Not Yet Quasi-Nationalized And Facing Economic Stress, MET Opera Abandons American Opera Next Season; Will Mount Only One Shostakovich Opera

"The Metropolitan Opera, contending with biting economic woes, laid out a 2009-10 season on Tuesday that includes eight new productions but is also notable for scaled-back ambitions....

Overshadowing the announcement is what the Met will not be presenting because of budget cuts: Graham Vick’s 1994 production of Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” and Herbert Wernicke’s 2001 production of Strauss’s “Frau Ohne Schatten.” Two less costly productions of Strauss operas, “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “Elektra,” will replace them.

Other productions left on the cutting room floor are revivals of John Corigliano’s 1991 “Ghosts of Versailles” and Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini.” ...

Daniel Wakin "Updated: Metropolitan Opera Announces 2009-10 Season" February 10, 2009

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Image credit: (c) William Kentridge, "Felix in Exile", 1994.