Anna Netrebko ♫ Sondra Radvanovsky ♫ Dolora ZajickRoberto Alagna ♫ Susanna Phillips ♫ Piotr BeczalaNew York in January with the Lyric Opera Guild!

January 17-20, 2019Reservation deadline: October 1, 2018

Clementine Margaine, Roberto Alagna and Susanna Phillips star in Bizet's Carmen.

The Metropolitan Opera is performing a se-ries of great classics in January, including the gor-geous but rarely produced Adriana Lecouvreur of the Italian verismo composer Francesco Cilea, starring today's most sought-after soprano, Anna Netrebko.

Also on tap at the Metropolitan Opera is Bi-zet's Carmen with Roberto Alagna and Clem-entine Margaine, Susanna Phillips, and the fa-mous Zeffirelli grand production of Verdi's Aida with perhaps today's leading dramatic soprano, Sondra Radvanovsky, and the legend-ary Dolora Zajick.

An optional addition during this trip for the real opera fanatics among us is Debussy's one-of-a-kind gem Pelleas et Melisande. Debussy wrote only one opera, and the result is a most unusual but quite entrancing work, not often done. The cast is stellar: Isabel Leonard, Paul Appleby, Fer-ruccio Furlanetto and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Another alternative for you on the Saturday afternoon would be a Broadway show.

Here is our itinerary:Thurday, January 17. We fly to

New York and check in to the Empire Hotel, with its fabulous location just across the street from Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House.

That evening we open with the Metropolitan Opera's production of Bizet's classic opera Car-men starring the rising mezzo soprano Clemen-tine Margaine in the title role, with famed tenor Roberto Alagna singing Don Jose and Susanna Phillips as Micaela.

The young French mezzo soprano Clementine Margaine has gained international acclaim in re-cent seasons at such theaters as the Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro

Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala sing in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met.

Sondra Radvanovsky will sing the title role in Aida.

dell’Opera di Roma, Grand Théâtre de Ge-nève, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Opera Australia and the Canadian Opera Com-pany. Carmen is her calling-card role, and when she sang it at the Metropolitan Op-era last season, the New York Times wrote that "her Carmen produced an entirely new sound of of bright, fiery power."

The French-Italian singer Roberto Alag-na has been one of the leading tenors on the opera stage since winning the Pavarotti Competition thirty years ago. He has starred at the Metropolitan Opera since 1996 and Don Jose is one of his signature roles. Su-sanna Phillips is a winner of the Beverly Sills award and has sung at the Met for ten seasons in lighter soprano roles.

Friday, January 18. After a free day explor-ing New York, you will enjoy the Metropolitan Opera's spectacular production of Verdi's grand opera Aida. You've seen Aida before, you say? Probably not with Sondra Radvanovsky, widely

considered to be the greatest dramatic soprano of recent years, singing the title role. Radvanovsky, an Illinois native, has won widespread acclaim for her Leonora, Norma, and as the three queens in Donizetti's trio of dramatic operas. Aida is the lat-est addition to her impressive repertory.

Mezzo Dolora Zajick, meanwhile, has been a Metropolitan Opera mainstay for over twenty years and her Amneris is one of her most often-

performed roles. She is a specialist in the demand-ing dramatic roles in the mezzo repertoire. The tenor in Aida is South Korean Yonghoon Lee, who debuted at the Met in 2010 and who has sung several dramatic roles at the house.

Saturday, January 19. If you want to experi-ence one of opera's most unusual works, we offer an option this afternoon of Debussy's dreamy, flowing drama Pelleas et Melisande. Debussy's Impressionistic style of composition perfectly suited this portrait by the playwright Maeter-linck of a mysterious, wistful couple caught up in events beyond their control. The remarkable soprano Isabel Leonard and tenor Paul Appleby, both Americans, portray the couple, with stalwart Italian baritone Ferruccio Furlanetto as Golaud and the renowned French Canadian mezzo Ma-rie-Nicole Lemieux as Genevieve.

Leonard is a Grammy award-winning singer who has appeared with the Met since 2007 in both comic and dramatic roles. Appleby, a Juil-liard gtraduate, has sung in recent years with the Dutch National Opera, the Gran Teatre del Li-ceu, the Opera de Paris and other major houses, along with the Met. The production is conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met's new artistic director.

An alternative for you on the Saturday after-noon would be a Broadway production, or free time in New York. Our tour leader Evan Luskin will help you find tickets to a Broadway show if

you like, but of course all tickets are subject to availability.

Saturday evening is our night to hear Anna Netrebko sing one of the iconic roles in the rep-ertoire, the title role in Cilea's Adriana Lecou-vreur. This dramatic opera was long one of the standards of the operatic stage, but is now not of-ten performed, usually being revived only when a truly special dramatic soprano comes to the fore. Netrebko is such a soprano, so the Met offers us this unusual opportunity. Polish tenor Piotr Bec-zala, a mainstay at the Met in dramatic tenor roles, will be her counterpart.

Netrebko has become probably the world's leading soprano since her stage debut at the age of 22. She worked as a janitor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, before audi-tioning for the music director Valery Gergiev, who took her under his tutelage. Her meteoric rise in the operatic world thereafter is the stuff of legend, and she has appeared in leading roles around the world in such theatres as the Met, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Paris Opera and many others. Among her leading roles are Vio-

This trip includes:Round trip air fare between Kansas

City and New York. ♫ Bus transportation to and from the airport and the Empire Hotel. ♫ Accommodations at the Empire Hotel for three nights. ♫ Orchestra sec-tion seats to Carmen, Aida and Adriana Lecouvreur at the Metropolitan Opera. As always, you can drop a performance if you like; just let us know. ♫ Group meal at Gabriel's Restaurant. ♫ All baggage and porterage fees, except for any baggage fees the airline charges, which you must pay on your own. ♫ Tax deductible contribution to the Kansas City Lyric Opera Guild, the exact amount of which will be calculated at the conclusion of the trip when we have reconciled all trip costs.

Cancellation PolicyYour deposit and reservation constitute a

contract for you to go on this trip. Upon receiv-ing your deposit we will expend substantial sums to pay for your costs of this trip. If you must cancel, you will still owe the balance of the trip charge, but we will return whatever portion of your trip costs we are able to re-cover. We strongly recommend trip cancel-lation insurance to protect your investment in this trip. Please call your travel agent or check with trip insurance providers online.

Tour Cost:Land Arrangements ..............................$1,850Airfare from and to Kansas City .......... $300Total ..........................................................$2,150Added single supplement (if you want a single room at the hotel) .........................$350

Change PolicyWe are happy to accommodate any changes

you want to make for this trip, but all change requests must be made in writing at the time of the reservation and are subject to availability and price adjustments. The tour leader must acknowledge all changes in writing for the requested changes to be confirmed.

letta, Donna Anna, Lucia, Anna Bolena, Tatiana, Lady Macbeth, Aida, Maddalena and Norma. She has won many international awards and has made numerous recordings. She began singing the role of Adriana Lecouvreur last season.

Beczala has sung in Chicago, New York, Ber-lin, Barcelona, Vienna, Zürich, and beyond. He made his Met debut in 2006 and has sung a num-ber of leading roles with the company, including the Duke, Lensky, Edgardo, Rodolfo, Romeo and Faust.

Sunday, January 20. We return to Kansas City with memories of these great performances.

To join us, please print, fill out and mail in the reservation form on the next page.

RESERVATIONS - New York Trip - January 2019 (please print legibly)

Full Names (as on driver’s licenses): ____________________________________________________Date(s) of birth (required by the airline): __________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Phone: (____) ________________ E-mail address: ________________________________________On Saturday afternoon do you choose [check one] the Metropolitan Opera performance of Pelleas et Melisande, or a Broadway play of your choice (subject to ticket availability) or neither of the above (free afternoon in New York). The Pelleas et Melisande tickets are $265 each. The Broadway show tickets would be at the listed ticket price of whatever show you choose (let our tour guide know of your top choices).[check one] Single Room Double Room, sharing with ________________________

Any special dietary restrictions? ____________________________________________________ To reserve your spot on this trip, please send this form and a deposit of $1,000 per person by Oc-

tober 1, 2018. The remainder of your payment will be due on December 1, 2018. Please make your check payable to Lyric Opera Guild Trips and mail it to Evan Luskin, 7600 West 100th Street, Overland Park, KS 66212. If you wish to make your own air arrangements, let us know and deduct the air fare cost from your final payment (see trip cost summary on the previous page).

Questions? Please call our tour leader Evan Luskin, at (913) 642-3753 or e-mail him at

evanluskin@gmail.com.