The Met Orchestra to embark on international tour in June 2023, its first in more than 20 years
Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin to lead orchestra with stops in Paris, London, and Baden-Baden
Concerts to feature Met stars Angel Blue, Joyce DiDonato, and Russell Thomas
Works include Act IV of Verdi’s Otello, selections from Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and music by Bernstein, Matthew Aucoin, and Tchaikovsky
The Met Orchestra will make a major comeback to international touring this summer, visiting three countries immediately following its June annual residency at Carnegie Hall. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, will conduct all five concerts, which will take place at the Philharmonie in Paris, France, on June 27 and June 28; the Barbican Hall in London, England, on June 29; and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany, on July 1 and July 2. Originally scheduled for the summer of 2021, the tour was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programs will feature Act IV of Verdi’s Otello, selections from Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and works by Bernstein, Matthew Aucoin, and Tchaikovsky. Three of the world’s leading opera stars will join the Met Orchestra: mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will sing selections from Les Troyens, and Angel Blue will portray Desdemona and Russell Thomas the title role in the fourth act of Otello.
New York concertgoers can hear one of the programs at Carnegie Hall at 8pm on Thursday, June 22, when the orchestra and soloists perform the Otello act, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Aucoin’s Heath (King Lear Sketches), and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture.
‘It has been more than 20 years since the Met Orchestra was last on tour in Europe, and I am so delighted to lead these wonderful musicians in programs that reflect the new vision of the Met,’ Nézet-Séguin said. ‘We spend many hours together in the pit, and it is a joy to stand before them as they bring their unique artistry to the greatest stages of the world.’
The Met Orchestra’s last tour was in 2002, with concerts in Salzburg, Austria; Lucerne, Switzerland; and Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden, Germany.
The Met Orchestra 2023 European Tour
Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at 8pm – Philharmonie, Paris
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Matthew Aucoin – Heath (King Lear Sketches)
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Verdi – Act IV of Otello (featuring Angel Blue and Russell Thomas)
Wednesday, June 28, 2023, 8pm – Philharmonie, Paris
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Berlioz – Le Corsaire Overture, Op.21; ‘Chers Tyriens’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato); Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens ; ‘Adieu, fière cité’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato); Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14
Thursday, June 29, 2023, 7.30pm – Barbican Hall, London
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Matthew Aucoin – Heath (King Lear Sketches)
Berlioz – ’Chers Tyriens’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato); Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens; ‘Adieu, fière cité’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato)
Verdi – Act IV of Otello (featuring Angel Blue and Russell Thomas)
Saturday, July 1, 2023, 6pm – Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Berlioz: Le Corsaire Overture, Op.21; ‘Chers Tyriens’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato); Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens;‘Adieu, fière cité’ from Les Troyens (featuring Joyce DiDonato); Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14
Sunday, July 2, 2023, 5pm – Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Matthew Aucoin – Heath (King Lear Sketches)
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Verdi – Act IV of Otello (featuring Angel Blue and Russell Thomas)
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s European tour is generously sponsored by The Metropolitan Opera’s International Council, Cindy Bagby, and Mr. and Mrs. John French III.
For conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin,
You are one fantastic conductor; (being a Music Major) I have never seen anyone who directed an orchestra with his whole being: your eyes, eyebrows, mouth movements eyes and expressions, as well as the directions of your hands. You showed such control as a pleasant and gratifying conductor.
Very impressed, Joseph Snook