A Met première

This contemporary opera, one of the most successful of recent years, received its world première at the Salzburg Summer Festival in 2000. The first opera by the Paris-based Finnish composer is being staged at the Metropolitan Opera by one of Canada's most respected creative artists of the theatre, Robert Lepage, in a co-production with the Opéra de Québec, where it first played last summer. L'Amour de Loin (Love from Afar) takes place during the 12th century in Aquitaine and the Lebanese city of Tripoli. Playing Jaufré Rudel, one of the most renowned troubadours, will be Eric Owens, who in 1996, at the age of 26, won the major singing competition sponsored by the Met. Since then, he has appeared in most of the world's leading opera houses and sung in the world premières of a number of contemporary works, picking up two Grammy awards along the way. Portraying the Countess of Tripoli will be Susanna Phillips, whose career skyrocketed after she won several audience prizes, including at the Operalia singing competition linked to Plácido Domingo, more than a decade ago. She made her Met début in 2008, as Musetta in La bohème, a role she has repeated there several times, in addition to taking the stage in numerous other productions. In 2010, she received the New York opera house's Beverly Sills Award for young artists. In the role of the pilgrim who relays messages between the two lovers, Tamara Mumford studied in the opera studio established by James Levine and made her first appearance at the Met in 2006, and has more than 140 performances to her name there since.
The performance is being conducted by Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki. This production marks her début at the Met.

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Presented by: Müpa Budapest