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WFMT Opera Series 2025
Saturday at 1pm on WVTF Music

Operas from the finest stages around the world

From Milan to New York, Barcelona to Chicago, WFMT gives you a front-row seat to performances from some of the world’s greatest opera companies and performers.

Scheduled broadcasts for 2025

September 6 - Dido and Aeneas / Henry Purcell
The Seven Deadly Sins / Kurt Weill

From the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dido and Aeneas: Danielle De Niese (Dido); Jóhann Kristinsson (Aeneas); Julie Roset (Belinda); Jasmin White (Sorceress); Sara Swietlicki (Second Woman / Second Witch); Katherine Koester (First Witch); Lasse Flaaten Husmer (Spirit); Kieran Carrel (Sailor).

The Seven Deadly Sins: Danielle De Niese (Anna I and Anna II); Kristoffer Appel (Father); Benjamin Nellemose (Brother); Mads Skovgaard Andersen (Brother); Per Hoyer (Mother).

Malmö Opera Chorus and Danish National Symphony Orchestra; Geoffrey Paterson, conductor.

September 13 - Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci
Mascagni/Leoncavallo

From Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany.
Daniele Rustioni (conductor)

Cavalleria rusticana: Yulia Matochkina (Santuzza), Ican Gyngazov (Turiddu), Rosalind Plowright (Lucia), Wolfgang Koch (Alfio), Ekaterine Buachidze (Lola)

Pagliacci: Ailyn Pérez (Nedda), Jonas Kaufmann (Canio), Wolfgang Koch (Tonio), Andres Agudelo (Beppe), Thomas Mole (Silvio), Christian Rieger (peasant), Zachary Rioux (peasant)

September 20 - Pénélope / Fauré

From Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany.
Brandon Jovanovich (Ulysse), Thomas Mole (Eumée), Loïc Felix (Antinoüs), Leigh Melrose (Eurymaque), Joel Williams (Léodès), Zachary Rioux (Ctésippe), Dafydd Jones (Pisandre), Soloist from the Tölzer Boys Choir (A Shepherd), Victoria Karkacheva (Pénélope), Rinat Shaham (Eryclée), Valerie Eickhoff (Cléone), Seonwoo Lee (Mélantho), Marina Myskohlid (Alkandre), Ena Pngrac (Phylo), Eirin Rognerud (Lydie), Elene Gvritishvili (Eurynome), Bavarian State Orchestra, James Conlon (conductor)

September 27 - Rigoletto / Verdi*

From LA Opera in Los Angeles, California.
Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto), Lisette Oropesa (Gilda), René Barbera (Duke of Mantua), Blake Denson (Count Monterone), Peixin Chen (Sparafucile), Sarah Saturnino (Maddalena), Hyungjin Son (Marullo) Nathan Bowles (Borsa), Vinícius Costa (Count Ceprano), Madeleine Lyon (Giovanna), Gabrielle Turgeon (Countess Ceprano/Page)

October 4 - Così fan tutte / Mozart

From LA Opera in Los Angeles, California.
Erica Petrocelli (Fiordiligi), Rihab Chaieb (Dorabella), Ana María Martínez (Despina), Anthony León (Ferrando), Justin Austin (Guglielmo), Rod Gilfry (Don Alfonso), James Conlon (conductor)

October 11 - Giulio Cesare / Handel

From the Salzburg Festival.
Christophe Dumaux (Giulio Cesare), Olga Kulchynska (Cleopatra), Lucile Rechardot (Cornelia), Federico Florio (Sesto), Yurly Mynenko (Tolomeo), Adrey Zhilikhovsky (Achilla), Jake Ingbar (Nireno), Salzburg Bach Choir, Michael Schneider (chorus director), Le Concert d’Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm (conductor)

October 18 - Louise / Charpentier

From the Salzburg Festival.
Elsa Dreisig (Louise), Adamn Smith (Julien), Sophie Koch (Mother), Nicolas Courjal (Father), Grégoire Mour (Un Marchand d’habits), Annick Massis (Balayeuse), Marianne Croux (Irma), Carol Garcia (Gertrude), Karolina Bengtsson (Camille), Marie Thérèse Keller (Madeleine), Julie Pasturaud (Marguerite), Marion Bergez-Pascal (Élise), Marion Lebègue (Suzanne), Jennifer Courceir (Blanche), Céleste Pinel (L’Apprentie), Frédéric Caton (Le Bricoleur), Lyon Opera Children’s Chorus, Lyon Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Giacomo Sagripanti (conductor)

October 25 - Pearl Fishers / Bizet

From Les Musiciens du Louvre/Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Elsa Benoit (Leïla), Pene Pati (Nadir), Florian Sempey (Zurga), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Nourabad), Grand Avignon Opera Chorus, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski (conductor).

November 1 - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg / Wagner

From Bayreuth Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.
Georg Zeepenfeld (Hans Sachs), Jongmin Park (Veit Pgoner), Martin Koch (Kunz Vogelgesang), Werner Van Mechelen (Konrad Nachtigall), Michael Nagy (Sixtus Beckmesser), Jordan Shanahan (Fritz Kothner), Daniel Jenz (Balthasar Zorn), Matthew Newlin(Ulrich Eisslinger), Gideon Poppe (Augustin Moser), Alexander Grassauer (Hermann Ortel), Tijl Faveyts (Hans Shwatz), Patrick Zielke (Hans Foltz), Michael Spyres (Walther von Stolzing), Matthias Stier (David), Christina Nilsson (Eva), Christa Mayer (Magdalena), Tobias Kehrer (a night watchman), Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Danele Gatti (conductor).

November 8 - Parsifal / Wagner

From Bayreuth Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.
Andreas Schager (Parsifal), Michael Volle (Armfortas), Tobias Kehrer (Titurel), Georg Zeppenfeld (Gurnemanz), Jordan Shanahan (Klingsor), Ekaterina Gubanova (Kundry), Daniel Jenz (1st Knight of the Grail), Tijl Faveyts (2nd Knight of the Grail), Lavinia Dames (1st Esquire), Margaret Plummer (2nd Esquire), Gideon Poppe (3rd Esquire), Matthew Newlin (4th Esquire), Evelin Novak (flowermaiden), Catalina Bertucci (flowermaiden), Victoria Randem (flowermaiden), Marie Henriette Reinhold (flowermaiden), Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor)

November 15 - Lohengrin / Wagner

From Bayreuth Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.
Piotr Beczala (Lohengrin), Mika Kares (Heinrich der Vogler), Elza van den Heever (Elsa of Brabant), Ólafur Sigurðarson (Friedrich von Telramund), Miina-Liisa Värelä (Ortrud), Michael Kupfer-Radecky (King’s Herald), Martin Koch (first nobleman of Brabant), Felix Pacher (third nobleman of Brabant), Markus Suihkonen (fourth nobleman of Brabant), Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Thomas Eitier-de Lint (chorus director), Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Christian Thielemann (conductor)

November 22 - Iolanta / Tchaikovsky

From Vienna State Opera in Vienna, Austria.
Sonya Yoncheva (blind daughter of King René), Ivo Stanchev (René, King of Provence), Boris Pinkhasovich (Robert, Duke of Burgundy), Dmytro Popov (Count Vaudémont), Attila Mokus (Ibn-Hakia), Daniel Jez (Alméric), Simonas Strazdas (Bertrand), Monika Bohinec (Marta), Maria Nazarova (Brigitta), Daria Sushkova (Laura), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Tugan Sokhiev (conductor)

November 29 - Arabella / Strauss

From Vienna State Opera in Vienna, Austria.
Camilla Nylund (Arabella), Sabine Devieilhe (Zdenka), Michael Volle (Mandruka), Margaret Plummer (Adelaide), Wolfgang Bankl (Count Waldner), Michael Laurenz (Matteo), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Christian Thielemann (conductor)

December 6 - Norma / Bellini

From Vienna State Opera in Vienna, Austria.
Federica Lombardi (Norma), Juan Diego Flórez (Pollione), Ildebrando D’Arcangelo (Oroveso), Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (Adalgisa), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Michele Mariotti (conductor)

* Indicates performers are subject to change.