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Directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Riccardo Frizza, the production showcases Fleming’s vocal prowess in what The New York Times describes as a “tour de force” role for the soprano who can “combine alluring long-spun lyrical singing with dazzling, sometimes demonic, coloratura flight.” Fleming leads a cast of multiple tenors including Lawrence Brownlee as Rinaldo, a knight of the Crusade who falls into the clutches of Armida; Barry Banks and Kobie van Rensburg as Carlo and Ubaldo, two knights who attempt to rescue Rinaldo; and John Osborn as their commander Goffredo.

Armida is based on 16th-century Italian poet Torquato Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme Liberata (“Jerusalem Delivered”), a tale of the scorned seductress that has inspired more than 100 operas and ballets, including Handel’s Rinaldo and Haydn’s Armida. Rossini’s opera is particularly noted for its six tenor roles, which were shared by four singers for the opera’s 1817 premiere at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. (In this presentation, five tenors will sing these roles.) Armida garnered popular attention when Maria Callas sang the title role in Florence in 1952.

Great Performances at the Met: Armida is directed for television by Gary Halvorson and hosted by Deborah Voigt. Jay David Saks is the audio producer. Sets and costumes are by Richard Hudson, and the lighting is by Brian MacDevitt. Graciela Daniele is the choreographer and Daniel Pelzig is the associate choreographer. Great Performances at the Met: Armida is the tenth and final production airing during the 2009-2010 season of Great Performances at the Met. The performance is sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS. Major support for the production was provided by the Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund. Corporate support for Great Performances at The Met is provided by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home-builder®.

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.

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Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG – one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

The sixth of Bellini’s professional operas, La Sonnambula is set in a tiny village on the Swiss Alps. Mary Zimmerman’s present-day version, however, is set in a rehearsal space where the actors are staging a production of La Sonnambula set in the Swiss Alps. The story begins as the village is preparing for the wedding of Amina, played by Dessay, and Elvino, played by Juan Diego Flórez (Dessay and Florez just returned from their sensational run together in La Fille du Régiment at opera houses around the world). Themes of jealousy, mistaken identity, and innocence prevail, as Bellini’s sleepwalking beauty is put to the ultimate test to prove her undying love for her betrothed to the hauntingly mysterious music of Bellini and libretto by Felice Romani.
Great Performances At the Met: La Sonnambula is the eighth of 11 productions airing this season on the series. The performance is sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Corporate support for Great Performances at the Met is provided by Toll Brothers.

Visit Great Performances Online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information on this and other Great Performances programs. 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.

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.

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“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.