Fantasy Opera Casting League, or Sorry Sports Fans

With baseball season just around the corner (I am sort of a Yankees fan, though I do not really like sports very much.), I thought it would be a novel idea if we opera lovers stole some of the fun from the sports fans and made our own lists of "fantasy" opera casts. Pretty neat idea, I thought. The only problem is that our seasons (no pun intended) are already anounced a year in advance, so the only way that our dreams would translate into reality would be for us to pray fr a singer to fall ill or something, and I am just not that callous of a person. Nevertheless, sports fans are guilty of making some rather unrealistic team rosters up themselves, so why can we not participate in the fun?

1. My opera house would have to be the Met. Not only do you have the marvelous history of the company behind you, but it is also one of the largest houses in the world. More seats equal more money to keep my opera franchise going.
2. My orchestra would consist of an all-star roster of Gil Shaham as concert master, with Itzhak Perleman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Nicola Benedetti among the violinists; The 5 Browns would add a new element to our orchestral sound with their five pianos (I would definitely make a new rule about adding pianos to most of the opera scores), Yo-Yo Ma would be our principal cellist, Allison Balsom and Chris Botti would be the forefront of our trumpet section, and James Galway would provide our solo flute passages. Now that tells you how little I know of the orchestral virtuosic music scene around the world today, so before you all comment on my putting Gil Shaham as concert master of the Met, remember that this is all my imagination anyway, and that I probably would not be in business very long like this.
3. I would like to get Franco Zeffirelli to design another production for me. I would probably give him something Italian to do because he excels in those Puccini/Verdi locales. I might have him do Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco or something. I would probably ask him to reconceive Tosca since everyone at the Met is expecting a new production already, and I would give Renee Fleming the title role (She did say recently that she was going to sing Tosca soon.).
4. Since we are doing Tosca, I shall just list the cast for that opera. Renee would be Tosca, Placido Domingo or Roberto Alagna would be Cavaraodossi, and James Morris would be Scarpia. I would have Valery Gergiev conduct it.

Now I think you can all see why I am not employed in the administrative field of opera. Does anyone have any suggestions for the remainder of the season?

-Tyler.