Since then, however, the steady succession of Zeffirelli’s Tosca, Don Giovanni, Otello, and two La Traviatas have come and gone. Dismissed as an utter debacle by the critics, who found the score unimpressive and the sets and costumes by Zeffirelli grotesquely unwieldy and overdone, it was withdrawn after the initial performances and never revived at the Met. The 2014-2015 Season of The Metropolitan Opera MaThe Metropolitan Opera’s 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world’s leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. (That year he also directed Maria Callas in Tosca, at the Royal Opera House, and in Norma, at the Paris Opera.) In 1966 he staged and provided the libretto for Antony and Cleopatra, by Samuel Barber, the work commissioned to open the new opera house at Lincoln Center, with Jess Thomas and Leontyne Price in the title roles. Plans were then already under way to replace his Tosca and Carmen, however, and days later Zeffirelli told New York magazine, “I imagine the Met must present masterpieces with a different approach, but who is going to give a better approach than what I did? They must preserve some of my productions, which are really masterpieces.”Īccording to Robert Tuggle, director of archives at the Met, Zeffirelli has directed 11 productions at the famed opera house.
THE MET OPERA SCHEDULE 2015 SERIES
The 2015-16 Met Opera Live in HD Series is underwritten by Viron Rondo Osteria. For single tickets, call the Warner Box Office at (860) 489-7180. On March 29, 2008, when Zeffirelli was 85, he and Gelb came together on the Met stage to celebrate the record-breaking 347th performance of the director’s greatest triumph with the company, his 1981 La Bohème. 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Season. Zeffirelli has been outspoken in his resentment of this process, the driving force behind which is Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager. Great Performances at the Met Season 16 Opera Schedule: Boris Godunov Premieres Sunday, February 6 on PBS (check local listings) Bass Ren Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his portrayal. This week brings us the latest episode in the ongoing saga of replacing those sumptuously detailed but somewhat dusty productions created by Franco Zeffirelli for the Metropolitan Opera with new stagings, in this case his 1970 double bill of Cav and Pag (Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci) with a new version, by Sir David McVicar.