A Look at the Met's 'Arabella' Performance History; Malin Bystrom to Star in Strauss Masterpiece

On April 3, the Metropolitan Opera will revive Richard Strauss' "Arabella."

After celebrating the composer's 150th anniversary with "Der Rosenkavalier" and "Die Frau Ohne Schatten," the Met will conclude with one his lesser known works.

Since premiering at the Met in 1955, the work has had an inconsistent performance history with the company. Eleanor Steber took on the title role with Rudolf Kempe at the podium. George London, Hilde Guden and Brian Sullivan also starred in Herbert Graf's production. That season the opera received seven performances.

In 1957, the opera returned with London and Guden reprising their roles. However, this time Lisa della Casa took on the title roles for seven performances with Erich Leinsdorf conducting the work.

Della Casa would return with London and Leinsdorf for the 1960 run. However, this time around Anneliese Rothenberger took on the role Zdenka and made her Met debut in the role. Rothernberger scored rave reviews for her debut with the Herald Tribune stating "her singing of high-lying measures was often exceptionally delectable, while both her song and demeanor were expressively convincing.

Five years later, the opera returned with Della Casa and Rothenberger, but this time Georges Pretre conducted while Walter Cassel sang the role of Mandryka.

The opera would disappear for 18 years and would return in 1983 with a new production. Otto Schenk directed the opera with Kiri Te Kanawa as Arabella, Bernd Weikl as Mandryka, and Kathleen Battle as Zdenka. The production also featured Academy Award-winning costume designer Milena Canonero in her Met debut. Leinsdorf conducted the run, which was performed seven times. The production was a huge critical success. The opera (UK) stated,  "Kiri Te Kanawa is an ideal Arabella," and "Kathleen Battle's Zdenka was superior: fully believable both as a boy and a girl, singing with a fresh insouciance (and a pin-point soprano which contrasted so beautifully with that of Te Kanawa), attention to words, and acting with a vital intelligence. She is a major artist."

A year later Te Kanawa would reprise her portrayal with Battle. For the eight performances Marc Janowski conducted the work in his Met debut.

In 1994, the work would return with Te Kanawa and Marie Mclaughlin as Zdenka. Hans Joachim-Ketelsen made his Met debut as Mandryka while Christian Thieleman conducted the work. That year also marked the debut of Natalie Dessay in a minor role. She would later become one of the Met's biggest stars. The run lasted eight performances and was even recorded for TV broadcast.

The last time the work was performed was in 2001 when Renee Fleming sang the title role. Barbara Bonney played the role of Zdenka while Ketelsen portrayed Mandryka. Christoph Eschenbach conducted the performances.

This year Schenk's production will return with Malin Bystrom as Arabella. Acclaimed baritone Michael Volle will make his Met debut as Mandryka while Juliane Banse will also make her debut as Zdenka. Roberto Sacca will also be among the debutantes and Philippe Auguin will conduct the production.

The opera will be performed for six performances and will run until April 24.