Rossini's Armida From The Met On PBS This Thursday Evening

[Superhorn]

  If you get PBS ,don't miss the telecast on Thursday August 19 of Rossini's rarely performed opera Armida, taped earlier this year at the Met with Renee Fleming as the Saracen sorceress and six-count 'em,six tenors !   It's scheduled for 8 PM eastern time, and is the Met's first production of this Rossini masterpiece,based on Tasso's epic poem about the crusades, and the love of the Saracen sorceress Armida and the conflicted crisader hero Rinaldo.
   The rising young Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza, a Rossini specialist ,is on the podium, and the sets and special effects should be something to behold basedon the stories I've heard about the production.  I haven't seen a live performance of this opera, but have heard the excellent Sony recording of it with La Fleming,conducted by Daniele Gatti, and it's prime Rossini.  Don't miss the vocal fireworks.

[Guido]

I love that Sony recording so much... and I agree it's top-drawer Rossini. I heard that she was still excellent in the recent Met performance, amazing especially considering she is 51 and not a bel canto specialist. Wish I lived in America so that I could watch it... do people think that this one will make it to DVD?

[Superhorn]

 Many of the Met's recent performances have been coming out  on CD,especially the HD thater broadcasts,so Armida should be out on DVD before too long.
  You can also see Met performances on metplayer,and check the Met's websitemetopera.org,for more information on seeing their performances over the internet.

[Guido]

But do they all come out on DVD? There's 12 or so a year which seems like alot.

Next year they're doing Capriccio with Fleming... 

[Bite]

I saw this staging with Rene Fleming in cinema as it was broadcasting to my country. Of course, I was amazed  actually, since those broadcasts have appeared, I just fell in love with opera, because the quality of performances from Met is just so high..

[knight66]

Welcome to the site Bite. If you feel like it, do let us know a little about yourself in the introductions thread here.

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Cheers,

Mike