L’Elisir d’Amore
(“The Elixir of Love”)
Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.
Overall message: The 2012-13 season opens with a new production of Donizetti’s comic gem, starring Anna
Netrebko in her second consecutive Met opening night
Why it’s news:

Anna Netrebko (last season’s Anna Bolena) and Matthew Polenzani (Alfredo in last season’s La
Traviata) star as Adina and Nemorino, two villagers who form an unlikely romance with the help of a
mysterious “elixir of love” that bears a suspicious resemblance to French wine.

Donizetti’s comedy, a staple of the repertory at opera houses around the world, features one of the
most famous tenor arias in history, “Una furtiva lagrima.”

This is the first time that the Live in HD season has opened with a comedy—and the first time in 20
years that the Met season has opened with one.

Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific on Broadway, the Met’s Il Barbiere di
Siviglia, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Le Comte Ory) has created a new production for the opera that
explores the depth of feeling between the characters, and is set in mid-19th-century Italy, the time
and place of the opera’s composition.

The opera co-stars Mariusz Kwiecien (last season’s Don Giovanni) as Adina’s swaggering fiancé, the
soldier Belcore, and Ambrogio Maestri as the potion-peddling traveling salesman Doctor Dulcamara.