Cast
Roberto Alagna (tenor)
Grace Bumbry (mezzo-soprano)
Ileana Cotrubas (soprano)
Placido Domingo (tenor)
Renée Fleming (soprano)
Jerry Hadley (tenor)
Hakan Hagegard (baritone)
Thomas Hampson (baritone)
Hei-Kyung Hong (soprano; vocalist)
Alfredo Kraus (tenor)
Karita Mattila (soprano; vocalist)
Heidi Grant Murphy (mezzo-soprano; vocalist)
Birgit Nilsson (soprano)
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano; soprano)
Samuel Ramey (bass; bass-baritone)
Julien Robbins (bass; vocalist)
Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano)
Ruth Ann Swenson (soprano; vocalist)
Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano)
Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
Deborah Voigt (soprano)
Dolora Zajick (mezzo-soprano)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
James Levine (conductor)

Programme includes
Bizet : Pearl Fishers - Au fond du temple saint (Alagna, Terfel)
Charpentier : Louise - Depuis le jour (Fleming)
Gounod : Faust - Duet from Act I (Domingo, Ramey)
Lehar : Guiditta - Meine Lippen sie kussen so heiss (Cotrubas)
Verdi : Don Carlo - O don fatale! (Zajick)
Mozart : Don Giovanni - Sextet from Act II (Fleming, Hadley, Hei-Kyung Hong, Robbins, Te Kanawa, Terfel)
Gounod : Romeo et Juliette - Juliet's Waltz (Je veux vivre) (Swenson)
J Strauss II : Die Fledermaus - Watch Duet (Dieser Anstand, so manieerlich) (Hagegard, Mattila)
Massenet : Werther - Pourqoi me réveiller (Kraus)
Saint-Saëns : Samson and Delilah - Mon cur s'ouvre
Wanger : Tannhäuser - Dich, teure Halle (Voigt
Offenbach : Périchole - Ah, quel doner (von Stade)
R Strauss : Rosenkavalier - Trio from Act III (Fleming, Murphy, Otter)
A Tribute to James Levine (Nilsson)


This gala celebrated James Levine's remarkable tenure as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He started in 1971 and is still there, three and half decades later. He conducted the Met premieres of Mozart's Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Verdi's I vespri siciliani, I Lombardi and Stiffelio, Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Schoenberg's Erwartung and Moses und Aron, Berg's Lulu, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, and several other major premieres. So far he has led more than 2,000 performances of over 80 works.

So it's no surprise that his address-book must make pretty interesting reading - every double A-list singer seems to be there, to judge by the line-up that was assembled for this gala anniversary concert in his honour.