News Article

Plácido Domingo will sing the title role in “Cyrano de Bergerac,” in a broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera to begin at 10:30 a.m. (Pacific Time), Saturday, Feb. 4 over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

The performance will be broadcast locally over radio station KAGU – 88.7 FM, concluding at 1 p.m. Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder, is the corporate sponsor. The Annenberg Foundation and the Vincent A. Stabile Foundation provide generous long-term leadership support for the broadcasts.

The four-act opera by Franco Alfano will be sung in French.

“Domingo triumphs in Met’s ‘Cyrano,’” headlined the Associated Press review of last season’s Met premiere of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” The Washington Post agreed, calling the title role one that “suits his voice and temperament, and Cyrano is almost ideal for him … everything comes together in this part, which he has saved for just the right moment in his vocal trajectory.”

The Washington Post noted that, “In the role of Roxane, the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky had a triumph… [she has] a voice of apparently limitless resources.” Both Domingo and Radvanovsky return to their roles for the broadcast, along with the rest of the cast from last season: Raymond Very as Christian, Anthony Michaels-Moore as de Guiche, Roberto de Candia as Ragueneau, and Marco Armiliato conducting.

The 2005-2006 broadcast season celebrates 75 years of live radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera — more than 1,500 broadcasts since December 1931 — the longest-running classical music series in U.S. broadcast history. These broadcasts have brought opera into millions of U.S. homes to enrich the lives of generations of Americans and have contributed to the development and appreciation of opera throughout the nation.

For more information, visit the Metropolitan Opera Information Center’s Web site at www.operainfo.org, which offers a wealth of information about the Met broadcasts and links to other opera Web sites. For details about all Met performances this season, as well as ticket information, visit the Met’s Web site at www.metopera.org.