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.
It is great to get educated with wonderful plays like this one, this Opera is marvelous. Thank you
so much for the arts you passing to our genera-
tion.
This season has been a marvel! Thank you so much for showcasing great art and magnificent artists! I look forward to the future with great anticipation…..
This was a wonderful stirring performance – wonderful singing, acting and staging. Would love to have it on a DVD to watch again.
Beautifully done and masterfully staged and I’m not even an opera fan.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Absolutely in the Romantic tradition…where may I order a dvd????!!!!!
The Lucia broadcast was great, but how about running the credits at a speed where we could actually read them? If the people listed made important contributions (including the cast!) then they should receive the credit they deserve. Also, listing the entire cast and crew where it it easily read on the website (I could not find a complete listing) would also make sense!
There should be a cast list.
The Lucia performance was dazzling! Netrebko was wonderful, and Beczala was remarkable in taking over – his future is bright!
Unfortuately The era of great Lucias has passed. One could only hope that sopranos like Sutherland, Sills and Caballe will return again someday to sing this marvelous repertoire.
Piotr Beczala’s Fra poco a me recovero is the best I have ever heard and that includes Pavarotti and Kraus.
Thank you for bringing my favorite opera into my living room! Magnificent voices and I loved the victorian “take.” Will it be in DVD?
Marvelous performance. Netrebko was superb. A thrilling evening.
Stunning, breathtaking performance
Subperb. Give us more of these performances. Cast was wonderful, production same. Thank you.
Thank you so much for having such programs. Mariusz Kwiecien was fantastic.
It was wonderful.It was thrilling.Far more entertaining than the pedestrian junk flung from the box at us.These are creative and talented people and I applaud them.
The performance of Lucia was absolutely outstanding; the performers were stellar and we have been Callas, Bergonzi,pavoratti, Sills and many other great operatic performers.
Netrebko is obviously the greatest Lucia since
Southerland and perhaps some at that- with her
absolute crysteline voice- now, where is Corelli?
Anna was great and Piotr is a rising star, but no one, especially Sutherland and Sills, can compare to the great one, Maria Callas. She knew how to sing bel canto!!!
Outstanding performance. Netrebko not only sings magnificently by dramatizes the role realistically. Slow down the cast listing.
It was great to see this broadcast following the HD performance in February. I was disappointed that Villazon did not appear, but Piotr Beczala was wonderful as Edgardo. I greatly admire Sutherland in the title role, but Netrebko was
marvelous. Altogether a lovely production.
This performance was a GREAT one. Thank you dear God for these wonderful and great new voices.
how about a cast list..or doesn’t the public pay enough money to support it. Maybe one of the rich corporations who give us so many detestable commercials on so called public tv could throw in a few pennies toward the list! Thanks
Superb! Such a cast! So glad that Netrebko has returned. In all, a remarkable production. Encore please!
The opera was wonderful. I literally did not move off the sofa while watching it. I do agree, however, that the credits should be run slowly; in fact, Netrebko’s bows were not shown–program cut off before that.
Superb trio of voices – Beczala, Abdrazakov, and Kwiecien! Netrebko happily toned down her earlier shrillness and did a splendid Lucia, though she could be a mite less buxom for that role.
I also would like to see the credits at a speed that is readable. Who was the tenor Edgardo? He was fabulous.
Consumate and touching performances by all. A wonderful production; worthy of artistic respect.
Re: Kenneth Adler’s and Marcia’s comments: I did not have privilege of seeing Callas, Sutherland, etc. as Lucia, but I can’t see how anyone could have been much better than Netrebko–gazooks what an instrument!
What a production! What a cast! And almost as amazing–it was free! Thank you PBS and the Met and all concerned with the production.
Unbelievable, after all that, that we were denied her final bows !!!
And what is this anonymous cast business??? For shame !!
A perfectly gorgeous performance turned tacky for lack of the graces !!
Having said that, yes we need a repeat AND the DVD !!
N. Francis
As noted by several of the previous commentators, the credits are zipped by too fast. In addition a ltttle biography on the principle singers such as is given on the Saturday afternoon broadcasts would be appreciated.
Thank you so much.Absolutly the best. great performance.Lucia so lovely great acting and sings like a dream ,Eduardo, Great!a wonderful evening.
Outstanding production, as only the Met can do. No doubt Joan Sutherland was the best Lucia in my lifetime, and I have seen Ruth Ann Swenson in 1999, and Natalie Dessay in 2008 (both in San Francisco). Netrebko was right up there with the best. Certainly Piotr Beczala was up to his role as Edgardo. If there was a weak point it was Kwiecien in the first act,. He forced his voice and over acted his role. The best thing about all of this is that we finally got great musical performance on PBS, uninterupted by solications for money. Thank you PBS, and thank you Metroplitan Opera.
Why an unreadable cast list? Someone replacing hardly mentioned he was excellent. Moving of sets amazing. Voices with no wobbles, hooray! Thank you for an A-1 performance.
Wonderful performance! Anna Netrebko and the rest of the cast did an excellent job. It was great to see this without an interminable plea for more money.
Sadly, I tuned in late on Lucia, but was thrilled by the magnificent voice and performance of Piotr Beczala. I am sure we will hear more of him!
Thank you PBS for a night at the Met at HOme!!
Lucia kept me spellbound!! The subtitles helped a lot!
Will there be other Met broadcasts??
I love opera and just happened to turn on Great Performances last night in time for the opening overture. The entire production was superb!-Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala brilliant. Kudos also to the film directors and camera people who worked their magic so those of us at home could have the best seats in the house! Thank you, thank you, PBS.
It has been years since I last heard this opera. Last evening Mary Jane and I were greatly impressed with Anna Netrebko’s magnificent singing and powerful acting – particularly in the ” Mad Scene.” The entire cast supporting her, from lover, villain and father, did so as a team.
Thank you so very much for another captivating performance from the Met.
did so convincingly
A wonderfully rich twist on the Romeo and Juliet theme. It is nice to have a second chance to see what I missed live in February at my local theatre. Four stars at least.
What a happy accident to be flipping channels at just the right time! What a sumptuous, well-sung,well-acted(!), well-directed, well-conceived production of a musical “antique”. I was swept away for the entire performance! Thank you! May I suggest that in a curtain call similar to the one used for this production, singer credits are shown w/singer name and character name adjacent as they appear for their respective bow. (According to friends, I seem to have missed the intro by Ms. Dessay re singers, etc.) In any event, THANKS again for a grand night in the “opera house”!
General comment: with the technology of the 3rd millennium it may be possible to show the WHITE subtitles NOT IN THE WHITE bottom part of the pictures, rather on top, which is mostly dark.
Boring technical inadequacy!!!!
Dr. Mikes
Yes, magnificent. Any chance of getting a HD DVD?
What a wonderful night at the opera. Anna Netrebko’s singing was supurb. Great Performances merits its name and is one of the many reasons why I contribut to PBS.
It was great to watch Lucia di Lammermoor on prime time last night. Since so many people missed Thais, can this be a re-run on prime time?
Can I buy Thais on DVD?
Lucia is one of my favorite operas and Anna Netrebko my favorite artist, so I’ve been checking your member magazine for some time to see when this was coming on. Unfortunatly it was not listed, so I missed it. Why was it not listed? Could the magazine have a seperate listing of Great Performances each month? This would be helpful also. Please show it again and let us know when. Will their be a DVD available?
Abysmal. I really can’t say anything good about it. Is this the best the opera world can manage these days? How sad.
I was stuck in a hotel room, working out of town. Thought I’d give opera a chance. Loved it! Told the 5th graders all about it today, so maybe they’ll be open to opera too.
This was an extremely fine production overall. Netrebko is an exceptional singer. Mariusz Kwiecien was the star of the show turning a bland role into a true catalyst. Outstanding. Piotr Beczala was a pleasant surprise too. Overall the best production I’ve seen from the Met in recent years, though the Callas/Sutherland Lucias are still better.
Absoutely riveting! What a great production!
At three in the morning it could not have been better, slept like a kitten after this, MOST beautiful, wonderful performance!
My mother and I were riveted to the TV. Anna Netrebko was outstanding and believable. Her expressions were spot on as she performed each part. Bravo! to KET. keep these performances coming.
I was on vacation and happened tuned to this broadcasting– and it was thrilling. Stage was great and all performers were superb. Anna can match Callas!!
Fantastic production and performances. I was only able to catch part, but do hope a DVD of this performance becomes available soon to permit seeing the entire opera.
Truly a great performance. Almost makes me forget Sills, Bergonzi and Cappucilli. I NEED this on DVD. When will be available?
Two days later, Anna’s person and voice are in
my mind …and ears. Magnificent Lucia!
Thank you.
Where can I purchased the outstanding performance..
I was only able to catch the breathtaking “mad scene”–I too want to be able to order a DVD or catch a repeat. Will it be shown again?
Where can I purchase? We were overelmed.
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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