Met Opera Guild Podcast

Opening Night at the Met is less than a week away, and the excitement is palpable! Bellini's NORMA opens 2017-18 season, with a new production by Sir David McVicar, and an all-star cast featuring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, and Joseph Calleja, under the baton of Carlo Rizzi. Today on The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast - Your Guide to Opening Night at the Met!

On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, lecturer Naomi Barrettara concludes our tour through operatic voice types with a discussion of atypical voices. From extremely high coloraturas to countertenors, zwischenfach, contraltos, and more, this episode dives into rare and special categories that continue to wow audiences.

Operatic basses sing as low as the human voice can go! There are many different types of basses, bringing to life a large variety of roles. On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, lecturer and co-host Naomi Barrettara explores all the different types of basses and singers we find in this category of subterranean serenaders.

In the final installment of our "Divas and Dinner" series, chef, food historian, and opera enthusiast Carl Raymond explores the cuisine of Spain on the opera stage!

Pour yourself a glass of pink champagne and settle in! On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have our second installment of "Divas and Dinner" with Chef, food historian, and opera enthusiast Carl Raymond, exploring how the diva of all divas, Violetta, wined and dined her way through life!

Rossini once said: “Appetite is for the stomach what love is for the heart…. Eating, loving, singing and digesting are, in truth, the four acts of the comic opera known as life.” In this episode, renowned chef, food historian, and opera enthusiast Carl Raymond explores the culinary world of Rossini’s time, and the composer’s life long love affair with decadent cuisine!

Verdi baritone, lyric baritone, dramatic baritone... What's the difference? On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, Guild lecturer and audience favorite Naomi Barrettara explores the many different kinds of baritones we find on the opera stage, highlighting the unique aspects of each vocal category and the singers that bring these roles to life.

Singers such as Rosa Ponselle, Francesco Tamagno, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Dolora Zajick have given definitive performances of Verdi’s late works, from the first OTELLO in 1887 through to the present day. What can their recordings tell us about the evolution of Verdian singing, and career-making moments on the opera stage? Find out in our final installment of the Verdi All-Stars lecture series, featuring Met Radio commentator Ira Siff.

Aprile Millo was once called “the high priestess of that old time operatic religion;" Fedora Barbieri had a fierce fan following and sang over 90 performances spanning 10 operas at The Metropolitan Opera. Franco Corelli was dubbed “The Prince of Tenors”. All three singers established themselves as reigning interpreters of the Verdian repertoire. How did they earn such a revered legacy? Find out on today’s episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, featuring Part 2 of Ira Siff's Verdi All-Stars series.

This past season, Met broadcast commentator Ira Siff delighted New York audiences with his survey of the greatest Verdi singers of the past and present. Today’s episode is the first of a three-part series from Ira’s Verdi All-Stars course, discussing performances by Marisa Galvany, Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo, and other legendary stars.

This week’s episode is the third installment of our operatic voice types series. Our previous voice type lectures, featured in episodes 5 and 10, discussed the soprano and tenor vocal categories. We are happy to continue our exploration, focusing in this episode on mezzo-sopranos and contraltos.

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra will be performing a program of all Mahler works at Carnegie Hall on May 31st, 2017. For today’s episode, Guild lecturer Naomi Barraterra discusses the life of Gustav Mahler, and the two major works on the concert program: Symphony No. 1 and selections from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn."

DER ROSENKAVALIER, Richard Strauss’s most popular stage work, was first performed in Dresden in 1911, and has come to hold a special place in the repertoire. In a Talking About Opera recording from our archives, Brian Zeger explores musical and dramatic elements that have kept this masterpiece on stage for more than a century.

In 1966, the Metropolitan Opera moved into a glittering, state-of-the-art opera house, and launched a historic season to show off its new home. Today on the Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast we explore highlights from the Met’s first season at Lincoln Center.

Tempted by a chest of gold, Captain Daland allows his daughter Senta to marry a mysterious Dutchman. Can her vows of faithfulness break the curse that holds the stranger captive? Today on The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have a Peter Allen discussing dramatic, musical and stylistic elements of Wagner's DER FLIEGENDE HÖLLANDER.

“Are you my guardian angel? Or a wily devil, a fatal tempter? My heart sinks with shame and terror… to your honor I entrust my destiny!” So writes Tatiana in her famous letter to the man who has captured her heart - Eugene Ongein. She’s puts her heart in his hands, but does he return the sentiment? Today we explore Tchaikovsky’s EUGENE ONEGIN with lecturer Dr. Harlow Robinson, a Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University, and specialist in Soviet and Russian cultural history.

Beethoven's FIDELIO is on the Met stage for the first time in over a decade, now through April 8th, 2017. Here is composer and conductor Victoria Bond exploring the themes of Beethoven’s only opera, in a pre-performance lecture originally recorded on March 20th, 2016.

In Mozart's Idomeneo, a story drawn from Greek antiquity meets musical tradition and the innovative touch of Mozart. In this episode, Naomi Barrettara gives a pre-performance lecture exploring the historic and stylistic elements of this work.

During the highly productive middle period of his career, Verdi created some of his most enduringly popular operas, including what might be his most beloved work: La Traviata. Today we have Peter Allen in a Talking About Opera lecture recorded in from 1989, exploring this tragic love story that has captured the hearts of opera goers for over 150 years.

Since his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1971, James Morris has gone on to create renowned character portrayals and share the stage with virtually every great singer of the past five decades. Here is the legendary bass-baritone in conversation with the Guild’s Executive Director of Program Development, Paul Gruber, sharing stories from across his career.