agrippina

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

conductor Opera in three acts

Harry Bicket
Libretto by Vincenzo Grimani
production
Sir David McVicar Saturday, February 29, 2020
set and costume designer
1:00–4:45 pm
John Macfarlane
lighting designer
New Production
Paule Constable
choreographer
Andrew George

The production of Agrippina was made possible

by a generous gift of Dunard Fund USA

This production was originally created by the

Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie / De Munt Brussels
and adapted by the Metropolitan Opera
general manager
Peter Gelb
jeanette lerman - neubauer Today’s performance and Live in HD transmission
music director
Yannick Nézet-Séguin are dedicated to the memory of Mirella Freni.
 2019–20 season

The seventh Metropolitan Opera performance of

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL’S

This performance
is being broadcast
live over The
Toll Brothers–
agrippina
Metropolitan Opera
International Radio
Network, sponsored
by Toll Brothers, co n duc to r
America’s luxury Harry Bicket
®
homebuilder , with
in order of vocal appearance
generous long-
term support from ag r i ppi n a , e m pr e s s o f r o m e p o ppe a ( p o ppa e a ),
the Annenberg Joyce DiDonato a r o m a n l a dy

Foundation and Brenda Rae

GRoW @ Annenberg, n er o n e ( n er o ),
The Neubauer Family ag r i ppi n a’ s s o n fr o m cl au d i o ( cl au d i u s ),
a pr e v i o u s m a r r i ag e e m per o r o f r o m e
Foundation, the Kate Lindsey* Matthew Rose
Vincent A. Stabile
Endowment for pa l l a n t e ( pa l l a s ),
Broadcast Media, a g en er a l
and contributions Duncan Rock continuo

from listeners harpsichord    Harry Bicket

n a r ci s o ( n a r ci s su s ), cello    David Heiss
worldwide.
a p o l i t i ci a n theorbo / archlute / guitar  

Nicholas Tamagna Daniel Swenberg

There is no John Lenti
Toll Brothers– l e s b o ( l e s b u s ), a s er va n t harpsichord ripieno
Metropolitan o f e m per o r cl au d i o and onstage solo

Opera Quiz in Christian Zaremba Bradley Brookshire

List Hall today.
ot to n e ( ot h o ), co m m a n d er
o f t h e i m per i a l a r m y
This performance is
also being broadcast Iestyn Davies
live on Metropolitan
Opera Radio on
SiriusXM channel 75.

Saturday, February 29, 2020, 1:00–4:45PM

 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.
The Met: Live in HD series is supported by Rolex.

Musical Preparation Gareth Morrell, Bradley Brookshire,

and Dimitri Dover*
Assistant Stage Directors Jonathon Loy, Rory Pelsue,
Marcus Shields, and J. Knighten Smit
Met Titles Christopher Bergen
Italian Coach Hemdi Kfir
Scenery, properties, and electrical props constructed and
painted by Metropolitan Opera Shops
Costumes executed by Metropolitan Opera Costume
Department
Wigs and Makeup executed by Metropolitan Opera
Wig and Makeup Department

Agrippina, HWV 6, is performed from the Hallische

Händel-Ausgabe version, edited by John E. Sawyer; used
by arrangement with European American Music Distributors
Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for Bärenreiter-Verlag,
publisher and copyright owner.

“City Street Reflections” supplied by Xin Zhou via Getty Images

This performance is made possible in part by public funds from

the New York State Council on the Arts.

Before the performance begins, please switch off cell phones

and other electronic devices.

The Met will be recording and simulcasting audio/video

footage in the opera house today. If you do not want us
to use your image, please tell a Met staff member.
* Graduate of the
Lindemann Young Artist
Development Program

Yamaha is the
Official Piano of the Met Titles
Metropolitan Opera. To activate, press the red button to the right of the screen in front of
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Visit metopera.org usher at intermission.
 Synopsis

Act I
The Roman Emperor Claudio is due to return to Rome in triumph after the
conquest of Britain. His wife, the Empress Agrippina, has received secret
information that his ship has capsized in a storm, and the emperor is presumed
dead. Driven by ambition for her son from a former marriage, Nerone, she urges
him to win popular favor and be seen doing good deeds around the city. She
next recruits two of Claudio’s freedmen, Pallante and Narciso, to her cause,
promising sexual favors to each one in return. Nerone’s charity work goes down
well in the Forum with the people of Rome, and Pallante and Narciso acclaim
him as the obvious successor to Claudio, should the day come. Agrippina arrives
and breaks the shocking news of Claudio’s death at sea. Pallante and Narciso
immediately hail Nerone as the new Caesar, and Agrippina quickly agrees. At
that moment, Claudio’s servant Lesbo rushes in with the exciting news that the
emperor has been saved from the waves by the Roman officer Ottone and has
landed safely on the Italian shore. Feigning joy, Agrippina welcomes Ottone,
but she and her son are dumbstruck when Ottone announces that Claudio has
rewarded his valor by naming him as his successor. In private, Ottone confides
to Agrippina that he loves the beautiful Poppea and asks her to intercede with
her on his behalf. Agrippina knows that Claudio is also pursuing Poppea and
sees a way to destroy Ottone. Lesbo visits Poppea and tells her, overheard by
Agrippina, that the emperor has already entered the city in secret to spend the
night with her rather than his wife. Poppea admits to herself that it is Ottone
she longs for, but Agrippina arrives and tells her that Ottone has betrayed
her, giving her up to Claudio in his ambition to gain the throne. She advises
Poppea to take revenge by refusing Claudio’s advances, accusing the jealous
and possessive Ottone of standing in their way. Poppea does as she’s told when
she meets with Claudio, adding that Ottone’s pride is making him behave as de-
facto emperor already. Claudio promises to punish Ottone, but the approach of
Agrippina interrupts his amorous pursuit of Poppea. The empress congratulates
her protégée, but Poppea is torn by what she has set into motion.

Act II
Pallante and Narciso compare notes and discover that Agrippina has been
playing them both. They decide to work together as events unfold. Ottone
proudly anticipates the announcement of his succession to the throne as Claudio
officially enters the city in triumph. But as the emperor is congratulated on his
conquest, he suddenly and publicly turns on Ottone, declaring him a traitor. In
turn, the others—including Agrippina and, to his astonishment, Poppea—walk
away in disgust from Ottone, leaving him in uncomprehending despair.

Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 2:40PM)

36
Act II (continued)
Poppea’s uneasiness about her part in Ottone’s downfall torments her. Ottone
unexpectedly enters, and Poppea hides, pretending to be asleep when Ottone
discovers her. She seemingly walks in her sleep, revealing Agrippina’s plot and
accusing Ottone of infidelity. Ottone defends himself, and Poppea realizes that
Agrippina has deceived her. Abandoning pretense, she tells Ottone to visit her later
and begins to plot revenge on Agrippina. Lesbo arrives to tell her that Claudio is
impatient to arrange another rendezvous. Poppea sees an opportunity and agrees.
When Nerone enters, she lures him into an assignation at her apartment that night.
Agrippina, meanwhile, is full of fear that Pallante and Narciso will betray her to
Claudio, that Poppea will see through her lies, and that Ottone might still present
a threat. She manages to use her charms to persuade first Pallante then Narciso
back to her cause, cajoling each of them to plot the murder of the other and of
Ottone. Having taken care of three enemies, she turns to Claudio, but he proves
harder to persuade when she urges him to nominate Nerone as his successor to
block the threat of an insurrection led by Ottone. Lesbo suddenly enters to whisper
to Claudio that Poppea is expecting him. Desperate to leave, he capitulates to his
wife’s nagging and agrees to name Nerone.

Act III
Ottone arrives at Poppea’s apartment, and she hides him in a closet, telling him
that he will witness her revenge so long as he controls himself and stays quiet. An
amorous Nerone arrives, but Poppea hides him in another closet on the pretext
that she is expecting a visit from his mother. When Claudio now enters, Poppea
complains that he has mistakenly ruined the wrong man; it is Nerone, not Ottone,
who is Claudio’s jealous rival. Claudio is suspicious and incredulous, but Poppea
reveals Nerone’s hiding place. The emperor angrily dismisses his stepson. When
Poppea begs him also to leave, pretending fear of Agrippina’s revenge on behalf
of her son, Claudio storms out. Poppea and Ottone are reconciled. Nerone tells
his mother about Poppea’s treachery, and Agrippina pours scorn on her son for his
credulity. Meanwhile, Pallante and Narciso, desperate to save themselves, reveal
Agrippina’s plots to Claudio. The emperor confronts his wife with her misdeeds,
but she manages to extricate herself with an elaborate and brilliant defense. She
accuses Claudio in return of infidelity with Poppea. He insists that Nerone is actually
Poppea’s lover and orders guards to have the others brought before him. Claudio
plays with everyone’s love and ambition, throwing Poppea into Nerone’s arms and
nominating Ottone once more as his successor. Ottone refuses the throne to keep
Poppea. Nerone would be happy with both. Ultimately, it is Poppea who decides
things, declaring her love for Ottone. Claudio blesses the union of the lovers and
cedes the throne to Nerone. Agrippina is triumphant. Claudio prays for the future
contentment of Rome.

Visit metopera.org 37
 In Focus

George Frideric Handel

Agrippina
Premiere: Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice, 1709
This early Italian opera by Handel was a success that secured the composer’s
international reputation. While he continued to develop artistically for the
next 50 years, his full genius is perfectly evident in this first great operatic
accomplishment. In Agrippina, Handel and his librettist—cardinal and diplomat
Vincenzo Grimani—created a sophisticated political and social satire about
merciless power struggles in ancient Rome. But despite its ancient setting,
the opera, like any good satire, is not really about the past. Audiences at the
premiere would have understood references to the emperor to be digs at the
contemporary ruler of Rome, the pope, with whom Grimani sometimes grappled
over matters of state. And unlike later opera-seria librettists who stressed virtues
in idealized characters, Grimani preferred a wryly perceptive look at people as
they really are. His characters are flawed but not absurdly evil, and struggle with
the conflict between lofty ideals and their own base desires. Today, the issues
at stake in Agrippina—the power plays, sexual politics, and cults of personality
played out against a fickle public—continue to resonate.

The Creators
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was born in Germany, trained extensively in
the music capitals of Italy, and spent most of his brilliant career in London. While
his great choral and orchestral works have remained extraordinarily popular up
to the present day, his theatrical creations largely disappeared from the world’s
stages for almost two centuries. During the later decades of the 20th century, a
widespread reassessment of his operas brought these works to the attention of
contemporary audiences. Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani (1652 or 1655–1710) was
a career diplomat who also supplied libretti for opera composers, the text for
Agrippina being his most famous.

The Setting
Agrippina was originally set in Rome, late in the reign of the Emperor Claudius
(d. 54 CE), a time of great struggles for the throne and all the power and
splendor associated with imperial Roman power. Historical and legendary tales
of the title character have long been a lurid source of scandalous reportage
and speculation. Sir David McVicar’s staging updates the action to the current
day: an era in which sly posturing and questionable tactics continue to drive
political discourse.

38
The Music
Handel’s inventive musical style is the perfect vehicle for the complex ideas of
this drama: Like imperial corruption itself, the score can dazzle with elegant
splendor even while exposing the devious machinations under the surface.
Although there are ensembles scattered throughout the score, the basic unit
of this work is the A–B–A da-capo aria: There is a first section, a central bridge,
and a restatement of the original section with some degree of variation and
ornamentation. The musical miracle is in the diversity of expression that Handel
achieves within this structure. He also uses specific voice types to express
character. Agrippina’s somewhat gullible husband, the bass Claudio, is musically
more lumbering and dense, sometimes even comical, than the swift-witted
women and flighty, high-voiced men around him. Handel wrote the remarkably
virtuous Ottone for a female contralto (as opposed to a castrato), and the deep
tone expresses earnestness well. Conversely, Agrippina’s depraved son Nerone
was originally a high castrato (now sung by a soprano), and this, as well as the
rhythm of his aria (6/8, typically used for country dances and other rustic music),
have faux-naïve and randy qualities. The manipulative lover Poppea, sung by a
lyric soprano, has the frankly seductive lines of Act I’s aria “Vaghe perle,” when
she adorns herself, as well as the more substantial (and genuinely tender) aria
sung to her love Ottone, “Bel piacere è godere.” As in all of the composer’s
operas, supreme vocal virtuosity is expected and required to express the drama,
nowhere more on display than in Agrippina’s climactic fury aria “Pensieri, voi
mi tormentate.”

Mirella Freni, 1935–2020

Today’s performance, which is also being
seen in cinemas around the world as
part of the Met’s Live in HD series, is
dedicated to the memory of Mirella Freni,
the remarkable Italian soprano who died
earlier this month. Her extraordinarily
beautiful voice and intense, Italianate
interpretations captivated Met audiences
from her 1965 debut to a gala celebrating
her 40th year with the company in 2005.
Freni’s artistry was impeccable, and
she was admired and beloved by her
fellow artists and company members. KEN HOWARD / MET OPER A

Visit metopera.org 39
 Program Note

P
remiered in Venice on December 26, 1709, Agrippina was the first great
success of George Frideric Handel’s career. In a city where opera had
thrived since its earliest days roughly a hundred years earlier, where Claudio
Monteverdi had flourished, and where dozens of new operas debuted every
season, the enthusiasm it created was astonishing, especially for a very young
composer who was not even Italian. The 24-year-old Saxon-born composer had
arrived in the country three years earlier, and Agrippina was only the fourth opera
he’d written. Not yet the portly, bewigged icon we see in old engravings, he was
a handsome and ambitious young man with an uncanny ability to adapt rapidly
to a variety of international cultures, as well as the prodigious musical gifts to
capitalize on every opportunity he encountered.
Handel’s first biographer, John Mainwaring, described the scene at the Teatro
San Giovanni Grisostomo the night of the premiere: “The theater at almost every
pause resounded with shouts of ‘Viva il caro Sassone!’ (‘Long live the beloved
Saxon!’). They were thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style.” To
meet the clamor for tickets, 27 performances were immediately scheduled. And
because of the prestige of a Venetian success, Handel’s fame rapidly spread to
other European cities. In another year and a half, his Rinaldo would make him the
toast of London.
Despite his youth, Handel had already traveled far—literally as well as
artistically—to build his reputation. Born in the Upper Saxon city of Halle, he had
moved to Hamburg, a city with a lively theatrical and musical life, before he turned
20. There, he wrote and premiered his first opera, Almira.
But despite the considerable operatic opportunities of Hamburg, Handel knew
the place to become a master of his craft was Italy. Late in 1706, assisted by money
from his father’s estate, he moved on to Florence and Rome, where he made the
most of his abilities as a phenomenally quick learner of both the Italian language
and the Italian musical styles—especially as epitomized by Arcangelo Corelli and
Alessandro Scarlatti, who served as his artistic models. Equally important for his
rapid rise was his talent for winning friends (both Scarlatti and his son Domenico
among them) and making important connections with the aristocracy.
After a brief stay in Florence, Handel transferred to Rome, which provided
plentiful opportunities for patronage along with a significant obstacle: ruled by
the papal court, the city permitted no staged opera performances. Nevertheless,
the ecclesiastical courts sponsored an impressive concert life of secular as well as
sacred music, with particular emphasis on the vocal cantata, which in its parade
of dramatic recitatives and da-capo arias differed little from the operas of the
day. Writing approximately 100 cantatas in less than three years, Handel honed
his skills setting the Italian language while developing a powerfully expressive
vocal style. Indeed, one of his secular cantatas, Agrippina Condotta a Morire
(Agrippina Led to her Death), previewed the opera to come, though it was tragic

40
rather than satirical in nature. (Historically, after she enabled Nero to secure the
throne, Agrippina’s continuing dominance over him enraged him, and he had
her assassinated in 59 CE.) The scores of these cantatas would provide Handel
with a rich quarry of thematic ideas for both operas and oratorios for the rest
of his career.
The excellence of Handel’s cantatas endeared him to many of Rome’s
cardinals, who were as wealthy and powerful as the secular aristocracy. A
significant admirer was Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, who would later become
Viceroy of Naples. Grimani was a passionate opera lover and theatrical
impresario, whose family owned the beautiful Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo
in Venice. More skilled political operative than clergyman, he was a cunning
diplomat for the Austrian side in the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession.
And he was happy in his spare moments to turn his hand to writing opera libretti.
Based on the strength of Handel’s cantatas, Grimani chose the young
composer to set a libretto he’d devised to grace the stage of his family’s
theater. It was a satirical black comedy set in ancient Rome about five historical
characters—the Emperor Claudius, his wife Agrippina, her son and emperor-to-
be Nero, the Roman general Otho, and his lover, the courtesan Poppaea—as
told in the Annals of Tacitus and Suetonius’s Life of Claudius. Opera aficionados
were already familiar with these figures, for all of them, with the exception of
Agrippina, were protagonists in Monteverdi’s great Venetian opera of 1643
L’Incoronazione de Poppea. More recently, the same characters schemed and
betrayed in Robert Graves’s savage novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God,
which became a popular television series in the 1970s.
Grimani’s libretto for Agrippina was an extraordinary gift for Handel and is
regarded today as perhaps the finest libretto he ever set. Witty and ironic, it
is, in Handel biographer Jonathan Keates’s words, filled with “the atmosphere
of conspiracy and intrigue with which [Grimani] himself was so familiar.” Its
characters, especially Agrippina herself, are vividly drawn, and despite their
villainous plots, we are encouraged to sympathize with them. As musicologist
Winton Dean says, “Grimani, whether deliberately or by happy accident, for the
first time released Handel’s extraordinary insight into the manifold subtleties of
human nature.”
The singers who would embody these characters at the opera’s premiere
were among the best in Northern Italy, beginning with soprano Margherita
Durastanti as Agrippina. She was one of Handel’s favorite singers—they were
rumored to be lovers at the time—and he later brought her to London. Claudio
was sung by Antonio Francesco Carli, a bass with an exceptional range and
powerful low notes. Ottone was originally a female “trouser role,” performed
by contralto Francesca Vanini-Boschi. The brilliant young soprano Diamante
Maria Scarabelli was Poppea.

Visit metopera.org 41
 Program Note CONTINUED

Like the speed with which he later composed Messiah, Handel created the
music for Agrippina in only three weeks. This pace was enabled by his habit of
using pre-existing materials, both his own and that of other composers. This
was not then considered plagiarism: It was standard practice in the Baroque
era to borrow previously written music and revise it for new works. In the score
of Agrippina, only five musical numbers were wholly new creations; everything
else was recycled, largely from Handel’s Italian cantatas, though often heavily
reworked.
Agrippina is one of the oldest operas that the Met has ever presented. And
yet in many ways, it is surprisingly modern. Keates aptly describes the plot as
“a wickedly satirical comedy of sex, politics, and female ambition.” The smarter
and more ruthless women—Agrippina and Poppea—dominate, while the male
characters—Claudio, Ottone, and Nerone—are frequently their helpless dupes.
Always ready to convert any obstacle to her advantage, Agrippina is the most
fully drawn and multi-faceted character. Poppea is a younger schemer-in-training,
but by the end of the opera, she is able to outwit even Agrippina. “Handel never
loads the dice,” Dean writes. “He views all the characters dispassionately with a
tolerant eye, observing, never judging.”
The music follows the traditional Baroque formula of recitative and da-
capo aria, the former used for moving the plot along, the latter for revealing
the characters’ emotional response. However, Handel was a master of creating
a myriad of effects within the confines of the da-capo form. In Act I’s cleverly
calculated “Non hò cor che per amarti,” for example, we see her exercising all
her powers of persuasion and deceit to trick Poppea. The imperial dignity of
the orchestral opening stresses her status, while slippery melismas in the voice
and accompanying oboes urge Poppea to trust her. But in one of the opera’s
greatest arias, Act II’s “Pensieri, voi mi tormentate!,” when all of Agrippina’s
schemes are crashing down around her, Handel gives us the vulnerable woman
beneath the trickery. He breaks open the conventional da-capo form to create a
dramatic scena, splitting the A and B sections of the aria into contrasting moods
of anxiety and fierce determination, and also inserting a passage of recitative
before the aria’s final reprise. With this magnificent piece for both singer and
orchestra—note the wailing oboe doppelganger!—he begs our sympathy for
this woman caught in a life-and-death struggle.
In her entrance aria, “Vaghe perle,” we see only the vain, frivolous side of
Poppea as she adorns herself with pearls and flowers. But after Agrippina has
tried to poison her love for Ottone, she lets loose in a florid aria of concentrated
rage, “Fà quanto vuoi,” that reveals what a formidable opponent she will be. The
soprano Scarabelli was formidable in her own right, and just before the opera’s
premiere, she demanded she also be given a suitably impressive “exit aria” to
close Act I. Handel complied with “Se giunga un dispetto,” packed with testing

42
coloratura and shimmering trills. Poppea’s rhythmically catchy “Bel piacer” in
Act III, as she exults over her victory in dispatching Claudio and Nerone, was so
popular that Handel transferred it unaltered to Rinaldo.
As reigning emperor and emperor-to-be, Claudio and Nerone would be
expected to be the most powerful characters, but instead, the opera makes them
comic pawns in the hands of the two women. And as supplicants of Poppea’s
love in Act III, they are treated like fools in a farce. Each presents himself as a
prospective lover in a revealing aria. In the frantic “Coll’ardor,” Nerone shows
himself to be a horny adolescent driven by his hormones rather than the
debauched tyrant of historical accounts. Portrayed as physically clumsy and not
too bright, Claudio sings an aria of strutting masculinity, “Io di Roma il Giove
sono,” an unconsciously buffo sendup of the divine status he claims to have.
Poppea’s lover Ottone is the only wholly virtuous and noble character in the
opera, as he saves Claudio’s life then spurns the Roman throne for Poppea’s
love. In compensation for his lack of comic and dramatic flair, Handel rewards
him with arias of great beauty and pathos. His character is epitomized in his
sorrowing “Tacerò, purchè fedele” in Act III. This rather old-fashioned aria is
a lovely throwback to 17th-century practice, with a viola da gamba playing a
ground bass under the singer. In Act II’s garden scene, in which Poppea pretends
to be asleep, Ottone’s ravishing “Vaghe fonte,” with its magical atmosphere of
sighing flutes, is interrupted by news about Agrippina’s plotting—a wonderful
example of Handel’s flexibility in evading da-capo restraints. But Ottone’s
signature moment comes in Act II, after he politely sues for the throne
Claudio has promised him and the other characters coldly abandon him. Here,
Handel expresses the tragedy of his isolation and despair in the opera’s only
accompanied recitative and the magnificent aria “Voi che udite.” Dean rightly
calls this “the profoundest aria in the opera, an appeal for sympathy addressed
directly to the audience. Both the recitative and the aria, with its clashing [string]
suspensions [and] doleful oboe … are as fine as anything in the London operas,
which they strikingly anticipate.”

—Janet E. Bedell
Janet E. Bedell is a frequent program annotator for Carnegie Hall, specializing in vocal
repertoire, and for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and many other institutions.

Visit metopera.org 43
 The Cast and Creative Team

Harry Bicket
conductor (liverpool , england)

this season  Agrippina and Così fan tutte at the Met, Orphée et

Euridice at English National Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the New
York Philharmonic, Die Zauberflöte and Rusalka at the Santa Fe
Opera, and performances across the United States, Europe, and Asia
with the English Concert, including concerts of Rodelinda and Samuel Adamson’s Gabriel.
met appearances  The Magic Flute, Le Nozze di Figaro, Giulio Cesare, La Clemenza di Tito,
and Rodelinda (debut, 2004).
career highlights  In 2007, he became artistic director of the English Concert, and, in 2018, he
became music director at the Santa Fe Opera, where he had served as chief conductor since
2013. In Santa Fe, he has led Così fan tutte, Candide, Alcina, Roméo et Juliette, and Fidelio,
among many other works. Other recent performances include Handel’s Semele, Rinaldo,
Ariodante, Orlando, and Hercules with the English Concert; Ariodante, Orphée et Eurydice,
and Carmen at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Dido and Aeneas at Lausanne’s Bach Festival; Rossini’s
Maometto II at the Canadian Opera Company; and Rusalka and Le Nozze di Figaro at Houston
Grand Opera. He has also led the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Sir David McVicar

director (glasgow, scotland)

this season  Agrippina at the Met, Death in Venice at Covent Garden,

Faust at Opera Australia, Idomeneo at Staatsoper Berlin, and Pelléas
et Mélisande at LA Opera.
met productions  Adriana Lecouvreur, Tosca, Norma, Roberto
Devereux, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Giulio Cesare,
and Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).
career highlights  His recent credits include Verdi’s I Masnadieri at La Scala; Charpentier’s
Médée in Geneva; Les Troyens at the Vienna State Opera; Andrea Chénier, Les Troyens,
Adriana Lecouvreur, Aida, Salome, Le Nozze di Figaro, Faust, Die Zauberflöte, and Rigoletto
at Covent Garden; Die Entführung aus Dem Serail, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Giulio
Cesare, Carmen, and La Bohème at the Glyndebourne Festival; Britten’s Gloriana in Madrid;
Andrea Chénier at San Francisco Opera; and Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Don
Giovanni at Opera Australia. His productions have also appeared at the Salzburg Festival,
St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Scottish
Opera, Opera North, and in Aix-en-Provence, Tokyo, Strasbourg, Brussels, and Paris. He was
knighted in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Honors List and also made Chevalier de l’Ordre des
Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

44
 John Macfarlane
set and costume designer (glasgow, scotland)

this season  Agrippina and Der Fliegende Holländer at the Met.

met productions  Tosca, Maria Stuarda, and Hansel and Gretel
(debut, 2007).
career highlights  His recent operatic credits include Der Fliegende
Holländer in Quebec; Erwartung and Bluebeard’s Castle, Peter Grimes, Die Zauberflöte, and
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Covent Garden; Elektra and Rusalka at Lyric Opera of Chicago;
The Rake’s Progress at Scottish Opera and in Turin; Agrippina and Don Giovanni in Brussels;
Hansel and Gretel and The Queen of Spades at Welsh National Opera; Idomeneo at the
Vienna State Opera; von Weber’s Euryanthe at the Glyndebourne Festival; War and Peace
and La Clemenza di Tito at the Paris Opera; Boris Godunov at Dutch National Opera; and Les
Troyens at English National Opera; among others. He has collaborated with choreographers
Glen Tetley and Jiří Kylián, and his designs have also appeared at the Netherlands Dance
Theatre, Danish Royal Ballet, London’s Royal Ballet, Canadian Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal
Ballet, Australian National Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. He exhibits regularly as a
painter and printmaker in Europe and the United States.

Paule Constable
lighting designer (brighton, england)

this season  Agrippina at the Met, Billy Budd at San Francisco

Opera, Death in Venice at Covent Garden, Faust at Opera Australia,
Idomeneo at Staatsoper Berlin, and Pelléas et Mélisande at LA Opera.
met productions  Così fan tutte, Norma, Roberto Devereux,
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, The Merry Widow, Le Nozze di Figaro, Giulio Cesare, Don
Giovanni, Anna Bolena, and Philip Glass’s Satyagraha (debut, 2008).
career highlights  She received Tony Awards for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time (for which she also won a Drama Desk Award) and War Horse; Tony nominations
for Angels in America, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and Coram
Boy; and Olivier Awards for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and His Dark
Materials at London’s National Theatre, Schiller’s Don Carlos at London’s Gielgud Theatre,
and The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse. Her designs for the opera stage have
appeared at the Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, Scottish
Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Polish National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Norwegian
National Opera, and in Paris, Strasbourg, Tokyo, Geneva, and Florence, among many others.

Andrew George
choreographer (london, england)

this season  Agrippina at the Met.

met productions  Adriana Lecouvreur, Cavalleria Rusticana and
Pagliacci, Anna Bolena, Giulio Cesare, and Don Giovanni (debut, 2000).
career highlights  Opera credits include Andrea Chénier, Les
Troyens, Adriana Lecouvreur (also at the Vienna State Opera and Paris Opera), and Salome
at Covent Garden; The Turn of the Screw, Agrippina (also in Barcelona), Poul Ruders’s The
Handmaid’s Tale, and Die Walküre at English National Opera; Die Entführung aus dem Serail,
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (also at Lyric Opera of Chicago), Giulio Cesare, (also at Lyric

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Opera of Chicago and in Lille), and Carmen at the Glyndebourne Festival; The Rake’s Progress,
La Traviata (also at Welsh National Opera and in Geneva, Barcelona, and Madrid), and Der
Rosenkavalier (also at English National Opera) at Scottish Opera; A Love for Three Oranges
and I Capuletti i Montecchi at Grange Park Opera; and Rusalka at San Francisco Opera, Lyric
Opera of Chicago, and the Canadian Opera Company. His work has appeared at La Scala,
Dutch National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, St.
Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, and in Tokyo, Brussels, Paris, and Aix-en-Provence.

Joyce DiDonato
mezzo - soprano (k ansas city, k ansas)

this season  The title role of Agrippina and Charlotte in Werther at

the Met, Agrippina at Covent Garden, the title role of Semiramide in
concert in Barcelona, and concerts with Il Pomo d’Oro, the Orchestre
Métropolitain, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. She
is also a Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist, performing Schubert’s Winterreise with Yannick
Nézet-Séguin and appearing in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Brentano
Quartet, and Il Pomo d’Oro.
met appearances  Since her 2005 debut as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, she has sung
nearly 100 performances of 12 roles, including Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, Adalgisa in
Norma, Elena in La Donna del Lago, Sycorax in The Enchanted Island, Isolier in Le Comte Ory,
and the title roles of Cendrillon, La Cenerentola, and Maria Stuarda.
career highlights  She has appeared with all of the world’s leading opera companies,
including the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, La Scala, Paris Opera, and Salzburg Festival, among many others. She was the 2007
recipient of the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award, established by Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman.

Kate Lindsey
mezzo - soprano (richmond, virginia )

this season  Nerone in Agrippina at the Met, the Composer in

Ariadne auf Naxos and the title role in the world premiere of Olga
Neuwirth’s Orlando at the Vienna State Opera, Mélisande in Pelléas
et Mélisande at LA Opera, Korngold’s Tomorrow at the BBC Proms,
and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette with the Berlin Philharmonic.
met appearances  Since her 2005 debut as Javotte in Manon, she has sung more than 100
performances of 14 roles, include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Nicklausse / the Muse in Les
Contes d’Hoffmann, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, Siébel in Faust, Hansel in Hansel and
Gretel, Wellgunde in the Ring cycle, and Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette.
career highlights  Recent performances include Prince Charming in Cendrillon and Octavian
in Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Festival, the title role of Purcell’s Miranda in
Bordeaux and Caen, the Composer in Paris and in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra, the
title role of Gounod’s Sapho at Washington Concert Opera, Nerone in L’Incoronazione di
Poppea at the Salzburg Festival, and the title role of Handel’s Ariodante in concert with Les
Arts Florissants. She is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

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 Brenda Rae
soprano ( appleton, wisconsin)

this season  Poppea in Agrippina for her debut at the Met, Adina in

L’Elisir d’Amore in Madrid, Aminta in Strauss’s Die Schweigsame Frau
at the Bavarian State Opera, the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at
the Vienna State Opera, the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte at
the Salzburg Festival, and concert appearances at Opera Philadelphia, with the Mozarteum
Orchestra Salzburg, and in Washington, D.C., London, and Schwarzenberg, Austria.
career highlights  She has sung Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos at La Scala, the Bavarian
State Opera, and Staatsoper Berlin; the title role of Handel’s Semele in concert in Paris;
Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Elvira in I Puritani, Violetta in La
Traviata in concert, Amina in La Sonnambula, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Zdenka in Arabella
in Frankfurt; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Zurich; Amenaide in Rossini’s
Tancredi and Lucia at Opera Philadelphia; Cunegonde in Candide, Lucia, Norina in Don
Pasquale, the Cook in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale, Vlada Vladimirescu in Mozart’s The
Impresario, and Violetta at the Santa Fe Opera; the Queen of the Night in Tokyo; and the
title role of Lulu at English National Opera.

Iestyn Davies
countertenor (york , england)

this season  Ottone in Agrippina at the Met and Covent Garden,

Bertarido in Rodelinda in concert in Vienna and at LA Opera, and
numerous concerts and recitals in the United States and Europe.
met appearances  Terry Rutland in Nico Muhly’s Marnie, Francisco de
Ávila in Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Trinculo in Adès’s The Tempest, and Unulfo in Rodelinda (debut, 2011).
career highlights  Recent performances include Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice in concert at the
Edinburgh International Festival, Ottone at the Bavarian State Opera, Polinesso in Handels’
Ariodante at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and David in Handel’s Saul at the Glyndebourne Festival.
He created the role of Francisco de Ávila in the world premiere of The Exterminating Angel
at the Salzburg Festival, and in 2017, he made his Broadway debut as Farinelli in Claire van
Kampen’s Farinelli and the King. He has also appeared at La Scala, Covent Garden, English
National Opera, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and with Boston’s Handel
and Haydn Society, the English Concert, and Les Arts Florissants.

Duncan Rock
baritone (edinburgh, scotland)

this season  Pallante in Agrippina at the Met, Silvio in Pagliacci in

Barcelona, Jan in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves at the Adelaide
Festival, Schaunard in La Bohème at Covent Garden, and concerts
with the London Symphony Orchestra.
met appearances  Papageno in The Magic Flute and Schaunard (debut, 2017).
career highlights  Recent performances include Jan at the Edinburgh International Festival
and Scottish Opera, Peter in Hansel and Gretel at English National Opera, Donald in Billy
Budd at Covent Garden, Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Boston Lyric Opera,
the title role of Don Giovanni in Brisbane, and Charles Blount in Britten’s Gloriana in Madrid.

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 The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

He has also sung the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro at Garsington Opera and in concert in Paris;
Donald in Madrid; Don Giovanni on tour, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and
Tarquinius with the Glyndebourne Festival; Billy Bigelow in Carousel at Houston Grand Opera;
Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and Marcello in La Bohème at Opera North; Marcello and Papageno
at English National Opera; Don Giovanni at Boston Lyric Opera, Welsh National Opera, and
with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra; and Tarquinius at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Matthew Rose
bass (brighton, england)

this season  Claudio in Agrippina at the Met, Giacomo Balducci in

Benvenuto Cellini in concert with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et
Romantique, Leporello in Don Giovanni at Lyric Opera of Chicago,
Bach’s St. John Passion in London, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier
in Brussels, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival, and
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Poland’s Wroclaw
Philharmonic Orchestra.
met appearances  Ashby in La Fanciulla del West, Colline in La Bohème (debut, 2011), Oroveso
in Norma, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, Leporello and Masetto in Don Giovanni, the
Night Watchman in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
and Talbot in Maria Stuarda.
career highlights  Recent performances include Pimen in Boris Godunov at Covent Garden,
Bottom at Opera Philadelphia, and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
He has also sung Hunding in Die Walküre in concert at the Edinburgh International Festival;
Bottom at the Aldeburgh Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, and La Scala; Leporello in Dresden;
King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at English National Opera; and Baron Ochs, Raimondo in
Lucia di Lammermoor, Masetto, and Bottom at Covent Garden.

Nicholas Tamagna
countertenor (cortlandt manor , new york )

this season  Narciso in Agrippina for his debut at the Met; the title

role of Handel’s Rinaldo in Berlin and Kempten, Germany; and the
Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight in Oldenburg, Germany.
career highlights  Recent performances include Ruggiero in Handel’s
Alcina in Bad Lauchstädt, Germany; Silvio in Il Pastor Fido at the Handel Festival Halle; Ottone
in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione de Poppea at Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera; Ermanno in
Vinci’s Gismondo in concert in Vienna; Amore in Melani’s L’Europa in Potsdam, Germany; and
the title role of Hasse’s Siroe with Dutch Touring Opera and in Oldenburg. He has also sung
the Refugee at Opera Omaha; the Spirit in Dido and Aeneas in Versailles and Normandy;
Polinesso in Handel’s Ariodante in Münster, Germany; Oronte in Handel’s Riccardo Primo in
Karlsruhe, Germany; Peisander in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at Opera Omnia;
the title role of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten in a coproduction by Indianapolis Opera and Indiana
University Opera; and the Prologue in Zaretsky’s Man in a Black Coat and Farnace in Mozart’s
Mitridate at Little Opera Theatre of New York.

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