**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**
The Enchanted Island Returns to the Met,
Starring Susan Graham, David Daniels, and Plácido Domingo
The Baroque pastiche also stars Danielle de Niese, Luca Pisaroni,
Andriana Chuchman, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, conducted by Patrick Summers
Saturday, March 8 at 12:00 p.m. ET
The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of the
Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island. New cast members Susan Graham (Sycorax) and
Andriana Chuchman (Miranda) join many of the principal singers who appeared in the work’s
world premiere at the Met two seasons ago: David Daniels as Prospero, Plácido Domingo as
Neptune, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, Luca Pisaroni as Caliban, and Anthony Roth Costanzo as
Ferdinand. The Enchanted Island will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera
International Radio Network at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 8.
Patrick Summers conducts the work, a pastiche in the Baroque tradition that combines plot
elements of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest with music by Handel,
Vivaldi, Rameau, and other leading composers of the era, set to an English libretto. In keeping with
pastiche tradition, this season’s revival will interpolate two Handel arias not heard in the work’s
premiere, “Sta nell’ircana” from Alcina for Sycorax and “Empio, per farti guerra” from Tamerlano for
Neptune. Jeremy Sams, who devised The Enchanted Island and wrote the libretto, has worked with
Summers and director Phelim McDermott to oversee other adaptations for this revival.
Susan Graham’s more than 140 performances with the Met include Dido in last season’s revival of
Berlioz’s Les Troyens; Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, which she has sung 25 times with the
company, and the Composer in his Ariadne auf Naxos; Marguerite in the new production premiere
of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust; the title role in the new production premiere of Gluck’s
Iphigénie en Tauride; Sesto in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito; and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther.
David Daniels sang the title role in last season’s new production premiere of Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
He made his Met debut as Sesto in that opera in 1999, and has since appeared with the company as
Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bertarido in the Met premiere of Handel’s
Rodelinda, and Orfeo in the 2007 new production premiere of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.
Plácido Domingo added a new role to his vast, ever-expanding Met repertory last season when he
sang his first performances as Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. Other recent Met
performances include Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride, the title character in Verdi’s Simon
Boccanegra, Maurizio in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and Emperor Qin in the world premiere of Tan
Dun’s The First Emperor.
Danielle de Niese sang Despina earlier this season, under Maestro James Levine, in an acclaimed
revival of Mozart's Così fan tutte that returns to the Met stage in April. A graduate of the Met’s
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, her other Met roles have included Cleopatra in
Giulio Cesare, Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, and both Barbarina and Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di
Figaro. She made her Met debut, at 19 years old, in the former role.
Luca Pisaroni made his Met debut in 2005 as Publio in La Clemenza di Tito and has gone on to
appear with the company in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro and as Leporello in the new
production premiere of Don Giovanni. His other engagements this season include Figaro at both
Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera. This April, he will sing Alidoro in the Met's revival of
Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Andriana Chuchman made an acclaimed Met debut as Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore earlier
this season, substituting for an ailing Anna Netrebko. The Canadian soprano’s recent performances
with other opera companies have included Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel with
Glyndebourne, Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Canadian Opera Company, and
Valencienne in Lehar's The Merry Widow with Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Anthony Roth Costanzo was heard earlier this broadcast season singing Prince Orlofsky in the Met’s
new production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus. He made his Met debut in 2011 as Unulfo in
Rodelinda, and later the same season, he originated the role of Ferdinand in The Enchanted Island
and also sang some performances in the role of Prospero. Later this season, he sings Eustazio in
Handel’s Rinaldo at Glyndebourne.
The broadcast's single intermission will include live, backstage interviews with the stars.
THE STARS OF THE ENCHANTED ISLAND
PHOTOS & VIDEO
Click here to download photos and video
from THE ENCHANTED ISLAND (password:
met13photos)
About the Metropolitan Opera Radio
Broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 83rd
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. Host Margaret Juntwait returns for her tenth season,
joined each week in the broadcast booth by commentator Ira Siff.
The broadcasts are heard worldwide, reaching millions of opera lovers in more than 35 countries.
Listeners can visit www.operainfo.org 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.
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Contact:
Silja Tobin
Metropolitan Opera
(212) 870-7457
stobin@metopera.org