Met Opera Guild Podcast

Based on the legends of Don Juan, Mozart and Da Ponte’s DON GIOVANNI premiered in Prague in 1787, and has been performed at opera houses the world over ever since. This staple of the operatic repertoire masterfully weaves together comedy and serious drama. On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, researcher and music librarian Deidre Bird takes a look at the music and history of Mozart’s famous rake!

Based on the symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck, Debussy's PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE was the only opera the composer ever completed and is heralded today as an innovative masterpiece. In this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have Guild lecturer Jeffery Langford exploring the revolutionary style of Debussy’s music, and the history behind his only stage work.

This past New Year’s Eve, the Met presented a glorious new production of Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. This production features the unparalleled trio of soprano superstar Anna Netrebko, tenor heartthrob Piotr Beczala, and electrifying mezzo Anita Rachellishvili. On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have a pre-performance lecture by composer and conductor Victoria Bond, exploring the history and lush musical writing of this rarely performed verismo masterpiece.

Puccini composed the three distinct operas of IL TRITTICO with the intention that they always be performed together, which is exactly how audiences are experiencing them this season as we celebrate the centenary of the world premiere at The Met. In this pre-performance lecture, lecturer Naomi Barrettara explores the musical language, source materials, and the themes that link these three short operas.

Frequent Verdi librettist Arrigo Boito wrote only one complete opera in his lifetime, a take on "Faust", entitled MEFISTOFELE. Sacrilegious, mystical, and captivatingly beautiful, Boito’s opera recounts the tale from the devil’s perspective, sung this season at the Met by bass-baritone Christian Van Horn. In this episode, Juilliard faculty member and Guild lecturer John J.H. Muller guides us through Boito’s work in this comprehensive pre-performance talk.

Winston Graham’s MARNIE is the fast-paced thriller now taking the stage at the Met, composed by Nico Muhly with a libretto by Nicholas Wright. Isabel Leonard stars as Marnie, in an alluring production by Tony award-winning stage director Michael Mayer. In this episode, Williams College music professor W. Anthony Sheppard explores the music and drama of this newly composed operatic thriller!

In just a few days, Puccini's LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST will be broadcast Live in HD from The Metropolitan Opera, with Jonas Kaufmann starring opposite Eva Marie Westbroek as the lovable barmaid to his rugged outlaw. Prepare for the broadcast with this pre-performance talk, featuring Nimet Habachy, as she explores the history, music, and dramatic highlights of this romantic tale.

Saint-Saëns’s tale of passionate heroism, unrequited love, and shattering betrayal endures as the only opera by this brilliant French composer still regularly performed today! On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, Director of School Programs and Lectures and Community Engagement at the Met Opera Guild, Stuart Holt, takes a closer look at this 19th century masterpiece!

Verdi’s Aida is full of memorable moments – and a whole orchestra of instruments brings this masterpiece to life, each serving a unique and specialized function within the score. In this episode, we are pleased to welcome The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s Principal Clarinetist Anton Rist to the podcast, to take us on a journey through Verdi’s famous work from the perspective of the clarinet.

From Lully to Rameau, Bizet to Berlioz, Massenet to Messiaen, French composers have given us some of the most beautiful and important works in the operatic canon. What makes French opera so unique and special? What are the musical highlights we should listen for, and the operatic conventions that set these works apart? In this episode, we have Guild lecturer and podcast co-host Naomi Barrettara in an excerpt from our recent sold out series “Opera Boot Camp: An Introduction to French Opera.”

This year, opening night at the Metropolitan Opera features Camille Saint-Saëns' masterpiece SAMSON ET DALILA, in a new production starring operatic superstars Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna. First seen together onstage at the Met as the fiery duo of Carmen and Don José, this production promises another evening of operatic fireworks! In this episode, we welcome Opera News Editor-in-Chief F. Paul Driscoll and author, lecturer, and Met Radio commentator William Berger, as they guide you through what to expect at opening night at the Met!

In our last episode, we learned all about cadenza, appoggiaturas, and variations in the interpretation of bel canto ornamentation. In this episode, we are thrilled to have Matthew Timmermans back with us, continuing the discussion on interpolated high notes, puntatura, and vanity cuts!

In the bel canto repertoire, ornamentation, improvisation, and virtuosity are a singer’s calling card, and audiences wait to hear what new vocal tricks a singer will bring to a role. But how do we know what is an acceptable, or stylistically appropriate ornament, and what would sound out of place? What did composers of the time expect singers to do? In this episode, lecturer Matthew Timmermans is back to guide us through the art of beautiful singing in the bel canto!

Onstage magic is often paired with offstage mayhem, and the history of diva worship across centuries of opera is strewn with stories of glamour and stardom, exorbitant fees, precious friendships, vicious rivalries, and hard-earned respect, all connected to seemingly superhuman voices. In today’s episode, lecturer and scholar Matthew Timmermans continues with “Divas Uncensored – Part 2”!

On this episode, we welcome musicologist and lecturer Matthew Timmermans to the microphone, in a special mini-series created especially for our podcast listeners. Matthew has extensively researched and written about the phenomenon of diva-worship, and we are thrilled to have him share with us the legends and lore behind some of opera’s most beloved divas!

With a history as storied as The Metropolitan Opera, there have been plenty of “firsts” that have occurred on its fabled stage. In this episode, Guild lecturer Naomi Barrettara takes us on a guided tour of some of the noteworthy number ones throughout the company’s rich history.

From Charles Anthony’s record of the most performances in Met Opera history to Audrey Luna hitting a record-smashing A above high C, singers continue to break records and make history on The Metropolitan Opera stage! This episode features a celebratory tour of historic moments in "Making Met History: Record-Breaking Moments" with the Guild’s very own Naomi Barrettara.

In the final installment of Ira Siff's "Opera Duos", we begin by stepping back in time, and listening to a recording over 100 years old! This episode spans operatic repertoire from Rossini to Wagner, highlighting operatic legends such as Enrico Caruso and Johanna Gadski, Ramon Vinay and Martha Mödl, Astrid Varnay and Hans Hotter, Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli, Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli, George London and Leonie Rysanek, Zinka Milanov and Jussi Björling, and Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi.

Flagstad and Melchior. Zeani and Rossi-Lemeni. Rysanek and Vickers. Price and Berganozi. Sutherland and Horne. Brownlee and Camarena. Callas and Di Stefano. Each were consummate musicians in their own right, but when they performed together, the combined force of their star power was electric! In this episode, Met Radio commentator Ira Siff takes us through the second part of his popular opera duos series.

Dynamic duos are what operatic legends are made of, leaving audiences breathless, in tears, and entranced with their musical and dramatic intensity. But what stories are behind some of these great partnerships? What were the secret musical ingredients that combined with such legendary success? This episode is the first of a three-part series featuring Met Opera radio commentator Ira Siff, taking us on a musical journey through the great power duos of opera that kept audiences wanting more!