckily I caught the Labor Day rebroadcast. This is the first Lucia who seems to know what madness is. Voice is important and Netrebko certainly has it, but I was fascinated with the mad scene! As a clinical social worker I have seen the ‘reality’ behind the schizophrenic’s joy in being able to deny the pain of this reality and Netrebko is the only one I’ve ever seen capture this. Her eyes during the first applause attest to her skills. Holding the presentation through several seconds of interuption took remarkable concentration. Brava! Alas, the ‘ghost’ shattered the mood.
I had not been familiar with either “Lucia” or Netrebko, but I fell in love with both! I found myself standing and cheering “Brava! Brava!” all alone in my living room! I recorded the broadcast, and find myself repeating my enthusiastic applause on subsequent viewings. Thank you!
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