Saturday, April 19 at 12: 00 p m. Et

**METROPOLITAN OPERA RADIO BROADCAST ALERT**
Soprano Malin Byström and Baritone Michael Volle

Make Network Broadcast Debuts in Richard Strauss’s Arabella
Philippe Auguin conducts an international cast,

also featuring Juliane Banse and Roberto Sacca in their network debuts
Saturday, April 19 at 12:00 p.m. ET
The 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Richard Strauss’s elegant romance Arabella. Philippe Auguin conducts a cast full of debuting artists. Swedish soprano Malin Byström, who made a notable Met debut in Gounod’s Faust two seasons ago, sings the role of the levelheaded, yet idealistic Arabella. German baritone Michael Volle, a leading exponent of dramatic baritone roles in Europe, has made his Met debut this season as Arabella's suitor Mandryka. Also new to the Met this season are soprano Juliane Banse, who sings the role of Arabella's sister Zdenka, tenor Roberto Saccà as Matteo, and bass-baritone Martin Winkler as Count Waldner. Arabella will be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 19.
Malin Byström's roles with other opera companies this season include three Mozart heroines: Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Geneva Opera, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Bavarian State Opera, and Donna Anna in a new production of Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her recent performances have also included the title role in Massenet’s Thaïs at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts, opposite Plácido Domingo as Athanaël, and Marguerite in Faust at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
Michael Volle has sung Mandryka with Deutsche Oper Berlin and Paris Opera and will sing the role this fall at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Last summer, he won acclaim as Hans Sachs in the Salzburg Festival’s new production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and starred as Wotan in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at La Scala under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.
Juliane Banse made her American debut earlier this season as Rosalinde in a new production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her recent performances in Europe have included the title role in a concert performance of Braunfels’s Jeanne d’Arc at the Salzburg Festival; Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio at Theater an der Wien; and Vitellia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Vienna State Opera. In 2010, she sang the title role in Arabella at the Tyrolean State Theater in Innsbruck.
Roberto Saccà’s other roles this season include Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which he sang at Dutch National Opera, Zurich Opera, and in Stefan Herheim’s new production at the Salzburg Festival. He also sings the title role in a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Düsseldorf Opera House and Theater Duisburg, and Bacchus in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

Martin Winkler sang Alberich in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen last summer at the Bayreuth Festival, where he will repeat the role in this year’s cycles. He has a long association with the Volksoper in Vienna, where his recent roles have included Urstrumpf and Zeitenfresser in Christian Kolonovits’s Antonia und der Reißteufel, Dr. Bartolo in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel.

Philippe Auguin made his Met debut in 2001 conducting the company premiere of Busoni’s Doktor Faust. In subsequent seasons, he has led Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Puccini’s Tosca, La Bohème. and Madama Butterfly. Maestro Auguin serves as Music Director of both Washington National Opera and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice.
The intermissions will include backstage interviews with the stars, as well as the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera Opera Quiz featuring guest artist, tenor Matthew Polenzani, who is currently starring in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

THE STARS OF ARABELLA



PHOTOS

Click here to download photos from Arabella (password: met13photos)



About the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 83^rd season of Saturday Afternoon Radio Broadcasts—the longest-running classical music series in American broadcast history. Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts have brought opera into millions of homes and enriched the lives of many, playing a vital and unparalleled role in the development and appreciation of opera in this country. Host Margaret Juntwait returns for her tenth season, joined each week in the broadcast booth by commentator Ira Siff.

The broadcasts are heard worldwide, reaching millions of opera lovers in more than 35 countries.
Listeners can visit www.operainfo.org for a wealth of information about the Met broadcasts. For details about all Met performances this season, as well as ticket information, visit the Met’s website at www.metopera.org.
# # #
Contact: Silja Tobin

Metropolitan Opera

[phone]

[e-mail]