la bohème

GIACOMO PUCCINI

conductor Opera in four acts

Marco Armiliato
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and
production
Franco Zeffirelli Luigi Illica, based on the novel Scènes
de la Vie de Bohème by Henri Murger
set designer
Franco Zeffirelli Saturday, February 24, 2018
costume designer 12:30–3:25 pm
Peter J. Hall
lighting designer
Gil Wechsler
revival stage director
Gregory Keller
The production of La Bohème was made
possible by a generous gift from
Mrs. Donald D. Harrington

The revival of this production is made possible

by a gift from Viking Cruises

general manager
Peter Gelb
music director designate
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
 2017–18 season

The 1,317th Metropolitan Opera performance of

la bohème
GIACOMO PUCCINI’S

This performance
is being broadcast
live over The
Toll Brothers–
Metropolitan Opera
International Radio
Network, sponsored co n duc to r
by Toll Brothers, Marco Armiliato
America’s luxury
® in order of vocal appearance
homebuilder , with
generous long-term m a r cel lo m u s e t ta
support from Lucas Meachem Susanna Phillips
The Annenberg
Foundation, The rodolfo cu s to m h o u s e s er g e a n t
Neubauer Family Michael Fabiano Jason Hendrix
Foundation, the
Vincent A. Stabile co l l i n e cu s to m h o u s e o ffi cer
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b en o i t

Visit List Hall at the Paul Plishka

second intermission
mimì
for the Toll Brothers–
Metropolitan Sonya Yoncheva
Opera Quiz.
pa r pi g n o l
Gregory Warren
This performance is
also being broadcast
a lci n d o r o
live on Metropolitan
Paul Plishka
Opera Radio on
SiriusXM channel 75.

Saturday, February 24, 2018, 12:30–3:25PM

 This afternoon’s performance is being transmitted live
in high definition to movie theaters worldwide.
The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from
its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation.
Digital support of The Met: Live in HD
is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

This performance is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone

in grateful recognition of their generosity as members
of the Council for Artistic Excellence.

Chorus Master  Donald Palumbo

Musical Preparation  John Keenan, Yelena Kurdina,
Joshua Greene, and Liora Maurer
Assistant Stage Director  Kathleen Smith Belcher
Stage Band Conductor  Gregory Buchalter
Prompter  Joshua Greene
Italian Coach  Hemdi Kfir
Met Titles  Sonya Friedman
Children’s Chorus Director  Anthony Piccolo
Associate Designer  David Reppa
Scenery, properties, and electrical props constructed and
painted in Metropolitan Opera Shops
Costumes executed by Metropolitan Opera Costume
Department
Wigs and Makeup executed by Metropolitan Opera
Wig and Makeup Department
Ladies millinery by Reggie G. Augustine
Men’s hats by Richard Tautkus
Animals supervised by All-Tame Animals, Inc.

This performance is made possible in part by public

funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.
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 KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA

PUCCINI

MADAMA
BUTTERFLY
FEB 22, 26 MAR 3 mat, 8, 13, 16

Acclaimed soprano Ermonela Jaho appears as the geisha Cio-Cio-San

in Anthony Minghella’s strikingly beautiful production. Met favorite
Marco Armiliato conducts the heartbreaking score.

Tickets from $25

metopera.org
Synopsis

Act I
Paris, in the 1830s. In their Latin Quarter garret, the near-destitute artist Marcello
and poet Rodolfo try to keep warm on Christmas Eve by feeding the stove with
pages from Rodolfo’s latest drama. They are soon joined by their roommates—
Colline, a philosopher, and Schaunard, a musician, who brings food, fuel, and
funds he has collected from an eccentric nobleman. While they celebrate their
unexpected fortune, the landlord, Benoit, comes to collect the rent. After getting
the older man drunk, the friends urge him to tell of his flirtations, then throw
him out in mock indignation at his infidelity to his wife. As the others depart to
revel at the Café Momus, Rodolfo remains behind to finish an article, promising
to join them later. There is another knock at the door—the visitor is Mimì, a
pretty neighbor, whose candle has gone out in the stairwell. As she enters the
room, she suddenly feels faint. Rodolfo gives her a sip of wine, then helps her
to the door and relights her candle. Mimì realizes that she lost her key when she
fainted, and as the two search for it, both candles go out. Rodolfo finds the key
and slips it into his pocket. In the moonlight, he takes Mimì’s hand and tells her
about his dreams. She recounts her life alone in a lofty garret, embroidering
flowers and waiting for the spring. Rodolfo’s friends call from outside, telling him
to join them. He responds that he is not alone and will be along shortly. Happy
to have found each other, Mimì and Rodolfo leave, arm in arm, for the café.

Act II
Amid the shouts of street hawkers near the Café Momus, Rodolfo buys
Mimì a bonnet and introduces her to his friends. They all sit down and order
supper. The toy vendor Parpignol passes by, besieged by children. Marcello’s
former sweetheart, Musetta, makes a noisy entrance on the arm of the elderly,
but wealthy, Alcindoro. The ensuing tumult reaches its peak when, trying to
gain Marcello’s attention, she loudly sings the praises of her own popularity.
Sending Alcindoro away to buy her a new pair of shoes, Musetta finally falls into
Marcello’s arms. Soldiers march by the café, and as the bohemians fall in behind,
the returning Alcindoro is presented with the check.

Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 1:35PM)

Act III
At dawn at the Barrière d’Enfer, a toll-gate on the edge of Paris, a customs
official admits farm women to the city. Guests are heard drinking and singing
within a tavern. Mimì arrives, searching for the place where Marcello and
Musetta now live. When the painter appears, she tells him of her distress over
Rodolfo’s incessant jealousy. She says she believes it is best that they part. As
Rodolfo emerges from the tavern, Mimì hides nearby. Rodolfo tells Marcello

Visit metopera.org 35
 Synopsis CONTINUED

that he wants to separate from Mimì, blaming her flirtatiousness. Pressed for
the real reason, he breaks down, saying that her illness can only grow worse in
the poverty they share. Overcome with emotion, Mimì comes forward to say
goodbye to her lover. Marcello runs back into the tavern upon hearing Musetta’s
laughter. While Mimì and Rodolfo recall past happiness, Marcello returns with
Musetta, quarreling about her flirting with a customer. They hurl insults at each
other and part, but Mimì and Rodolfo decide to remain together until springtime.

Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 2:30PM)

Act IV
Months later in the garret, Rodolfo and Marcello, now separated from their
girlfriends, reflect on their loneliness. Colline and Schaunard bring a meager
meal. To lighten their spirits, the four stage a dance, which turns into a mock duel.
At the height of the hilarity, Musetta bursts in with news that Mimì is outside, too
weak to come upstairs. As Rodolfo runs to her aid, Musetta relates how Mimì
begged to be taken to Rodolfo to die. She is made as comfortable as possible,
while Musetta asks Marcello to sell her earrings for medicine and Colline goes
off to pawn his overcoat. Left alone, Mimì and Rodolfo recall their meeting and
their first happy days, but she is seized with violent coughing. When the others
return, Musetta gives Mimì a muff to warm her hands, and Mimì slowly drifts into
unconsciousness. Musetta prays for Mimì, but it is too late. The friends realize
that she is dead, and Rodolfo collapses in despair.

36
In Focus

Giacomo Puccini

La Bohème
Premiere: Teatro Regio, Turin, 1896
La Bohème—the passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young
artists in Paris—can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. It has
a marvelous ability to make a powerful first impression (even to those new to
opera) and to reveal unsuspected treasures after dozens of hearings. At first
glance, La Bohème is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and
loss; on closer inspection, it explores the deep emotional significance hidden in
the trivial things—a bonnet, an old overcoat, a chance meeting with a neighbor—
that make up our everyday lives. Following the breakthrough success of Manon
Lescaut three years earlier, La Bohème established Puccini as the leading Italian
opera composer of his generation.

The Creators
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was immensely popular in his own lifetime, and
his mature works remain staples in the repertory of most of the world’s opera
companies. His operas are celebrated for their mastery of detail, sensitivity
to everyday subjects, copious melody, and economy of expression. Puccini’s
librettists for La Bohème, Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906) and Luigi Illica (1857–
1919), also collaborated with him on his next two operas, Tosca and Madama
Butterfly. Giacosa, a dramatist, was responsible for the stories, and Illica, a poet,
worked primarily on the words themselves. The French author Henri Murger
(1822–1861) drew on his own early experiences as a poor writer in Paris to pen
an episodic prose novel and later a successful play, Scènes de la Vie de Bohème,
which became the basis for the opera.

The Setting
The libretto sets the action in Paris, circa 1830. This is not a random setting but
rather reflects the issues and concerns of a particular time and place. After the
upheavals of revolution and war, French artists had lost their traditional support
base of aristocracy and church, and they were desperate for new sources of
income. The rising bourgeoisie took up the burden of patronizing artists and
earned their contempt in return. The story, then, centers on self-conscious
youths at odds with mainstream society, feeling themselves morally superior to
the rules of the bourgeoisie (specifically regarding sexual mores) and expressing
their independence with affectations of speech and dress. The bohemian
ambience of this opera is clearly recognizable in any modern urban center. La
Bohème captures this ethos in its earliest days.
Visit metopera.org 37
 In Focus CONTINUED

The Music
Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, the score of La Bohème exerts a uniquely
immediate emotional pull. Many of its most memorable melodies are built
incrementally, with small intervals between the notes that carry the listener with
them on their lyrical path. This is a distinct contrast to the grand leaps and dives
on which earlier operas often depended for emotional effect. La Bohème’s
melodic structure perfectly captures the “small people” (as Puccini called them)
of the drama and the details of everyday life. The two great love arias in Act I
seduce the listener, beginning conversationally, with great rushes of emotion
seamlessly woven into more trivial expressions. In other places, small alterations
to a melody can morph the meaning of a thought or an emotion in this score.
A change of tempo or orchestration transforms Musetta’s famous, exuberant
Act II waltz into the nostalgic, bittersweet tenor-baritone duet in Act IV, as the
bohemians remember happier times. Similarly, the “streets of Paris” theme
first appears as a foreshadowing in Act I, when one of the bohemians suggests
going out on the town; hits full flower in Act II, when they (and we) are actually
there; and becomes a bitter, chilling memory at the beginning of Act III when it
is slowed down and re-orchestrated.

Met History
La Bohème had its Met premiere while the company was on tour in Los Angeles
in 1900. Nellie Melba sang Mimì and improbably added the mad scene from
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor as an encore after the final curtain (a practice
she maintained for several other performances). This production lasted until
1952, when one designed by Rolf Gerard and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz,
who insisted his name be removed after a disagreement with some of the
singers, replaced it. In 1977, La Bohème served as the first opera telecast as part
of the Live from the Met series, starring Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto
in a new production directed by Fabrizio Melano. The spectacular current
production by Franco Zeffirelli premiered in 1981 with an impressive cast led by
Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, and James Morris.
La Bohème was presented at the Met in 59 consecutive seasons after its first
appearance and has been seen in all but nine seasons since 1900, making it the
most performed opera in company history.

38
Program Note

A
beloved portrayal of the joys and hardships of ordinary people, Giacomo
Puccini’s opera about the bohemians of the Latin Quarter was neither
the beginning nor the end of the literary and theatrical journey of
Mimì, Rodolfo, Marcello, Musetta, Schaunard, and Colline. The characters first
appeared in a series of short stories that Henri Murger published in the Parisian
journal Le Corsair between 1845 and 1849. Murger then collaborated with
Théodore Barrière on a play, La Vie de Bohème, which premiered in November
1849 at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris, and soon after gathered his stories
into a novelized version published in 1851 as Scènes de la Vie de Bohème.
Not surprisingly, by the 1890s, an era in which the arts found new inspiration
in the lives of the working class (Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana stands out
as an operatic example), Murger’s characters seemed perfectly suited for the
operatic stage. Not one, but two composers stepped up to the task—Puccini
and Ruggero Leoncavallo (of Pagliacci fame), who feuded openly about who
had the idea first. Resolution came in the form of two operas, with the same
title, premiered a year apart: Puccini’s, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa
and Luigi Illica, in Turin in 1896, Leoncavallo’s in Venice, 15 months later. To this
day, directors, filmmakers, and composers continue to be inspired by Murger’s
friends. Constantin Stanislavski staged Puccini’s opera in a famous production at
the Bolshoi Theater in 1927. Baz Luhrmann brought it to Broadway in 1992 and
then conflated the story with that of La Traviata in his 2001 film, Moulin Rouge!.
The opera itself has received multiple cinematic treatments, including in 1965
(by Franco Zeffirelli and Herbert von Karajan), 1988, and 2008 (starring Anna
Netrebko and Rolando Villazón). And its story was retold as a rock musical set in
1990s New York in Jonathan Larson’s Rent.
In contrast to the remarkable amiability of the characters in La Bohème,
the working relationship of the opera’s creators was vexed. Early in his career,
Puccini revealed himself to be a remorseless perfectionist, at his most extreme in
Manon Lescaut, which took a total of seven librettists (including publisher Giulio
Ricordi and the composer himself) to lift it off the ground. The labor of bringing
La Bohème to the stage, however, was marked less by issues of having too many
collaborators than by a passionate struggle among Puccini, his two librettists,
and Ricordi. Illica had finished the original scenario for the opera by 1894, but
the months preceding that watershed moment had been a painful succession
of arguments about the Latin Quarter scene and a now-discarded act set in a
courtyard. On October 6, 1893, Giacosa, feeling strangled by Puccini’s demands
and ready to throw in the towel, wrote to Ricordi claiming “artistic impotence.”
How remarkable, then, that despite such creative discord behind the scenes,
La Bohème unfolds so seamlessly and effortlessly from its opening notes. There
is no prelude, and the music erupts from the depths of the orchestra on a
single spring-loaded motive that defines the instability of the bohemians’ lives.

Visit metopera.org 39
 Program Note CONTINUED

The curtain rises swiftly on a scene in medias res, the first in a series of episodes
that tumble forth in quick succession, as characters improvise ways to overcome
hardship: Marcello works on his painting; Rodolfo burns the pages of his play to
heat the garret; Schaunard brings home the dinner; and the landlord, Benoit, is
tricked out of his rent.
What is the secret to such utter freshness and spontaneity? One answer is
that Puccini keeps the story moving, finding musical expression appropriate
to the characters and their station in life. For this composer, “real” people
simply could not sing in the formal Italian verse and musical structures that
had governed so many Italian operas that came before his. Instead, he
advances a more energetic and naturalistic repartee in which lyrical moments
arise seamlessly out of the drama. That is exactly what happens in the second
half of Act I, as the brief, intimate contact of hands groping in the dark for a
lost key moves Rodolfo and Mimì to reveal something of themselves to one
another in two of the opera’s greatest arias, “Che gelida manina” and “Sì, mi
chiamano Mimì.”
The tone shifts again, though, as it is Christmas Eve and the new lovers must
join friends in the Latin Quarter, in a square teeming with a “vast and motley
crowd of citizens, soldiers, serving girls, children, students, seamstresses,
gendarmes, etc.,” as the libretto says. In the hands of a lesser composer,
Rodolfo, Mimì, and their companions might have been lost in such tumult. But
here Puccini exercises his particular genius for manipulating large numbers
of people and devising transparent musical textures that shine a spotlight on
the characters he wants us to see and hear. At the center of it all is Musetta,
who delivers a siren song (the waltz “Quando m’en vo’”) that Marcello cannot
resist. As he falls into her arms, the bill arrives, and the bohemians disappear
into the crowd.
One of the most familiar—and original—scenes of La Bohème is Mimì’s death,
which differs significantly from the traditional “curtain deaths” of earlier operas.
A good example for comparison is La Traviata, whose consumptive heroine,
Violetta, is frequently thought of as a model for Mimì. Violetta, surrounded by
loved ones, dies with a cry of renewed joy, a tonic chord, and a final curtain in
fortissimo dynamics. When Mimì passes away, none of the characters on stage
even notices that she is gone until it’s too late. She has no final spasm, nor does
she collapse into a pair of loving arms. She sings no high notes; her friends have
busied themselves by heating medicine, adjusting lights, and plumping pillows;
there is no vigil, no stage directions that communicate the exact moment of her
death or how the singer is to enact it. The libretto does not even mark it with the
perfunctory phrase that defines dozens of melodramatic deaths in opera: “She
dies.” The only material indicator is in Puccini’s autograph score, where, in the
margins next to the measures of the death music, he ironically drew a skull and

40
crossbones. A highly choreographed “good death” was not to be for the likes
of his poor seamstress. Mimì only nods her head, “as one who is overcome by
sleep,” and thereafter the libretto notes only “silence.” In the score, a slowing
of the tempo leads to a “lunga pausa” just before the key changes from D-flat
major to B minor and the tempo to Andante lento sostenuto. Puccini adds a
subtle detail in the single cymbal struck in quadruple pianissimo with a mallet;
the diffuse sound seems to originate from and fade into the ether. Mimì is gone,
and the final curtain belongs to Rodolfo.

—Helen M. Greenwald
Helen M. Greenwald is chair of the department of music history at New England
Conservatory and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Opera.

Visit metopera.org 41
 MASTER
OF THE
HOUSE
As Falstaff, 1992
WINNIE KLOTZ / MET OPERA

As Dr. Dulcamara, with

Luciano Pavarotti, 1989
MET OPERA ARCHIVES

As Boris Godunov, 1987 As Benoit, 2017

JAMES HEFFERNAN / MET OPERA MARTY SOHL / MET OPERA

On September 21, 1967, Paul Plishka made his Met debut as the Monk in
Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. Fiy seasons later, the great American bass has
appeared in nearly 1,700 performances of 88 roles, including celebrated
portrayals of Philip II in Don Carlo, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Fiesco
in Simon Boccanegra, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Dr. Dulcamara in
L’Elisir d’Amore, and the title characters of Boris Godunov and Falstaff (the
latter of which marked his 25th anniversary with the company). Plishka sang
Colline in La Bohème in the inaugural Live from the Metropolitan Opera telecast
in 1977 and holds the company record for signing both Benoit and Alcindoro
in a single performance—a pairing that he has performed nearly 150 times
since 2001. During his golden-anniversary season at the Met, we congrat-
ulate Paul on his exceptional career.
The Cast

Marco Armiliato
conductor (genoa , italy)

this season  La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore, and Turandot at the Met; Il
Trovatore, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Andrea Chénier, Samson et Dalila, La Traviata, Rigoletto,
and Tosca at the Vienna State Opera; Rigoletto at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Andrea Chénier
and Tosca at the Bavarian State Opera; and La Fanciulla del West in Zurich.
met appearances  Since his 1998 debut conducting La Bohème, he has led more than 400
performances of 24 operas, including Cyrano de Bergerac, Manon Lescaut, Aida, Anna
Bolena, La Traviata, La Sonnambula, Tosca, Rigoletto, Francesca da Rimini, Ernani, Il
Barbiere di Siviglia, and La Fille du Régiment.
career highlights  He appears regularly at the Vienna State Opera, where he has
conducted Otello, L’Elisir d’Amore, La Fanciulla del West, Aida, Turandot, Manon Lescaut,
Simon Boccanegra, Don Pasquale, Roméo et Juliette, La Bohème, I Puritani, and Don
Carlo, among others. Other recent performances include Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia
and Manon Lescaut in concert at the Salzburg Festival, Madama Butterfly in Madrid and
Verona, Otello and La Traviata in Zurich, Lucia di Lammermoor in Barcelona, and Faust at
Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Susanna Phillips
soprano (huntsville, alabama )

this season  Musetta in La Bohème at the Met and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Birdie in Blitzstein’s Regina at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with
Music of the Baroque, and concert appearances with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, and Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
met appearances  Musetta (debut, 2008), Clémence in Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin,
Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Antonia/Stella in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Fiordiligi in Così
fan tutte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.
career highlights  Recent performances include Donna Anna in Zurich, Cleopatra in
Giulio Cesare with Boston Baroque, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at Lyric Opera of
Chicago. She has also sung Arminda in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera and the Countess in
Le Nozze di Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera, Donna Anna in Frankfurt, the Countess at the
Dallas Opera and in concert in Lisbon, and the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina
in L’Elisir d’Amore, and Stella in André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at Lyric Opera
of Chicago. She was the 2010 recipient of the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award, established
by Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman.
Visit metopera.org 43
 The Cast CONTINUED

Sonya Yoncheva
soprano (plovdiv, bulgaria )

this season  Mimì in La Bohème and the title roles of Tosca and Luisa Miller at the Met,
Elisabeth in Don Carlos and Mimì at the Paris Opera, Tosca in concert with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, Imogene in Bellini’s Il Pirata at La Scala, and Poppea in L’Incoronazione di
Poppea at the Salzburg Festival.
met appearances  Violetta in La Traviata, Desdemona in Otello, and Gilda in Rigoletto
(debut, 2013).
career highlights  Recent performances include Stephana in Giordano’s Siberia and the
title role of Mascagni’s Iris in concert in Montpellier, France; Mimì at La Scala; Tatiana in
Eugene Onegin at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the title
role of Norma at Covent Garden; Violetta at the Bavarian State Opera and Paris Opera;
the title role of Iolanta at the Paris Opera; and the title role of Alcina in concert in Versailles
and Monte Carlo. She has also sung Violetta at Staatsoper Berlin and in Zurich, Micaëla
in Carmen and Violetta at Covent Garden, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in Monte Carlo,
Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the Vienna State Opera and in concert in Madrid, and
Marguerite in Faust at Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera.

Michael Fabiano
tenor (montclair , new jersey)

this season  Rodolfo in La Bohème and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met, the
Duke in Rigoletto and Rodolfo at Covent Garden, des Grieux in Manon at San Francisco
Opera and in Bilbao, Corrado in Verdi’s Il Corsaro in Valencia, the Duke at LA Opera, and
Edgardo at Opera Australia.
met appearances  Alfredo in La Traviata, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Cassio in Otello, and
Raffaele in Stiffelio (debut, 2010).
career highlights  Recent performances include Don José in Carmen in Aix-en-Provence,
Jean in Massenet’s Hérodiade with Washington Concert Opera, the title role of Faust
at Houston Grand Opera, Jacopo in I Due Foscari in concert in Madrid, the title role of
Don Carlo at San Francisco Opera, the Duke at the Paris Opera, and Lenski in Eugene
Onegin at Covent Garden. He has also sung Rodolfo in Zurich and at the Canadian Opera
Company, the title role of Donizetti’s Poliuto and Alfredo at the Glyndebourne Festival,
Faust at the Paris Opera and Dutch National Opera, and Edgardo at the Paris Opera. He
was the 2014 recipient of the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award, established by Agnes Varis
and Karl Leichtman.
44
 Alexey Lavrov
baritone (pechora , russia )

this season  Schaunard in La Bohème, Silvio in Pagliacci, and Ping in Turandot at the Met.
met appearances  Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Dominik in Arabella, the Huntsman in
Rusalka, Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, the Herald in Otello, and a Flemish Deputy
in Don Carlo (debut, 2013).
career highlights  Recent performances include Tsarevich Afron in Rimsky-Korsakov’s
The Golden Cockerel in Madrid, Dr. Malatesta at Atlanta Opera, Silvio in Zurich, and the
title role of Rachmaninoff’s Aleko and Silvio at Opera Carolina. He has also sung Donald
in Billy Budd and Silvio in Santiago, Malatesta at Cincinnati Opera, Mercutio in Roméo
et Juliette at Lima’s Festival Internacional de Ópera Alejandro Granda, Demetrius in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream at Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music
Theatre, Robert in Iolanta and Silvio at St. Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre, the title
role of Eugene Onegin at Germany’s Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg Festival and on
tour with the Mikhailovsky Theatre in Japan, and a Flemish Deputy in Toulouse. He is a
graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Lucas Meachem
baritone (raleigh, north carolina )

this season  Marcello in La Bohème at the Met, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Houston

Grand Opera, Athanaël in Thaïs at Minnesota Opera, and the title role of Don Giovanni
in Dresden.
met appearances  Silvio in Pagliacci, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, and General Rayevsky
in War and Peace (debut, 2007).
career highlights  Recent performances include the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro in
Madrid, Toulouse, and San Sebastián, Spain; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Dallas
Opera; Chorèbe in Les Troyens at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale
at San Francisco Opera and Palm Beach Opera; the title role of Eugene Onegin in Berlin;
Germont in La Traviata in Birmingham; Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at San Francisco
Opera and in Oslo; Robert in Iolanta in concert in Monte Carlo; Marcello at Covent
Garden; and Figaro in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles at LA Opera. He has
also sung Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera,
Marcello at Lyric Opera of Chicago and in Kansas City, and Don Giovanni at San Francisco
Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival.

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Paul Plishka
bass (old forge, pennsylvania )

this season  Benoit and Alcindoro in La Bohème at the Met.

met appearances  He has sung nearly 1,700 performances of 88 roles with the Met since his
1967 debut as a Monk in La Gioconda, including Colline in La Bohème in the first Live from
the Metropolitan Opera telecast in 1977, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Dr. Bartolo in
Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dr. Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore, Fiesco in
Simon Boccanegra, Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Banquo in Macbeth, Philip II in Don
Carlo, Procida in I Vespri Siciliani, the Sacristan in Tosca, and the title roles of Boris Godunov
and Falstaff (which marked his 25th anniversary with the company).
career highlights  He has appeared regularly with major opera companies in such North
American cities as San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Baltimore, Houston,
Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Diego, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. In Europe, he has
performed at Covent Garden and La Scala and in Geneva, Munich, Hamburg, Barcelona,
Vienna, Berlin, Zurich, Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Concert appearances include engagements
with leading orchestras in New York, Houston, Toronto, Minnesota, and Boston.

Matthew Rose
bass (brighton, england)

this season  Colline in La Bohème and Oroveso in Norma at the Met, the Grand Inquisitor
in Don Carlo at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and concert appearances in Philadelphia, London,
and Rotterdam.
met appearances  Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, Leporello and Masetto in Don Giovanni,
the Night Watchman in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Colline (debut, 2011), Bottom in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Talbot in Maria Stuarda.
career highlights  Recent performances include Hunding in Die Walküre in concert at the
Edinburgh International Festival, Bottom at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Glyndebourne
Festival, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at
Covent Garden, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at English National Opera, Baron Ochs
at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Callistene in Donizetti’s Poliuto and Collatinus in Britten’s The
Rape of Lucretia at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
in Valencia. He has also sung Bottom at La Scala, Covent Garden, Houston Grand Opera,
and in Lyon; Talbot, Timur in Turandot, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at Covent Garden;
Henry VIII in Anna Bolena in Bordeaux; Leporello at Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Claggart
in Billy Budd at English National Opera.
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