The holes on the Metropolitan Opera schedule caused by the retirement of music director James Levine are starting to fill up.
A series of three concerts by the Met Orchestra to be presented at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2017 will be conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the company announced on Monday. Salonen is currently enjoying a windfall of accolades for leading the Met's current production of Elektra, and has a string of buzzy projects the pipeline for coming months. (His name is also being thrown around as an ideal candidate to succeed Levine.)
The first program, an all-Mahler affair on May 31, 2017, with Susan Graham and Matthew Polenzani singing Des Knaben Wunderhorn followed by Symphony No. 1, will not change. The other two presentations have been adjusted, however. A June 3, 2017, program has been amended to include Schumann's Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat major in place of Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1. A June 6 all-Sibelius presentation will now feature the composer's Sixth and Seventh Symphonies instead of Symphony No. 4 and Valse Triste. The soloists for both concerts, Maurizio Pollini and Christian Tetzlaff, respectively, will remain the same.
More pressingly, the Met announced last week that David Robertson, the music director of the St. Louis Symphony, will conduct the orchestra in a May 22 all-Strauss concert at Carnegie, featuring Renée Fleming, in less than a month's time. And Sebastian Weigle of the Frankfurt Opera will take on the run of Der Rosenkavalier during the 2016-17 season. Levine had initially planned to lead both.
Levine, who will step down from his position with the end of the 2015-16 to become the Met's music director emeritus due to health concerns, is still scheduled to lead two of the orchestra's programs at Carnegie Hall May 19 and May 26.
LISTEN:
9 pm — Sir Simon Rattle leads the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Sibelius's Symphony No. 2. (WQXR)
Symphomania, Q2 Music's 24-hour marathon of orchestral music composed in the 21st century, has an encore presentation. (Q2 Music)
We may not find out whether Game of Thrones' character Jon Snow is really dead anytime soon, but listen to an archived Song Exploder episode about how the series theme was composed. (Wired)
READ:
The Italian tenor, Francesco Anile, made his Met debut on Saturday, stepping in for an ailing Otello. (New York Post)
The daughter of Jaap van Zweden is spearheading a cross-genre festival in Dallas. (D Magazine)
WATCH:
Before the Internet drowned under the ubiquity of Beyoncé, she starred in a MTV's Carmen: A Hip-Hopera.
FOLLOW:
Will Robin, @seatedovation, the organizer of Symphomania.
Thanks for lending me your ears. Go change the orchestra for the better. Tune in again on Tuesday for a re-broadcast. Good night! #21cOrch
— Will Robin (@seatedovation) April 25, 2016