Photo Flash: First Look At Lucia di Lammermoor at The Met
By: Alan Henry Mar. 23, 2018
Lucia di Lammermoor is now open at The Metropolitan Opera! Get a first look at the cast in action below!
The role of the fragile title heroine who teeters between love and madness is shared by sopranos Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti and Pretty Yende, who have each impressed audiences with dazzling bel canto portrayals at the Met. Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano share the role of her lover in this chilling production by Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman. Roberto Abbado conducts.
Premiere: Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 1835. The character of Lucia has become an icon in opera and beyond, an archetype of the constrained woman asserting herself in society. She reappears as a touchstone for such diverse later characters as Flaubert's adulterous Madame Bovary and the repressed Englishmen in the novels of E. M. Forster. The insanity that overtakes and destroys Lucia, depicted in opera's most celebrated mad scene, has especially captured the public imagination. Donizetti's handling of this fragile woman's state of mind remains seductively beautiful, thoroughly compelling, and deeply disturbing.
The tale is set in Scotland, which, to artists of the Romantic era, signified a wild landscape on the fringe of Europe, with a culture burdened by a French-derived code of chivalry and an ancient tribal system. Civil war and tribal strife are recurring features of Scottish history, creating a background of fragmentation reflected in both Lucia's family situation and her own fragile psyche. The design of the Met's production by Mary Zimmerman suggests a 19th-century setting, and some of its visual elements are inspired by actual places in Scotland.
Donizetti's operas and those of his Italian contemporaries came to be classified under the heading of bel canto ("beautiful singing"), a genre that focused on vocal agility and lyrical beauty to express drama. Today, the great challenge in performing this music lies in finding the right balance between elegant but athletic vocalism and dramatic insight. Individual moments from the score that can be charming on their own take on increased dramatic force when heard within the context of the piece, perhaps most apparent in the soprano's extended Mad Scene in Act III.
The production is on stage March 22 - May 10. For more information and tickets click here: https://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/lucia-donizetti-tickets/<
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
A scene from Act III of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role. Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Deborah Nansteel as Alisa, Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo, and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti as Lucia and Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
A scene from Act III of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti as Lucia and Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti as Lucia and Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Deborah Nansteel as Alisa and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Massimo Cavalletti as Enrico and Gregory Schmidt as Normanno in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
Massimo Cavalletti as Enrico and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vitalij Kowaljow as Raimondo and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Vitalij Kowaljow as Raimondo and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
Deborah Nansteel as Alisa and Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
A scene from Act III of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Vittorio Grigolo as Edgardo. Photo: Richard Termine / Met Opera
A scene from Act I of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Photo: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
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