Saturdays at 12:00 pm
Since 1931, the Metropolitan Opera’s radio broadcasts have brought performances from New York City to listeners around the world.
From its opening in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera has been one of the world’s leading opera companies. Today, the Met continues to present high-quality performances with many of the world’s most renowned artists, a superior company of orchestral and choral musicians, a large repertory of works, and the resources to make performances available to the public. Each season the Metropolitan stages more than 200 opera performances in New York which more than 800,000 people attend. Millions more, throughout the world, experience the Metropolitan Opera on television, through cinemacasts, radio, on tour and recordings.
WFMT offers a complete opera every Saturday at noon with productions from the following companies:
- Metropolitan Opera (winter)
- Lyric Opera of Chicago (May-July)
- LA Opera on Air (July-August)
- San Francisco Opera (August-October)
Verdi’s Falstaff
Baritone Ambrogio Maestri brings his larger-than-life portrayal of the title role back for the first time since his Met role debut in the 2013–14 season. Robert Carsen’s insightful production—which moves the action to postwar England in the 1950s—features an exceptional cast that includes soprano Ailyn Pérez as Alice Ford and soprano Golda Schultz as Nannetta. A co-production of the Metropolitan ...
Wagner’s Das Rheingold
Wagner’s visionary initial installment of the Ring Cycle depicts the original sin of the theft of the sacred golden treasure, the vanity of the gods, the greed of the Nibelungen, the fratricide of the giants, and the building of Valhalla. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley sings the role of Wotan, the conflicted lord of the gods. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton sings her first ...
Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment
Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks—including the show-stopping tenor aria “Ah! Mes amis … Pour mon âme,” with its nine high Cs. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. And in an exciting piece ...
Verdi’s Rigoletto
Verdi’s tragic jester returns in Michael Mayer’s neon-bedecked, Las Vegas–themed production. Baritone Roberto Frontali plays the title role, and soprano Nadine Sierra reprises her portrayal of Gilda, the role that helped launch her now-blossoming Met career. Tenors Vittorio Grigolo sings the role of the lascivious Duke, and Nicola Luisotti conducts.
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Baritone Peter Mattei and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni star as opera’s most notorious seducer in Mozart’s masterpiece of dark comedy. Cornelius Meister makes his Met debut conducting performances that feature sopranos Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Donna Anna, sopranos Federica Lombardi as Donna Elvira, and basses Ildar Abdrazakov as Leporello.
Double Bill: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta & Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle
Mariusz Treliński’s haunting production of the pairing of Tchaikovsky’s and Bartók’s one-act operas makes its first return to the stage since its Met premiere in the 2014–15 season.
Bizet’s Carmen
Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenors Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Louis Langrée conducts.
Nico Muhly’s Marnie
Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities.
Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande
Debussy’s only opera, a mesmerizing meditation on love and betrayal, returns to the Met stage for the first time in almost a decade, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the landmark score.
Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur
Soprano Anna Netrebko joins the ranks of Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé, and Renata Scotto, taking on—for the first time at the Met—the title role of the real-life French actress who dazzled 18th-century audiences with her on-and offstage passion.
Verdi’s Otello
Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel makes his Met debut leading Verdi’s towering Shakespearean masterpiece, in the first revival of Bartlett Sher’s gripping 2015 production.
The Magic Flute, by Mozart
Ben Bliss (Tamino), Erin Morley (Pamina), Nathan Gunn (Papageno), and Kathryn Lewek (Queen of the Night) headline this live performance of Julie Taymor's production of The Magic Flute. Harry Bicket conducts.
La Fanciulla del West, by Puccini
Eva-Maria Westbroek stars as Minnie in this performance of Puccini’s romantic opera set in the days of the California Gold Rush. Tenor Jonas Kaufmann plays her love interest, Dick Johnson, baritone Željko Lučić is the sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.
La Traviata, by Verdi
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts this performance of the Verdi favorite starring soprano Diana Damrau, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, and baritone Quinn Kelsey.
Il trittico (Puccini)
This performance of Il trittico features some of opera’s leading voices performing in three one-act Puccini operas (Trittico is Italian for triptych). The program features tenor Marcelo Álvarez and soprano Amber Wagner in Il tabarro; soprano Kristine Opalais sings the titular character in Suor Angelica, and Plácido Domingo leads as the title role in Gianni Schicchi. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
Mefistofele (Boito)
Christopher Van Horn and Michael Fabiano lead this performance of Boito’s opera based on Faust. Even though he produced several libretti (including for Verdi’s Otello and Falstaff), Mefistofele is the only opera for which Arrigo Boito completed both the music and libretto.
“Romeo and Juliet” (Gounod)
Hear Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet featuring Bryan Hymel (Romeo); Ailyn Perez (Juliet); Joshua Hopkins (Mercutio); Kwangchul Youn (Friar Laurence); Karine Deshayes (Stephano); and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra led by Placido Domingo.
“Cendrillon” (Massenet)
Hear Massenet’s Cenrillon staring Joyce DiDonato (Cinderella); Kathleen Kim (Fairy); Alice Coote (Prince Charming); Stephanie Blythe (Mme de la Haltière); and also featuring the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra led by Bertrand de Billy.
“The Exterminating Angel” (Adès)
The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès featuring Alice Coote (Leonora Palma); Iestyn Davies (Francisco de Avila); Christian Van Horne (Julio); John Tomlinson (Carlos Conde); other soloists; the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Adès.
“Luisa Miller” (Verdi)
Hear Verdi’s Luisa Miller featuring Sonya Yoncheva (Luisa); Piotr Beczała (Rodolfo); Plácido Domingo (Miller); Alexander Vinogradov (Walter); Dmitry Belosselskiy (Wurm); and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra led by conductor Bertrand de Billy.
