Met Opera 2011: Boris Godunov (G)

Bass René Pape takes on one of the greatest roles in a production by monumental theater and opera director Peter Stein, in his Met debut. Valery Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s soulful spectacle, which captures the suffering and ambition of a nation. “Boris Godunov is a masterpiece,” Stein says. “The challenge is to transmit the enormous emotional depth of the whole thing. Boris is the czar, but he is expressing a problem we all have: the consequences of human actions.” Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Ekaterina Semenchuk lead the huge cast in a work that is also a breathtaking showcase for the Met’s formidable chorus. “Boris,” Stein says, “is one of the richest operas ever written.”