Tenor Piero Pretti And NYCB Principal Dancer Sara Mearns Join The Metropolitan Opera's LA TRAVIATA

By: Dec. 12, 2019
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Tenor Piero Pretti And NYCB Principal Dancer Sara Mearns Join The Metropolitan Opera's LA TRAVIATA

The Metropolitan Opera today announces two cast changes for its forthcoming production of Verdi's La Traviata, opening January 10, 2020. Piero Pretti sings the role of Alfredo Germont at the performances on February 26, 29, March 5, 9, 13, and 19, 2020, replacing Vittorio Grigolo. Additionally, New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns joins the cast as the female solo dancer for the performances on January 10, 14, 18, 23, 26, February 3, March 5, 9, and 13, 2020.

As previously announced, Aleksandra Kurzak is Violetta, Dmytro Popov is Alfredo Germont, and Quinn Kelsey is Giorgio Germont in the eight initial performances of this revival of Michael Mayer's production, opening January 10, 2020, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon. The production features choreography by Lorin Latarro.

La Traviata returns on February 26, 2020, for six additional performances, conducted by Bertrand de Billy and starring Lisette Oropesa as Violetta, Pretti as Alfredo Germont, and Luca Salsi as Giorgio Germont.

Italian tenor Piero Pretti made his Met debut earlier this season as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, a role he has sung at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Opernhaus Zürich, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Paris Opera. Recent roles include Ismaele in Verdi's Nabucco and the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto at Bavarian State Opera, the title role in Massenet's Werther at Teatro Fenice in Venice, Gualtiero in Bellini's Il Pirata at La Scala, Riccardo in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera at Paris Opera, and Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème at Teatro Real in Madrid. This season, he also sings the title role in Verdi's Don Carlo in Venice, Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Bavarian State Opera, and Rodolfo in Verdi's Luisa Miller at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

American dancer Sara Mearns is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet and winner of the 2018 Bessie Award and the 2019 Dance Magazine Award. She is known for her roles as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake and for Balanchine ballets including Jewels ("Diamonds") and Symphony in C, among others. She has originated roles in ballets by choreographers including Justin Peck, Kyle Abraham, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, and has appeared as a guest artist with the Paul Taylor Dance Company with Dances of Isadora (Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation), the Martha Graham Company (2019 Gala), the Ashley Bouder Project (Duet by Liz Gerring) and Company Wang Ramirez (No. 1). She appeared in New Bodies, a collaboration with Jodi Melnick, at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina and at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. At New York City Center, she has appeared in the Fall for Dance Festival (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2019), and the 2018 Balanchine Festival. She was a guest artist alternating the role of Victoria Page in the U.S. premiere of Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes. She made her theatrical debut in Rodgers and Hart's I Married an Angel, directed and choregraphed by Joshua Bergasse at New York City Center Encores! in March 2019. In summer 2019, she danced at Jacob's Pillow in a weeklong tribute to her called Beyond Ballet. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Carolina in 2019.

For further details on La Traviata, including casting by date, please click here.



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