The 2019-20 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with Richard Strauss’s masterwork Der Rosenkavalier. Sir Simon Rattle, music director of the London Symphony Orchestra, conducts one of Strauss’s most beloved scores. Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund makes her network broadcast debut as the enigmatic Marschallin. Magdalena Kožená sings the role of the Marschallin’s young lover Octavian. Golda Schultz, fresh from her triumphant run as Clara in the Met’s season-opening production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, is Sophie, the innocent girl who comes between the Marschallin and Octavian. And Günther Groissböck returns to the role of the boorish Baron Ochs, which won him tremendous acclaim in 2017. The cast also features Matthew Polenzani in the cameo role of the Italian Singer, Katharine Goeldner as Annina, and, in their network broadcast debuts, German baritone Markus Eiche as Faninal and Austrian tenor Thomas Ebenstein as Valzacchi. Der Rosenkavalier will be heard live over Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 4.
English conductor Simon Rattle made his Met debut in 2010 with Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and returned in 2016 to lead the new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Previously, he was principal conductor at the Berlin Philharmonic and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He is currently music director of the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his symphonic performances, Maestro Rattle has conducted numerous operas at major companies around the world, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Baden-Baden Festival. Salzburg Festival, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This season, he also leads Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Berlin State Opera.
Camilla Nylund makes her Met debut this season as the Marschallin, a role she has previously sung at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, and Dutch National Opera. She has performed roles such as the Empress in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Vienna State Opera; the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka in Vienna and at the Paris Opera and Salzburg Festival; and Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2020, she will appear in Vienna as the Marschallin, Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz, and the title character in Strauss’s Arabella; at the Berlin State Opera as the Marschallin; at the Bavarian State Opera as Senta in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer; and at La Scala as the Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung.
Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená has previously sung the role of Octavian at the Baden-Baden Festival and Berlin State Opera. She made her Met debut in 2013 as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, followed by performances as Varvara in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, and three other Mozart roles: Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Idamante in Idomeneo. Her other recent performances include Phèdre in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Marguerite in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust in Berlin, as well as Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria in Paris. Earlier this season, she sang Lady Macbeth in the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld in Brussels, and later this season she will return to Berlin as Idamante.
South African soprano Golda Schultz has appeared as Sophie with numerous companies, including the Salzburg Festival and New National Theatre in Tokyo. She made her Met debut in 2017 as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, followed by performances as Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff. She opened the Met season this past fall as Clara in the new production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and will reprise the role when the opera is broadcast and shown as part of the Met’s Live in HD series on February 1. Her roles with other houses include the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Zurich Opera and Vienna State Opera, Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at the Bavarian State Opera, and Clara in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life at San Francisco Opera.
Günther Groissböck reprises his portrayal of Baron Ochs. Previous roles the Austrian bass has performed at the Met include Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème for his company debut in 2010, Banquo in Verdi’s Macbeth, Hermann in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and Fasolt and Hunding in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other recent performances include Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Bavarian State Opera, and Fasolt at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This season, he sings Rocco at the Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera, as well as Heinrich in Lohengrin at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
American tenor Matthew Polenzani also sang the role of the Italian Singer at the Met in 2017. Since his company debut in 1997, he has appeared in more than 350 Met performances in a wide repertoire, including Mozart roles such as the title characters in Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte; Verdi roles such as the Duke in Rigoletto and Alfredo in La Traviata; and Donizetti roles such as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and the title character in Roberto Devereux. This season, he also appears at the Met as Macduff in Macbeth (broadcast on December 21) and Rodolfo in La Bohème (to be broadcast on January 25), as well as at the Bavarian State Opera as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen and at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Alfredo in La Traviata.
Katharine Goeldner adds a new role to her Met repertory as Annina. She made her company debut in Berg’s Lulu in 2002, followed by performances as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ascanio in Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, the Page in Strauss’s Salome, Nicklausse and the Muse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Stéphano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Giovanna in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena. This season, she also sings Ma Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at Michigan Opera Theatre, a role she premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
German baritone Markus Eiche makes his Met debut this season as Faninal, a role he has previously sung at the Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera. He has previously been seen in roles such as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera, Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Valentin in Gounod’s Faust in Vienna, and Donner in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This season, he also sings Wolfram at the Bayreuth Festival and Luther in Krenek’s Karl V at the Bavarian State Opera.
Austrian tenor Thomas Ebenstein makes his Met debut this season as Valzacchi, a role he has previously sung at the Vienna State Opera. He has been seen primarily in Vienna in roles such as the Hunchback in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Don Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro, and L’Incredibile in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. This past summer, he also sang the Hunchback at the Verbier Festival. This season, he sings the Dancing Master in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Edgar in Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden in Vienna, as well as Jaquino in Fidelio at the Hamburg State Opera.
The intermissions will include artist interviews and the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Quiz.
About the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 89th season of Saturday Afternoon Radio Broadcasts—the longest-running classical music series in American broadcast history. Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts have brought opera into millions of homes and enriched the lives of many, playing a vital and unparalleled role in the development and appreciation of opera in this country. Mary Jo Heath hosts, joined each week in the broadcast booth by commentator Ira Siff. The broadcasts are heard worldwide, reaching opera lovers in more than 35 countries.
Listeners can visit www.Metopera.org/SaturdayMatineeBroadcasts for a wealth of information about the Met broadcasts. For details about all Met performances this season, as well as ticket information, visit the Met’s website at www.metopera.org.
