The scene

Amid myriad operas – from Telemann’s Orpheus in new York to Glass’s Kepler in charleston – there’s Voigt in Montreal, a tuba concerto in chicago and a Magnus Lindberg world premiere

Billy Budd was last seen at the met in 1997, with Claggart sung by James morris – as in this season’s revival

New York The Metropolitan Opera The Makropulos Case (April 27, May 1, 5, 8 & 11) Billy Budd (May 4, 10 & 12) Karita Mattila and Nathan Gunn bring two relative rarities for US audiences to the Met stage. The former sings Janáček’s Faustian femme fatale in The Makropulos Case, headlining a production that infamously featured the accidental on-stage death of tenor Richard Versalle at its opening in 1996. She stars opposite Kurt Streit, Johan Reuter and Tom Fox under conductor Jirí Bělohlávek. Elijah Moshinsky, who originally created this production, personally returns to direct the revival. Meanwhile, Nathan Gunn stars in Britten’s seafaring opera, not seen at the Met since 1997, opposite James Morris as his adversary Claggart and John Daszak as Captain Vere. David Robertson conducts. metoperafamily.org washiNgtoN DC Washington National Opera Nabucco (April 28, May 2, 5, 10, 13, 15, 18 & 21) Verdi’s Babylonian epic is seen at the Washington National Opera for the first time,

in firebrand director Thaddeus Strassberger's new production – a co-production with Minnesota Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia, where it will also be seen in future seasons. WNO’s music director Philippe Auguin leads a cast that stars Franco Vassallo as Nabucco and Csilla Boross as Abigaille. Also featured are Burak Bilgili as Zaccaria, Sean Panikkar as Ismaele and Géraldine Chauvet as Fenena. kennedy-center.org

New York Lincoln Center Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (May 1) The 2011 Gramophone Award laureates for the best Baroque Instrumental performance (heard on a recording of CPE Bach concertos for Harmonia Mundi) visit New York for a performance of JS Bach. Violinist and director Gottfried von der Goltz leads Freiburg’s period-instrument specialists in the complete orchestral suites, Nos 1–4, as part of the season’s final instalment of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series. The performance takes place at Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater. lcgreatperformers.org

New York New York Philharmonic Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 4; Lindberg: Piano Concerto No 2 (May 3–5) Carmina Burana (May 31–June 2) Conductor Alan Gilbert furthers the orchestra's relationship with former composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg with the world premiere of the composer’s Piano Concerto No 2, a New York Philharmonic commission, played by soloist Yefim Bronfman. Preceding it is Dvořák’s overture Carnival and following it is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4. At the end of the month, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos wraps up a whirlwind tour of North America by leading the same orchestra in Orff’s Carmina Burana with soprano Erin Morley, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Jacques Imbrailo. In place of the usual New York-based choirs, the main chorus is supplied by Orfeón Pamplonés from Spain, who are joined by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Frühbeck also conducts selections from Falla’s scenic cantata Atlàntida. nyphil.org

Los aNgeLes Los Angeles Philharmonic Rattle conducts Bruckner (May 3–6) Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy: Don Giovanni (May 18, 20, 24 & 26) Mezzo Magdalena Kožená appears with her husband, Sir Simon Rattle, to sing Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. The concert also features Ligeti’s Atmosphères, the Prelude to Act 1 of Wagner’s Lohengrin and Bruckner’s Symphony No 9. Later in the month, music director Gustavo Dudamel gives LA Opera a run for its money with a staged Don Giovanni directed by Christopher Alden and starring Mariusz Kwiecien in the title-role. Kevin Burdette is his manservant Leporello. In the three female roles are Carmela Remigio as Donna Anna, Aga Mikolaj as Donna Elvira and Anna Prohaska as Zerlina. Pavol Breslik sings Don Ottavio, Ryan Kuster is Masetto and Stefan Kocan plays the Commendatore. laphil.com seattLe Seattle Opera Madama Butterfly (May 5, 9, 11–13, 16, 19 & 20) Described as the next Scotto by no less than Renata herself, Patricia Racette makes her Seattle Opera debut in her signature role of

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Cio-Cio-San; soprano Ausrine Stundyte fills in on May 11, 13 and 20. Similarly, Stefano Secco, fresh from appearing in Los Angeles opposite Plácido Domingo in Simon Boccanegra, and young artist Nathaniel Peake share the role of Pinkerton; they also appear in Seattle for the first time, along with fellow newcomer conductor Julian Kovatchev. Jennifer Hines sings Suzuki and Brett Polegato performs as Sharpless in Peter Kazaras’s production. seattleopera.org

New York Carnegie Hall Spring for Music (May 7–12) In the course of one week, six orchestras and their music directors come to Carnegie Hall for a series of concerts in which all tickets are $25. Houston Symphony starts the cycle with Hans Graf conducting an all-Shostakovich programme of Antiformalist Rayok (with bass Mikhail Svetlov) and Symphony No 11 (The Year 1905). William Eddins and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra go next with three US premieres: a new work by Robert Rival, John Estacio’s Triple Concerto and Allan Gilliland’s Dreaming of the Masters III, plus Martinů’s Symphony No 1. Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra cross the Hudson river to perform Varèse’s Nocturnal featuring soprano Hila Plitmann and the men of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, plus Weill’s Symphony No 1 and Busoni’s Piano Concerto with Marc-André Hamelin. After that is the Alabama Symphony Orchestra under Justin Brown with two New York premieres – Avner Dorman’s Astrolatry and Paul Lansky’s Shapeshifters for two pianos and orchestra – and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Edo de Waart perform Messiaen’s Les offrandes oubliées, Debussy’s La mer and Chen Qigang’s Iris dévoilée. Finally, the Nashville Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero end the festival with Larry Austin’s completion of Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony, Percy Grainger’s The Warriors and Terry Riley’s The Palmian Chord Ryddle for electric violin and orchestra. springformusic.com toroNto Canadian Opera Company Handel: Semele (May 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 24 & 26) A production of Handel’s oratorio-cum-opera courtesy of Brussels’s La Monnaie features Nova Scotia-born soprano Jane Archibald in the title-role. Allyson McHardy plays her rival as Juno/Ino, while American tenor William Burden bridges their divide as Jupiter. Katherine Whyte sings Iris. Concerto Italiano founder Rinaldo Alessandrini leads from the pit. Performance artist Zhang Huan helms the action on stage, drawing parallels between Ovid’s tale and the Buddhist concepts of yin and guo, or cause and effect. The Chinese cultural thread continues with the set: a 450-year-old temple imported from a small town a few hours away from Shanghai. coc.ca

New York New York City Opera Telemann: Orpheus (May 12, 15, 17 & 20) A crucial comeback season for City Opera closes with Telemann’s Orpheus, rediscovered late last century and featuring a trilingual libretto. Noted Shakespearean Rebecca Taichman directs a production conducted by Gary Thor Wedow. Daniel Teadt and Joélle Harvey sing Orpheus and Eurydice, set against the villainess Orasia performed by Jennifer Rowley. Michelle Areyzaga, Meredith Lustig, Daryl Freedman, Victor Ryan Robertson, Kelly Markgraf and David Salsbery Fry comprise the extensive cast in the respective roles of Ismene, Cephisa, Ascalax, Eurimedes, Pluto and Bass. As part of the company’s commitment to touring theatres all over New York City, the performance takes place in the boutique auditorium of El Museo del Barrio. nycopera.com

Los aNgeLes Los Angeles Opera La bohème (May 12, 20, 23, 26 & 31, June 2) Another husband-and-wife duo dock in Los Angeles this month (see LA Phil, page IV). Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez are an American-born soprano and tenor (she from Chicago, he from Philadelphia) who have both ascended to the upper echelons of the opera scene. Costello makes his LA Opera debut as the Rodolfo to Pérez’s Mimì, with Artur Ruciński as Marcello and Janai Brugger sharing duties with Valentina Fleer as Musetta. Maestro Patrick Summers temporarily trades in his usual post at San Francisco to make his LA Opera debut in the pit. laopera.com

Fort worth Fort Worth Opera Tosca (May 12, 20 & 25, June 2) Three Decembers (May 13, 18, 20, 26 & 31, June 2) The Marriage of Figaro (May 19 & 27, June 1) Lysistrata (May 26 & June 3) Fort Worth Opera’s season features two standards and two feisty newcomers performed over the course of three weeks. Carter Scott, Roger Honeywell and Michael Chioldi sing the three primary roles of Tosca under the baton of Joe Illick and the direction of Daniel Pelzig. Illick also conducts a rare yet vital production of Marc Adamo’s antiwar Lysistrata, starring Fort Worth Opera regular Ava Pine as Lysia with Scott Scully as Nico and Ashley Kerr as Myrrhine. David Gately directs. In The Marriage of Figaro, Donovan Singletary and Andrea Carroll as Figaro and Susanna face off against Jonathan Beyer and Jan Cornelius as the Count and Countess Almaviva, with Wallis Giunta as Cherubino. Eric Einhorn directs and Stewart Robertson conducts. Finally, Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers – a familial reckoning based on a play by operaphile Terrence McNally – features Emily Pulley singing the part of a famous actress. Janice Hall and Matthew Worth play her estranged children. Conductor Christopher Larkin partners with director Candace Evans. fwopera.org la opera is staging a revival of puccini’s La bohème gramophone.co.uk

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