**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**
The Met Broadcasts Massenet’s Thaïs from Earlier this Season,
Starring Ailyn Pérez and Gerald Finley in Stage Role Debuts
Saturday, January 20 at 1:00 p.m. ET
The 2017-18 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with Massenet’s Thaïs in a broadcast from November 11, 2017, starring American soprano Ailyn Pérez in her role debut as the glamorous courtesan and title character. Canadian baritone Gerald Finley gave his first staged performance as the monk Athanaël, in Massenet’s intriguing exploration of the conflict between religious faith and sensual desire. French maestro Emmanuel Villaume conducted a cast that also featured tenor Jean-François Borras as Nicias and bass-baritone David Pittsinger as Palémon, in the Met’s first presentation of this opera in nearly a decade. Thaïs will be heard over Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 20.
Ailyn Pérez performs three leading roles at the Met this season – in addition to Thaïs, she is singing the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and will star this spring as Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Pérez made her company debut in 2015 as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen. A 2016 winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, she appeared that year as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème, and returned the following season in the same opera but as Mimì. Recently, she was a featured artist in the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall, and later this season, she will sing Micaëla in Carmen at the Bavarian State Opera, and Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, and Zurich Opera.
Gerald Finley previous sang the role of Athanaël in concert at the Châtelet in Paris. His eight roles at the Met have included the title characters of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Mozart's Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, J. Robert Oppenheimer in the Met premiere of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, and Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. His recent performance in the title role of Aribert Reimann’s Lear at the Salzburg Festival attracted outstanding reviews. Upcoming engagements include his role debut as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and concert performances as Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Jean-François Borras previously appeared as Nicias at the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo. He made his Met debut in 2014 in the title role of Massenet’s Werther and returned as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Rodolfo in La Bohème, a role he reprises this season at the Met, Teatro San Carlo, and Vienna State Opera. Also this season, he stars in the title role of Gounod’s Faust at the Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera, and as Riccardo in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera at the Bavarian State Opera.
David Pittsinger has sung 11 different roles at the Met since his 1997 company debut, including Colline in La Bohème, the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, a role he also sang recently with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and reprises this season with the Dutch National Opera.
Emmanuel Villaume made his Met debut in 2004 conducting Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. His subsequent performances with the company have included Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, Carmen, Massenet’s Manon, and Roméo et Juliette. Later this season, he will lead Faust at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Korngold’s The Ring of Polykrates and Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Dallas Opera, where he serves as Music Director. He also leads Haydn’s Die Schöpfung this season as Chief Conductor of the Prague Philharmonia.
The single intermission will include artist interviews.
THE STARS OF THAÏS
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
Click here to download photos and videos from Thaïs.
About the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 87th 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. Mary Jo Heath hosts, 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.Metopera.org/SaturdayMatineeBroadcasts 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: Meg Boyle
Metropolitan Opera
(212) 870-7457