A Glimpse of the Future? New season speculation......

So Christmas is officially over, the dark and dreary days of winter are here, and opera lovers' thoughts turn to....the 2015/16 opera season of course.  Yes, before we know where we are, opera houses will be announcing their selections for the 2015/16 season.  Of course, we don't have to wait until the official announcement.  Some fun is to be had by speculating about what the new season might bring....will La Gheorghiu sing at the Met again?  Why on earth is Jonas singing that when he could be singing  Wagner/Verdi/Puccini (insert composer of choice)? 

Luckily we don't have to wait!  Or at least, we can have a bit of fun while we do. There are a couple of internet sites out there that have a fair stab at predicting what might be happening at the Met and the Royal Opera House in the not so distant future.  There has been a small twitterstorm today following speculation that Jonas Kaufmann will be singing Otello at ROH in the not too distant future (2017) so I thought I'd make life easier and post some links and information.

Just remember these sites post speculation and not necessarily fact!  There will be speculation, guesses and pure wishful thinking no doubt.  Until the season is actually published by the opera house all bets are off...or as they say around these parts "it ain't over until the fat lady (or tenor) sings".

Metropolitan Opera House New York

The Future Met Wiki has a fairly comprehensive list of future seasons at the Met, going right up to 2019/20...although admittedly detail is sketchy for that particular season! For 2015/16 they currently (as of 13 Jan 2015) have the following listed:

New Productions 2015/16

Verdi's Otello
Dates: Opening Night
Conductor: Yannick Nezet-Seguin
Production: Bart Sher
Designer: Catherine Zuber (costumes)
Otello: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Desdemona: Hibla Gerzmava / Sonya Yoncheva / Angela Meade (?)
Iago: Zeljko Lucic / Dmitri Hvorostovsky


Berg's Lulu
Dates: Nov / December 2015
Production: William Kentridge
Conductor: James Levine
Lulu: Marlis Petersen
Geschwitz: Susan Graham
Alwa: Daniel Brenna
Dr. Schon / Jack the Ripper: Johan Reuter
Animal Trainer / Athlete: Martin Winkler
(Co-production with the Dutch National Opera, English National Opera, & Canadian Opera Company)

Puccini's Manon Lescaut
Production: Sir Richard Eyre
Manon: Kristine Opolais
Des Grieux: Jonas Kaufmann
(Co-production with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden)

Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles [The Pearl Fishers]
Production: Penny Woolcock
Leila: Diana Damrau
Nadir: Vittorio Grigolo / Matthew Polenzani (?)
(Co-production with the English National Opera)

Donizetti's Roberto Devereux
Production: David McVicar (?)
Elisabetta: Sondra Radvanovsky
Roberto Devereux: Matthew Polenzani

Strauss's Elektra
Production: Patrice Chéreau
Dates: April 14 to May 7
Elektra: Nina Stemme
Klytemnestra: Waltraud Meier
Chrysothemis: Adrianne Pieczonka
(Co-production with the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Finnish National Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, & Berlin Staatsoper)

Revivals 2015/16

Donizetti's Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena: Sondra Radvanovsky

Rossini's The Barber of Seville
Holiday abridged version in English

Puccini's La Bohème
Rodolfo: Piotr Beczala
Mimi: Maria Agresta
Musetta: Marina Rebeka / Ana Maria Martinez?
Marcello: Levente Molnar / Quinn Kelsey

Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo's Pagliacci
Nedda: Barbara Frittoli
Canio: Roberto Alagna
Santuzza: Lyudmila Monastyrska

Rossini's La Donna del Lago
Malcolm: Daniela Barcellona

Donizetti's Don Pasquale
Ernesto: Javier Camarena
Norina: Angela Gheorghiu/Eleonora Buratto
Don Pasquale: Ambrogio Maestri

Donizetti's L'Elisir d’Amore
Adina: Aleksandra Kurzak
Nemorino: Vittorio Grigolo / Roberto Alagna

Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Conductor: James Levine

J. Strauss's Die Fledermaus
Adele: Lucy Crowe

Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Sharpless: Artur Rucinski
Conductor: Karel Mark Chichon

Donizetti's Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda: Sondra Radvanovsky
Elisabetta: Elza van den Heever / Angela Meade

Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro

Verdi's Rigoletto
Duke of Mantua: Stephen Costello/Piotr Beczala
Gilda: Olga Peretyatko

Verdi's Simon Boccanegra
Simon: Placido Domingo
Amelia Grimaldi: Angela Gheorghiu/Barbara Frittoli
Gabriele: Joseph Calleja

Wagner's Tannhauser
Tannhauser: Johan Botha
Elisabeth: Eva Maria Westbroek

Puccini's Tosca
Tosca: Maria Guleghina
Scarpia: Bryn Terfel

Verdi's Il Trovatore
Leonora: Anna Netrebko/Angela Meade
c. Marco Armiliato

Puccini's Turandot
Turandot: Lise Lindstrom / Christine Goerke
Calàf: Marcelo Alvarez
Liu: Hibla Gerzmava/Leah Crocetto


Just remember, all are subject to change. I seem to remember Jonas Kaufmann slated for Don Carlos (French) at the Met until relatively late in the day for 2014/15. Ended up being re-run of the Italian version and no Jonas!

Royal Opera House Covent Garden

A similar site for the Future Royal Opera House Wiki has less listed but still makes interesting reading and who knows - you may be able to add something! Both Wiki's are editable so if you know something then join in the fun! Anyway, the Royal Opera 2015/16 wiki has this so far:

(amended 14th Jan 2015)

New Productions 2015/16

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) and Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Canio - Aleksanders Antonenko
Tonio/Alfio - Dimitrias Platanias

Orphee et Euridice (Gluck) Autumn 2015
Director: John Fulljames
Orphee - Juan Diego Forez


Carmen (Bizet) Autumn 2015
Don Jose - Bryan Hymel

Lucia di Lammamoor (Donizetti)
Lucia - Diana Damrau
Enrico - Artur Rucinski
Edgardo - Stephen Costello

Il Trovatore (Verdi)
Conductor - Antonio Pappano
Manrico - Gregory Kunde
Leonora - Carmen Gianattasio
Azuncena - Ekaterina Semenchuk

L'Etoile (Chabrier)
Director - Mariame Clement
Set/Costume Designe - Julia Hansen

Mitridate, Re di Ponto (Mozart)
Conductor: Christophe Rousset

Werther (Massenet) ?Revival
Conductor - Antonio Pappano
Werther - Vittorio Grigolo
Charlotte - Joyce DiDonato

Revivals 2015/16

Il Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
Il Conte - Stephane Degout

Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss) October 2015
Ariadne - Renee Fleming/Elizabeth Meister

Tannhauser (Wagner)
Original direction: Tim Albery
Costume designer: John Morrell
Elizabeth - Emma Bell

Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
Director - Kasper Holten
Conductor - Semyon Bychkov
Tatiana - ?Anna Netrebko
Lensky - Michael Fabiano

Il Trittico (Puccini) Feb/March 2016
Suor Angelica - Ermonela Jaho

That's all for now but feel free to comment or join in the speculation!