Richard Sasanow - Page 28

Pretty Yende--a name that in itself brings certain expectations as well as smiles--burst on the New York opera scene at the start of 2013, in a baptism by fire. At just 27, the South African soprano from Piet Retief, Mpumalanga memorably stepped into one of the lead roles in the revival of Rossini's LE COMTE ORY (opposite, no less, star tenor Juan Diego Florez) on short notice.

Soprano Anna Netrebko was AWOL. Tenor Marcello Giordani wasn't there. Mezzo Isabel Leonard didn't make it either. At least tenor Richard Tucker (1913-1975) had the best excuse for not being at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday evening. But, as they say “the show must go on”--and the annual gala of The Richard Tucker Foundation certainly did, despite all the cancellations. Celebrating the famed singer, as well as showcasing the newly anointed winner of its top award, tenor Michael Fabiano, the evening was filled with many pleasures.

A little slapstick here, a little mysticism there, some knockout arias, a love story, parental conflict--put them all together and you have Mozart's DIE ZAUBERFLOTE--better known in these parts as THE MAGIC FLUTE. Add a good cast and a spectacular production with wonderful effects, flying boys, Bunraku-style bears, serpents and other animals and you should have a wonderful evening at the Met. The key word is 'should,' because this week's FLUTE was somehow less than the sum of its parts.

Ever since I heard Anna Netrebko's “Verdi” album last year, which highlighted excerpts from the operatic treatment of Shakespeare's MACBETH, I knew her Verdi was the real deal and couldn't wait for her to take on the full Lady Macbeth on stage. Her performances in the Adrian Noble production currently at the Met confirmed my best expectations--and then some.

The wonderful German singer Rene Pape made history when he made his recital debut at the Met last week—the first bass to perform a solo program at the house. He showed off his dexterity with languages, singing in German, Russian and English, and his ability to move from art songs to musical comedy, sensitively accompanied by pianist Camillo Radicke.

More than most stagings of Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the new Richard Eyre production that opened the season at the Met made it hard to remember that the miserable duo who head the household were the happy couple of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA.

'Cherubino is crazy in some ways, in good ways,' says Isabel Leonard, who is singing the role of the young male page in the Almaviva household in the Metropolitan Opera's new Richard Eyre production of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. 'He sees everything in Technicolor, eyes wide open, taking everything in, not missing a second that he could possibly enjoy in his life.”'

It's easy for opera-lovers to complain about the homogenization of casting at the world's great houses—particularly when there's only a small handful of Annas, Jonases, Juan Diegos, Cecilias, etc., that everybody wants to hear. So it was a treat to hear the visiting Bolshoi's concert performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's THE TSAR'S BRIDE last weekend at Lincoln Center Festival—filled with wonderful solo voices almost completely unknown to New York audiences, along with the stalwart Bolshoi chorus (under Valery Borisov).

The Houston Grand Opera's brilliant production of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's THE PASSENGER, directed by David Pountney, was a stunning visitor to the Park Avenue Armory last week as a coproduction with the Lincoln Center Festival. It's not an easy experience, but well worth the effort.

I'd call it “love at first sight” (or, more properly, “first hearing”), but this wasn't the first time I'd heard mezzo Jamie Barton. And I certainly hope it won't be the last. Her performances at opening of this year's Summer Recital Series from the Metropolitan Opera at Central Park's SummerStage in New York, on June 23, were sensational. She grabbed the audience by the lapels and refused to let go.

In New York, Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX will forever be associated with Beverly Sills' powerful portrayal of Elizabeth I, and her stern photo glaring out from the cover of Time Magazine. However, Italian soprano Mariella Devia, a vocal miracle at 66, nearly caused a riot in the role at Carnegie Hall on June 5, performing with the Opera Orchestra of New York under the baton of its founder, Eve Queler.

When New York's Gotham Chamber Opera--in collaboration with the Gerald Lynch Theatre at John Jay College--presented Toshio Hosokawa's THE RAVEN in its US premiere last week, as part of the NY Philharmonic Biennial, the composer could not have wished for a production that made a better case for it. Yet, despite the company's best efforts--and a wonderful concert opener based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, “Mask of the Red Death”--this was a less-than-fulfilling evening.

Even with its visions of damnation and redemption, Gounod's FAUST, with libretto by Barbier and Carre, is pretty tame stuff. In the wrong hands, it can be dull as well. Well, you can't accuse the Dutch National Opera's new production--by Barcelona's Alex Ollé and the theatre company La Fura dels Baus--of being “dull,” with its prosthetic breasts, Barbie doll chorus and simulated sex.

“The party's over,” wrote Betty Comden & Adolph Green in BELLS ARE RINGING. “It's time to call it a day.” The opera season at the Metropolitan said its farewells to 2013-2014 on May 10 with a bel canto doubleheader of Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA (a shot heard round the world via radio and The Met's LIVE IN HD) and Bellini's IL PURITANI--not a bad swan song, considering the singing talent involved.

When the Met's production of LA CENERENTOLA, Rossini's version of the Cinderella story. arrives in movie theatres around the world next week, the star for many will be tenor Juan Diego Florez as the prince. But he didn't make it to the first three performances of the opera this season in New York--not that we got short-changed in the matter. Mezzo Joyce DiDonato was there in the title role, as scheduled, with her wonderfully sung, deeply felt portrayal and, as the prince, was Javier Camarena, the Met's own Cinderella man.

One of the thrilling things about live opera performance is that it's like watching a tightrope walker, particularly when it's one with as many high notes and such florid writing as in Bellini's I PURITANI. Only daredevils need apply. That was the atmosphere when Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko made her Met debut last week.

By this time in the Met's season, audiences can be a little “been there, done that”--but not when it came to Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, singing the title role in Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERFLY for the first time in New York. They nearly stormed the stage when she came out for her curtain call, and with good reason. She was spectacular.

Of all the music that Richard Strauss wrote during his long career—and he'd composed almost 60 songs and more than 40 piano works by the time he was 18—perhaps none are more gorgeous and moving than his FOUR LAST SONGS (VIER LETZTE LIEDER). Finnish soprano Karita Mattila's performance on Saturday night at Carnegie Hall with the Munich Philharmonic under Fabio Luisi was gleaming and full bodied, and she held the audience in her thrall.

In our age of 20-somethings suffering from arrested development, they say “25 is the new 15.” This certainly was not true at the Met auditions concert (formally, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert, a real mouthful!). At the opera house, Sunday afternoon, the concert showcased nine competitors, all between 24 and 29 but mature artists with poise, acting ability and, yes, voices definitely worth hearing again.

It's always reassuring when a change of cast--in this case soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Javier Camarena in wonderful performances--transforms a truly terrible production into an exciting night at the opera. But that's exactly what happened with the revival of Bellini's LA SONNAMBULA at the Met last week.