Sondra Radvanovsky to Appear in Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, Makes HD Broadcast Performance Debut

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Sondra Radvanovsky, called "today's leading Verdi soprano" by Time Out New York, will reprise her role as Leonora in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Il Trovatore this April. The production is a return of David McVicar's popular staging, which premiered at the Met in 2009 and was praised by the New York Times for being "clear-headed, psychologically insightful and fluid." Il Trovatore will run April 20, 23, 27, and 30, and also stars Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series The Met: Live in HD will continue its 5th season with Il Trovatore. This will be Radvanovsky's Live in HD performance debut, though she made her HD hosting debut during the broadcast of La Fanciulla del West in January 2011. For a description of her experience in the Los Angeles Times, please click here. Selling 2.4 million tickets last year, the hugely successful Live in HD series broadcasts Met productions in over 1,500 venues in 46 countries, including new additions in Egypt, Portugal, and Spain. Opera lovers outside of New York will be able to experience Il Trovatore at their local movie theater on April 30. This performance will also be broadcast on the radio over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Sondra Radvanovsky and Dmitri Hvorostovsky are thrilled to come together again for these Metropolitan Opera performances. They recently released an album of scenes from Giuseppe Verdi's operas with solo encores on the Delos label. The disc was recorded with the Philharmonia of Russia under the baton of Constantine Orbelian. "It's hard to keep up the lament about the dearth of great, or even just interesting, opera singers today when you encounter American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky," wrote Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun during Radvanovsky and Hvorostovsky's joint tour last season. The electricity between the two is palpable in the fervent duet scenes from Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera and Simon Boccanegra presented on this disc. The album also includes a set of solo encores: Hvorostovsky sings a favorite among his signature arias, “O Carlo, ascolta,” from Don Carlo and Radvanovsky performs a memorable glimpse of the Tosca that audiences in New York and Milan heard live this season.

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