Matthew Polenzani stars as Don José in Damiano Michieletto’s new production of Bizet’s Carmen at Teatro alla Scala. It will reduce local colour to a minimum in order to construct a bare and effective spectacle, focused on the ineluctable fate of the protagonists. Joining him on stage will be {...}
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Next month, Matthew Polenzani will once again embody the role of Massenet’s Werther at Gran Teatre del Liceu. The plot follows the young man in love, who writes letters to his friend Wilhelm about Charlotte, who rejected him to marry another man after having promised her mother so on her deathbed. A {...}
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Matthew Polenzani is back at the Metropolitan Opera, where cultures collide in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, a poignant tale of a loyal geisha and a callous American naval officer whose fleeting romance leaves only devastation behind. He stars as Pinkerton opposite Ailyn Pérez as Cio-Cio-San in Anthony {...}
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Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera was inspired by a real historical event: the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden during a costume ball in 1792. Verdi had a run-in with the censors, who were scandalised by the idea of depicting regicide on stage. His masked ball is set in America and focuses {...}
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