MET GOES TO THE MOVIES: THE FIRST EMPEROR

Here in Columbus, OH:

Metropolitan Opera live in HD audio-visual
Saturday, January 13, 2006
1:30 p.m.
Georgesville Square Stadium 16
1800 Georgesville Sq.
Columbus OH

THE FIRST EMPEROR by Tan Dun

with Placido Domingo, Elizabeth Futral, Paul Groves, Suzanne Mentzer, Michelle DeYoung
condcuted by Tan Dun


Lots of people have been calling and e mailing since last Saturday's presentation of Bellini's
I Puritani. Now we share a brand new opera, in only its fifth perormance, Tan Dun's
The First Emperor. Born in China in 1957, Tan Dun is best known for his exhilirating score to the film hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tan Dun himself conducts all performances of The First Emperor, and the entire run was sold out inNew York even before the first night!

Placido Domingo sings Emperor Qin, with a radiant new star, Elizabeth Futral as Princess Yueyang and the young American tenor Paul Groves as Gao Jianli. Fan Yue and Emi Wada make their Met debuts designing the sets and costumes for this production, and our stage directors are stars of thhe Chinese cinema: Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern) and Wang Chaoge.

Mr. Domingo is no tranger to new works. One of his first successes in New York was in the title role of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera forty years ago. Domingo's artistic integrity and his continuing box office clout made him an easy choice for the title role of
The First Emperor, which he adds to his repertoire of over 150 operas. The Metropolitan Opera has presented many world premieres in its 123 year history: Puccini's
La fanciulla del West (1910) and Il trittico (1918), Deems Taylor's Peter Ibbetson (1931)
Samuel Barber's Vanessa (1958) and Antony and Cleopatra (1966) to
Philip Glass's The Voyage (1992) and John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (1995).
New singers, conductors, directors and designers are awlays exciting but it is with new operas that this art form we all love so much continues to grow.

Check out www.metopera.org

Go to the Met web site for a fascinating blog, a diary kept during the rehearsal processs for
The First Emperor. Reviews came flowing in following the first night in Decmeber, and spicy they were. You can find them on line by searching The First Emperor along with the name of your favorite critic(!)

My favorites:

Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times, London
Alex Ross, The New Yorker
Peter G. Davis, New York
Manuela Hoelterhoeff, Bloomberg News Service

Make up your own mind by joining us on January 13th for The Met Goes to the Movies and
Tan Dun's The First Emperor.



THE