La Damnation de Faust returns to the Met stage for the first time in a decade

La Damnation de Faust returns to the Met stage for the first time in a decade

Concert presentations of Berlioz’s masterpiece feature Bryan Hymel and Michael Spyres as Faust, with Elīna Garanča as Marguerite and Ildar Abdrazakov as Méphistophélès

 New York, NY (January 23, 2020)—Berlioz’s unique masterpiece La Damnation de Faust returns to the Met for four performances, beginning January 25. Presented in concert version, the opera features Bryan Hymel and Michael Spyres sharing the title role, opposite Elīna Garanča as Marguerite, the innocent young woman whose life Faust destroys, and Ildar Abdrazakov as the diabolical Méphistophélès. Edward Gardner conducts.

La Damnation de Faust Worldwide Broadcasts in Radio and Online

The January 29 and February 8 performances of La Damnation de Faust will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 75, the February 8 performance will be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, and the January 29 performance will also be streamed live on the Met’s web site, metopera.org.

La Damnation de Faust Artist Biographies

Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča adds a new role to her Met repertoire as Marguerite. She made her Met debut in 2008 as Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, followed by performances of the title roles of Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Bizet’s Carmen, Sesto in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Sara in the Met premiere of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and Dalila in Saint-Saën’s Samson et Dalila in the Met’s 2018 Opening Night. Other recent credits include Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Paris Opera, Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Dalila at the Vienna State Opera, and Léonor de Guzman in Donizetti’s La Favorite at the Bavarian State Opera. This season, she sings Dalila at Staatsoper Berlin and Eboli at the Bavarian State Opera and Covent Garden.

American tenor Bryan Hymel makes his Met role debut as Faust, a role that he has previously sung at the Paris Opera. He made his company debut in 2012 as Énée in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and that same year, he received the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award. Other roles with the company include Arnold in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Rodolfo in La Bohème. Recent performances include Don José in Bizet’s Carmen at Covent Garden, Rodolfo at the Vienna State Opera, and Henri in Verdi’s Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Bavarian State Opera. Other performances this season include Pinkerton at Opera Philadelphia and Arrigo in Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani in Zurich.

American tenor Michael Spyres makes his Met debut as Faust, a role that he has previously sung in concert with the BBC Proms in London. He has appeared in as Hoffmann in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Bavarian State Opera, the title role of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini in Versailles, Pollione in Bellini’s Norma in Zurich, and Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Vienna State Opera. This season, he sings Arnold in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell at the Bavarian State Opera, and Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Vienna State Opera.

Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov reprises his portrayal of Méphistophélès, which he previously sang at the Met in 2009. Earlier this season, he sang Banquo in Verdi’s Macbeth with the company. His other credits with the Met include Leporello and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, Henry VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, the title role of Borodin’s Prince Igor, and Dosifei in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina. This season, he sings Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Bavarian State Opera and Salzburg Festival, and the title role of Verdi’s Attila in concert in Baden-Baden.

British conductor Edward Gardner made his Met debut in 2010 with Bizet’s Carmen, and since then, he has also conducted Massenet’s Werther, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with the company. He has conducted at opera houses around the world, including La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and Covent Garden. For eight years, he was the music director of English National Opera, and since 2015, he has been the chief conductor of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He was recently named the incoming principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, a post that he will assume at the start of the 2021–22 season. Also this season, he leads Werther at Covent Garden and Britten’s Peter Grimes at Bergen National Opera.

For More Information

For further details on La Damnation de Faust, including casting by date, please click here.

La Damnation de Faust

Music by Hector Berlioz

Saturday, January 25 at 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 29 at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 1 at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 8 at 1:00 p.m.

*Met debut

Original production a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Solomon

Additional funding from the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa, and Robert L. Turner, in memory of  his father, Bert S. Turner.

Concert performances a gift of Rolex   

Met Chorus costumes underwritten with a generous gift from Douglas Dockery Thomas

For prices and ticket information, please call (212) 362-6000 or visit metopera.org. Special rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling (212) 341-5410 or visiting metopera.org/groups.