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Based on Victor Hugo’s revolutionary play, Ernani involves three men–two noble, and one a bandit–who attempt to out-maneuver one another for the hand of the beautiful Elvira. Marco Armiliato conducts Verdi’s thrilling drama of passion, power, and honor, which is seen in Pier Luigi Samaritani’s lavish production.

American soprano Angela Meade, whose victory in the Met’s National Council Auditions was chronicled in the 2008 documentary film The Audition, takes the role of the noblewoman Elvira in her first Great Performances at the Met appearance. She made an acclaimed Met debut as Elvira in the 2007-08 revival of Ernani, filling in at the last minute for an ailing Sondra Radvanovsky.

Marcello Giordani, star of the Great Performances at the Met broadcasts of Turandot, La Damnation de Faust, Simon Boccanegra, and La Fanciulla del West, sings the title role of the noble bandit who loves Elvira.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky adds a new role to his distinguished repertory as Don Carlo, a royal suitor for Elvira’s hand. This is Hvorostovsky’s sixth Verdi role in his Met repertory, joining the title character in Simon Boccanegra, Germont in La Traviata (a role he repeats on Great Performances at the Met later this season), Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, and di Luna in Il Trovatore.

Ferruccio Furlanetto is de Silva, a wealthy relative with his own designs on Elvira. De Silva is the second of three roles Furlanetto sings at the Met this season. The versatile artist first sang de Silva at the Met in the 2007-08 revival of Ernani.

Maestro Armiliato’s numerous Met appearances have included a variety of Verdi works, from the early Attila to the repertory staples Aida, Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Il Trovatore. Earlier this season, he led the Met premiere of Anna Bolena, seen on Great Performances at the Met.

Ernani was originally seen live in movie theaters on February 25 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 1700 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 54 countries around the world.

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Of Ernani, Ronald Blum of Associated Press declared, “There is an argument for Verdi the way it used to be, especially when a rare soprano like Angela Meade commands the night… For pure singing, she is one vocal thrill after another.” Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times enthused, “Mr. Furlanetto’s strong, dark, textured voice filled Verdi’s lines with burnished sound and arching lyricism.  Hvorostovsky shaped floating phrases with mellifluous, honeyed sound.” The New Yorker observed, “Marcello Giordani…sings with full-throated vitality.”

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato hosts the transmission. Barbara Willis Sweete directs the telecast.

Great Performances is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation. 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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Rodelinda also stars Andreas Scholl as the exiled king Bertarido and Stephanie Blythe as his sister Eduige. English countertenor Iestyn Davies makes his Met debut as Bertarido’s faithful friend Unulfo, and, in Met role debuts, Joseph Kaiser sings the usurper Grimoaldo and Shenyang the corrupt royal advisor Garibaldo.

The program was originally seen live in movie theaters on December 3 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 1700 movie theaters and performing arts centers in 54 countries around the world.

Great Performances at the Met is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Handel’s opera, based on the life of a seventh-century queen of Lombardy, premiered at the Met in 2004 with Fleming in the title role. The opera, in which Rodelinda’s love for her exiled husband remains steadfast despite the romantic and political machinations of his enemies, is a showcase for some of Handel’s most extraordinary arias and duets.

Bicket made his Met debut leading the new production premiere of Rodelinda in 2004, and has since conducted Met revivals of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito. He is also the director of The English Concert, a Baroque orchestra that uses period instruments and tours throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. Wadsworth, whose staging of the opera has been praised for its clarity and fluidity, has also directed new productions of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride at the Met, as well as a new staging of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, co-produced with The Juilliard School.

Rodelinda is the sole Baroque heroine in Fleming’s extensive Met repertory of twenty-one roles. Her recent Met performances include the Countess in the first-ever Met revival of Strauss’s Capriccio; the title character in the Met premiere of Rossini’s Armida; the Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier; and the title characters in Massenet’s Thaïs and Dvořák’s Rusalka.

Blythe, like Fleming, starred in Rodelinda’s Met premiere and a subsequent revival in the 2005-06 season. Scholl made his Met debut as Bertarido in the 2006 revival of Rodelinda, and also starred in a high-profile 1998 Glyndebourne production of the opera, conducted by William Christie.

Davies is a prominent performer in recital and opera in his native England, specializing in the Baroque repertory. Kaiser co-starred with Fleming last season as Flamand in Strauss’s Capriccio. Shenyang has appeared at the Met as Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème and Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Soprano Deborah Voigt hosts. Matthew Diamond directs the telecast.

This Great Performances presentation is funded by the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation. Major support for the Rodelinda telecast is provided by Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr. 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.