Natalie Dessay Returns To The Met In Lucia di Lammermoor 2/24

Natalie Dessay will return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor for a run of performances beginning February 24. Lucia is one of Dessay's most acclaimed portrayals, first seen at the Met in the 2007 premiere of Mary Zimmerman's production.

Dessay is joined by three co-stars who are singing their roles for the first time at the Met: Joseph Calleja as Edgardo, Ludovic Tézier as Enrico, and Kwangchul Youn as Raimondo. Patrick Summers, the Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, conducts his first Met performances of the opera since 2002. The March 19 matinee will be transmitted live through The Met: Live in HD, allowing audiences in 46 countries to experience Dessay's demented brilliance in the role for the first time.

Dessay's 2007 Met role debut as Lucia earned the soprano-a popular Met Zerbinetta, Olympia, and Juliette-excellent reviews that praised her dramatic commitment as well as her vocal performance in the demanding role. As Lucia's lover Edgardo, Joseph Calleja will add a sixth role to his growing Met repertory; his performances in the house have included the title character in Bartlett Sher's new production premiere of Les Contes d'Hoffmann and the lead tenor roles in this season's revivals of Rigoletto and La Bohéme. French baritone Ludovic Tézier, last heard at the Met as Count Almaviva in the 2009 revival of Le Nozze di Figaro, will sing his first Met performances of Enrico, the villainous brother who forces Lucia into an arranged marriage for his own financial gain. Bass Kwangchul Youn, whose past Met roles include Landgraf Hermann in Tannhäuser, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, and Ferrando in the 2009 new production premiere of Il Trovatore, will make his Met role debut as the chaplain Raimondo. Conductor Summers, who also leads the revival of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride this month, has conducted a varied repertory at the Met that includes recent revivals of Madama Butterfly, Salome, I Puritani, and Rodelinda.
Mary Zimmerman's production features sets by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Mara Blumenfeld, lighting by T.J. Gerckens, and choreography by Daniel Pelzig. On March 12, Stephen Gaertner will sing Enrico; he sang Act III of the role at a 2007 performance, but this will be his first time singing the full role at the Met.

Live Broadcasts Around the World
Lucia di Lammermoor will be experienced by millions of people around the world this season in movie theaters, on the radio and on the internet, through distribution platforms the Met has established with various media partners.