On Feb. 28 Anna Netrebko will make her New York Recital Debut at the Metropolitan Opera.

The Music

For the recital, Netrebko will sing a program with music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. The singer first performed the works in 2009 at the Salzburg Festival and later released them as a CD on an album entitled "In the Still of Night." The pianist who accompanied her on those performances was Daniel Barenboim. She later performed the same program in 2010 with Barenboim in Berlin.

Netrebko has described the music of this program as very Russian, music that has "everything," and "full of drama." When she first performed the works, she was very careful with the translations of the poems. She believed that 50 percent of the effect of the music was the text, and without good translations, they would not have the correct effect.

Rimsky-Korsakov's music represents more melancholy folk songs from Russia, while Tchaikovsky's romances lean toward the poems of Pushkin and more personal confessions.

Much of the music is still unknown to the Western world, and Netrebko has been an advocate for promoting the music around the world.

The History

Four years ago Peter Gelb reintroduced the recital to the Met and began the series with German tenor Jonas Kaufmann. A year later, Kaufmann was followed by Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, and last season German Bass Rene Pape delighted audiences with a recital of German and Russian music. Netrebko is the fourth participant and first female performer of the series.

The Artist

Netrebko is one of the most famous opera singers in the world. She performs regularly at the Met and Vienna State Opera, and is the toast of the Salzburg Festival. Her appearances in Europe are always sold out, and her CDs have topped the pop charts in Austria. Recently she made headlines as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Met, and the HD performance is scheduled for DVD release later this year. The performance was hailed by Latin Post as "one of the most electrifying nights in recent opera history."

Netrebko is returning to the Met in September for a run of six performances of Verdi's "Il Trovatore," one of which will be performed in HD. She made her role debut last year in the opera in Berlin, and later performed it at the Salzburg Festival and at the Mariinsky Theater. She is also scheduled to sing the same work in Paris and Berlin later in the year.

Netrebko will open the Teatro alla Scala di Milano season in December in her role debut as Giovanna in Verdi's "Giovanna d'Arco." She will also make her role debut as Elsa in Wagner's "Lohengrin." She also return to Vienna for Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and Puccini's "Manon Lescaut." Her new album "Verismo" is scheduled for release in November and will include works by Boito, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Giordano and Catalani.

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