This year, the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series features great performances by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, OperaDelaware, Opera Southwest, and an especially exciting partnership with the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union to bring operas from The Royal Opera, Roundhouse, Scottish Opera, Opera North, and Glyndebourne.
Highlights of the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series for 2018 include:
- A stellar performance of the rarely-performed 1774 French version of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice from the Lyric Opera of Chicago
- Lawrence Brownlee and Albina Shagimuratova in Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece I puritani, also from the Lyric Opera of Chicago
- A broadcast of the world premiere of George Benjamin’s third opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, presented by The Royal Opera with the composer at the podium and featuring Stéphane Degout and Barbara Hannigan
- San Francisco Opera‘s presentation of Giordano’s verismo opera Andrea Chénier, starring Yonghoon Lee, Anna Pirozzi, J’Nai Bridges, and more
- The audience-favorite William Tell, presented by Opera Southwest and starring Sean Anderson, Claudia Chapa, and more
- OperaDelaware‘s presentation of Rossini’s last Italian opera, the beautiful and virtuosic Semiramide with Lindsay Ohse, Aleksandra Romano, Daniel Mobbs, and more
Full schedule as follows:
Lyric Opera of Chicago, Part I
May 12 Orphée et Eurydice / Gluck
May 19 Rigoletto / Verdi
May 26 Die Walküre / Wagner
June 2 The Pearl Fishers / Bizet
June 9 Turandot / Puccini
June 16 I puritani / Bellini
Operas from the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union
June 23 Lessons in Love and Violence / G. Benjamin / Royal Opera
June 30 Macbeth / Verdi / Royal Opera
July 7 The Return of Ulysses / Monteverdi / Royal Opera & Roundhouse
July 14 Eugene Onegin / Tchaikovsky / Scottish Opera
July 21 Un ballo in maschera / Verdi / Opera North
July 28 Lohengrin / Wagner / Royal Opera
August 4 Pelléas et Mélisande / Glyndebourne
Lyric Opera of Chicago, Part II
August 11 Così fan tutte / Mozart
August 18 Faust / Gounod
August 25 Das Rheingold / Wagner
September 1 Bel Canto / J. López
LA Opera
September 8 Carmen / Bizet
September 15 Nabucco / Verdi
September 22 Norma / Bellini
September 29 Gianni Schicci & Pagliacci / Puccini, Leoncavallo
October 6 Moby Dick / J. Heggie
San Francisco Opera
October 13 Andrea Chénier / Giordano
October 20 Barber of Seville / Rossini
October 27 Don Pasquale / Donizetti
November 3 Dream of the Red Chamber / B. Sheng
November 10 Usher House & La chute de la maison Usher / Getty, Debussy
OperaDelaware
November 17 Semiramide / Rossini
Opera Southwest
November 24 William Tell / Rossini