Met Opera Guild Podcast

Met Opera Guild Podcast episodes:

• 07.05.2023

  Ep. 224: Expanding the Canon Part III - Foreign Works

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have the last of three episodes exploring how the operatic canon is being expanded, featuring Guild lecturer Matthew Timmermans. In this final episode, he will dive into how the Met’s...

  
• 06.21.2023

  Ep. 223: Expanding the Canon Part II - Star-Studded Revivals

  Today, we have the second of three episodes exploring how the operatic canon is being expanded, featuring Guild lecturer Matthew Timmermans. In this episode, he will dive into star-studded revivals —looking at somewhat unknown operas that are often revived with all-star...

  
• 06.07.2023

  Ep. 222: Expanding the Canon Part I - New Works

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have the first of three episodes exploring how the operatic canon is being expanded, featuring Guild lecturer Matthew Timmermans. In this first episode, he will dive into two new productions...

  
• 05.31.2023

  Ep. 221: Talking About Opera on Die Zauberflöte

  On today’s episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we are delving into our archives to explore Die Zauberflöte with the late renowned music scholar Father Owen Lee. Die Zauberflöte is a sublime and magical fairytale full of mysticism, love,...

  
• 05.17.2023

  Ep. 220: Opera Outlook on Don Giovanni

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we are joined by lecturer Phillip Gainsley as he explores the music and drama of Don Giovanni. Based on the legend of Don Juan, Mozart’s masterpiece has remained on the operatic...

  
• 04.26.2023

  Ep. 219: Opera Outlook on Champion

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we are joined by lecturer Tanisha Mitchell as she discusses the music and real-life themes of Champion, an “opera in jazz.”

  
• 03.29.2023

  Ep. 218: The Mythos and Myths of Wagner's Male Characters Part II

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have the second of two episodes exploring the mythos and myths of Wagner’s male characters, featuring Guild lecturer Desiree Mays. In this second episode, she will continue to explore the...

  
• 03.22.2023

  Ep. 217: The Mythos and Myths of Wagner's Male Characters Part I

  Mythos, myth, legend and folk art were all topics that captivated Richard Wagner when he was no longer satisfied with realistic situations and the confines of time and space. On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have...

  
• 03.15.2023

  Ep. 216: Opera Outlook on Lohengrin

  Lohengrin is a pivotal work in Wagner’s stylistic development, showcased by his tremendous ability to represent the psychology of his characters through music. Lohengrin returned to the Met stage this season, in a brand-new production by director François Girard, whose...

  
• 03.08.2023

  Ep. 215: L'Elisir d'Amore

  On today's episode of the Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we are joined by soprano and the Guild's School Programs Senior Associate, Alyson Sheehan, as she discusses the bel canto classic, L'Elisir d'Amore.

  
• 02.22.2023

  Ep. 214: Operatic Singing And Recording

  On today's Met Opera Guild podcast, we are joined by musicologist and lecturer Diana Maron as she discusses the evolution of early recording technology and opera.

  
• 02.15.2023

  Ep. 213: Verdi's Merry Masterpiece – Falstaff

  Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff, is based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Part 1, but it did not become a huge success until Arturo Toscanini insisted on reviving it at La Scala, and later The Metropolitan Opera,...

  
• 01.24.2023

  Ep. 212: Talking about Opera on Dialogues des Carmélites

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have a historic recording from our Talking About Opera archives featuring Guild Lecturer Father Owen Lee. The musical examples come from the Virgin Classics recording with Catherine Dubosc, Rita Gorr,...

  
• 01.11.2023

  Ep. 211: Opera Outlook on Fedora

  Returning to the Met after an absence of 25 years, Giordano’s opera Fedora is full of murder, political intrigue and many more melodramatic twists and turns. Perhaps best known for its famous tenor aria, “Amor ti vieta,” the opera is...

  
• 12.07.2022

  Ep. 210: Opera Outlook The Hours

  Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and made a household name by the Oscar-winning 2002 film version starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, this powerful story concerns three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner...

  
• 11.23.2022

  Ep. 209: Don Carlos Talking about Opera

  On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we have a historic recording from our Talking About Opera archives featuring Guild Lecturer Albert Innaurato.

  
• 11.09.2022

  Ep. 208: Opera Outlook Peter Grimes

  On this episode of the Met Opera Guild Podcast, lecturer Michael Bolton explores Britten’s magnificent meditation on isolation and persecution.

  
• 10.19.2022

  Ep. 207: Opera Outlook Medea

  Cherubini was a child prodigy who composed several works by the time he was thirteen, before turning his sights to the operatic stage. Perhaps his most famous work, Medea opened the 2022-23 Met Opera season, marking the company premiere of...

  
• 10.05.2022

  Ep. 206: Opera Outlook Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

  Based on Nikolai Leskov’s novella, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, and seen as one of the most significant operas of the 20th century, Shostakovich’s work returns to the Met this season, featuring soprano Svetlana Sozdateleva and tenor Brandon Javonovich...

  
• 08.17.2022

  Ep. 205: Met Opera Guild Season Announcement

  Opera Outlooks, Master Classes, Boot Camps, and more are back LIVE and online at the Metropolitan Opera Guild! Find out more about the exciting array of Met Opera Guild learning opportunities in this season on today’s episode of The Metropolitan...

  
• 07.27.2022

  Ep. 204: Opera and Greek Drama Part IV

  In the last part of our series Opera and Greek Drama, we’ll conclude our journey of Greek drama after the Trojan War with arguably the most violent and bloodthirsty of Greek myths, the saga of Agamemnon. Lecturer Matthew Timmermans will...

  
• 07.20.2022

  Ep. 203: Opera and Greek Drama Part III

  Virgil’s Aeneid, perhaps the most famous adaptation of a Greek myth, tells the story of the Trojan war and later Aeneas’s journey to Carthage. The appropriately epic nature of this poem beginning with Troy’s destruction and ending tragically with Dido's...

  
• 07.13.2022

  Ep. 202: Opera and Greek Drama Part II

  In this podcast episode, join Guild lecturer Matthew Timmermans as he chronologically traces how Greek myths have been adapted by putting them in their historical context, and by comparing and contrasting performances.

  
• 07.06.2022

  Ep. 201: Opera and Greek Drama Part I

  Published histories of opera differ in a myriad of ways, but one thing that they all agree upon is that opera was born out of Greek drama. On this episode of the Met Opera Guild Podcast, we have the first...

  
• 06.22.2022

  Ep. 200: Lucia and Madness Study Day- Part II

  We have reached podcast episode #200! In today’s episode of the Metropolitan Opera Guild podcast, lecturer Dr. Mark Pottinger leads us through the second part of his Study Day all about Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and the fascinating history of...

  
• 06.15.2022

  Ep. 199: Lucia and Madness Study Day Part I

  On today’s episode of the Metropolitan Opera Guild podcast, lecturer Dr. Mark Pottinger uses Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor as a jumping-off point to take a deeper look at madness, murder, and the supernatural.

  
• 06.02.2022

  Ep. 198: Opera Outlook on Hamlet

  Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most influential and important works of literature and has inspired ballets, orchestral works, choral works, and more than one opera. On today’s episode of the Metropolitan Opera Guild podcast, lecturer Michael Bolton tackles the...

  
• 05.18.2022

  Ep. 197: Opera Outlook on Lucia di Lammermoor

  From the vocal fireworks featured in the famous “mad scene” to the popularized sextet Lucia continues to fascinate audiences today. Many sopranos have taken the role, including, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Renata Scotto, Lisette Oropesa and the current Lucia, Nadine...

  
• 03.23.2022

  Ep.196: Opera Outlook Don Carlos

  For the first time in the company’s history, the Metropolitan Opera is presenting Verdi’s tragic opera Don Carlos in its original five act French version. Set during the period of the tumultuous Spanish Inquisition, this opera boasts a super...

  
• 03.10.2022

  Ep. 195: Opera Outlook: Ariadne auf Naxos

  Of Strauss' many operatic, symphonic, and vocal compositions, his opera Ariadne auf Naxos has remained a staple of the operatic repertoire for decades. Considered by many to be his master work, it’s intricate play-within-a-play structure tackles the ideas of the...

  
• 01.26.2022

  Ep. 194: Talking About Opera on Rigoletto

  Rigoletto was based on Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse, literally, “the king enjoys himself.” However, since opera houses were under strict control of government censors, it was too controversial for a king to be portrayed as a serial seducer....

  
• 12.01.2021

  Ep. 191: Opera Outlook: Eurydice with W. Anthony Sheppard

  With music by Genius grant recipient Matthew Aucoin, libretto by recipient Sarah Ruhl, and stage direction by recipient Mary Zimmerman, Eurydice is a new examination of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice’s point of view. This co-commission...

  
• 11.24.2021

  Ep. 190: Meistersinger Study Day Part II with Desirée Mays

  Instead of all of the mythological figures we are used to seeing in Wagner’s operas, the story of Die Meistersinger is set in a community of artisans. The main character, Hans Sachs is even based on a real life historical...

  
• 11.18.2021

  Ep. 189: Meistersinger Study Day Part I with Desirée Mays

  Though thought of as Wagner’s only comic opera, Die Meistersinger can also be seen as an artistic manifesto. With a six-hour running time, Die Meistersinger is the longest opera in the Met’s repertory. On today's episode of The Metropolitan Opera...

  
• 11.03.2021

  Ep. 188: Opera Boot Camp Introduction to Operatic Staging Promo with Matthew Timmermans

  From more traditional staging to more boundary-pushing productions, operatic staging has been evolving and changing since the advent of opera. In fact, what we see on the stage can directly affect what the audience hears and understands, and vice versa....

  
• 10.20.2021

  Ep. 187: Opera Outlook: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

  Featuring a score by renowned jazz musician Terence Blanchard, and a libretto by actor and director Kasi Lemmons, Fire Shut Up in My Bones was this year’s Opening Night performance, marking the return of live opera to the Met stage...

  
• 10.06.2021

  Ep. 186: Opera Outlook: Boris Godunov

  Modest Mussorgsky sought to create a national school of Russian music, free from western influences. His most notable work, Boris Godunov, was initially brutally rejected by the board of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg in 1871. However, it went...

  
• 09.08.2021

  Ep. 185: LCE Season Announcement

  A brand new season of Metropolitan Opera Guild programs is ready to go on sale next week! After a successful season of virtual programming, we are excited to return with a combination of in-person and virtual events.

  
• 07.28.2021

  Ep. 184: Great Divas I Have Seen Part IV with Ira Siff

  By turns regal and opulent, rich and astounding, the operatic diva has the ability to move you with performances that you will remember for the rest of your life. In the final episode of our four-part series, we’re joined by...

  
• 07.14.2021

  Ep. 183: Great Divas I Have Seen Part III with Ira Siff

  In today’s episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild podcast, we are joined by lecturer Ira Siff to discuss his experiences and memories of watching Marilyn Horne perform, and divas Shirley Verrett, Montserrat Caballe, Magda Olivero, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Virginia Zeani!

  
• 06.30.2021

  Ep. 182: Great Divas I Have Seen Part II with Ira Siff

  In today’s episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, join Ira Siff as he discusses diva powerhouses like Maria Callas, Renata Scotto, and the incomparable Leontyne Price.

  
• 06.16.2021

  Ep. 181: Great Divas I Have Seen Part I with Ira Siff

  Worshipped, adored, and celebrated for their singing, the operatic diva has been thrilling audiences since the beginning of opera as an art form. In today’s episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast, we join lecturer Ira Siff as he tells...

  
• 06.02.2021

  Ep. 180: Opera and the Sea with Desirée Mays Part II

  Whether you consider yourself a Wagnerian, or perhaps you are more drawn to the 20th Century nature of Benjamin Britten’s music, the sea has inspired some of opera’s most creative works. On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera Guild Podcast,...

  
• 05.26.2021

  Ep. 179: Opera and the Sea with Desirée Mays Part I

  The sea provides a vast array of opportunities for storytelling in operas. Despite being composed at different times and locations, composers and librettists have adapted the theme of the sea in unique ways. On this episode of The Metropolitan Opera...

  
• 05.05.2021

  Ep. 178: Maria Callas Course Promo Episode

  How did Maria Callas become a household name, and what happens when a singer’s vocal powers diminish? Who were Maria Callas’s contemporaries, and what stars have carried on her vocal legacy? Today lecturer Matthew Timmermans discusses Maria Callas and the...

  
• 04.28.2021

  Ep. 177: Opera in England Part II

  Known for operatic works such as Peter Grimes, Turn of the Screw, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Benjamin Britten drastically modernized opera in England, evolving it to become incredibly important in the operatic canon. Today on the Metropolitan Opera Guild...

  
• 04.21.2021

  Ep. 176: Die Frau ohne Schatten Talking About Opera

  “Die Frosch” is the German word for “The Frog.” While Strauss may have playfully given this unfavorable nickname to Die Frau Ohne Schatten due to the many difficulties in staging the opera, he also regarded it as one of...

  
• 04.09.2021

  Ep. 175: Opera in England Part I

  John Blow, Thomas Arne, Henry Purcell, and George Fredric Handel all had great success composing in England. They all also have music strongly associated with British Monarchy - Blow, Arne, and Purcell all wrote Coronation Anthems and Arne wrote: “Rule...

  
• 04.01.2021

  Ep. 174: Jazz and Opera Part II with Deidre Bird

  Featuring jazz rhythms, blues, banjos, and African American spirituals, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess challenged pre-existing notions of what an American opera could be. Although Porgy and Bess has a complicated history, Gershwin’s innovative music has had a lasting impact on...

  
• 03.24.2021

  Ep. 173: Jazz and Opera Part I with Deidre Bird

  In recent years, DiDonato, Racette, and Upshaw have all released jazz albums, such as Songplay, Diva on Detour, and Winter Morning Walks. Sometimes we think that singers are either categorized as opera singers, or as singers of popular music, including...