Constant searching has led me to a film of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri from Whitsun at Salzburg in 2018. This is regie, of course. The subtitles seem to be in French. We are in Mustafa's bedroom where his wife makes advances while husband Mustafa is sleeping. He doesn't like it. Lindoro comes in with a vaccuum, smoking, wearing dreads and a tattoo. There is lots of nice music for Lindoro and Mustafa. The houses in the street all have satellite dishes.
After the guys leave, Cecilia comes in riding on a camel. Camel raises tail, Cecilia holds nose. This is an opera comedy that seems actually to be funny. Corbelli runs out of one of the stores to save Cecilia from bandits [cops?] waving guns? She says he is her uncle and shows her passport. Isabella is a contralto and is fairly easy for Cecilia. Everything is charming. I'm so glad she is singing this and that I am finally seeing it. My traveling days may be over.
In the next scene Isabella meets Mustafa and critiques his figure. In a row behind them are men smoking hookahs and blowing the smoke out onto the stage. Lindoro and Isabella see each other. Stuffed chairs roll around the stage. Isabella tells Mustafa he already has a wife.
This is fun. It is wonderful to see Isabella played by the essential Italian woman. Cecilia has long been my favorite Italian.
In the prelude to act 2 there are annoying banging sounds which turn out to be people slicing vegetables. The male chorus, clearly Mustafa's flunkies, carry boxes of electronics. Is Mustafa selling them, stealing them, what? Mustafa is arranging a meeting with Isabella. Cecilia enters smoking, but I don't see smoke. Sight gags. Smooching.
Taddeo takes off his trousers and is wearing Superman briefs. We have as many sight gags as you could possibly want. I am enjoying this very much. Suddenly male chorus all have guns and shoot them off. Perhaps Mustafa is an Algerian mafioso.
Back in Isabella's apartment she is taking a bubble bath with people all around, including us, of course. Mustafa enters in his night clothes and tries to get an eyeful. Isabella is waving bras around and singing. It is a fact that this is my first time seeing The Italian Girl in Algiers with a real Italian girl. So we know what has been missing. The aria ends and Lindoro wheels the bathtub off stage. Isabella soon reenters in her nightgown. Taddeo assumes the lotus position. Everything is getting out of control when Elvira enters. Mustafa passes out.
We see clips of La Dolce Vita where Anita Ekberg gets into the Trevi Fountain, the ultimate Italian woman film. I don't know what the general reception for this production was, but I am loving it. It is colossally silly with the spectacular Cecilia Bartoli in the middle. I find that I am shockingly unfamiliar with most of the music in this opera.
In the final scene the male chorus are all dressed as soccer players. Isabella feeds them from a giant pot of pasta. She sings "Pensa la patria" to Lindoro who is also Italian. This is at last familiar, probably from one of Cecilia's albums. She flirts with everyone. Mustafa is to be made a Pappataci. He goes back to his regular wife and the Italians all sail off for Italy. Bon voyage. Everyone lives happily ever after. Isabella and Lindoro are doing Titanic at the end, but let's assume their fates are different. How many icebergs can there be in the Mediterranean?
For me this production was perfect. Yes, it's modernized but I found the changes never to be a distortion of the story. After all, an Italian woman is an Italian woman in any era. I also thought the cast was as good as it gets, most of all our Italian woman, Cecilia Bartoli.
👍🏻
This is the moment in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera, at the end of Act I when Renée Fleming looks out into the auditorium and thinks this is perhaps the last time. The look of this scene resembles Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough.
The time has been moved to 1912 when the opera was first performed, just before WWI. All the men are soldiers. There were many special moments in this Rosenkavalier, but I especially liked when the Marschallin sings "Wenn ich auch an ein Maedel errinnern, die frisch aus dem Kloster bis in die heiligen..." and she goes over to the chest containing the rose, takes it out and remembers that once the rose arrived for her. I have never seen this business before. I saw my first Renée Fleming Marschallin in 2000 in San Francisco and find her characterization was deeper and more serious than before. I also loved that at the end she takes the arm of the police sergeant, moving on to her next lover it would seem. I can only describe her as magnificent.
Most of the details of the staging are acceptable if not always traditional, but at the end is a surprise. In Act I a large, odd looking green hat appears. Then at the very end of the opera when everyone has left the stage, an army rises up with someone in the center wearing the green hat. We must assume this is the otherwise not seen Feldmarschall being mowed down in battle. Curious. This could easily be done without.
I didn't agree with every detail, but the richness of texture of this production filled my heart to overflowing. Der Rosenkavalier holds a special place in my heart, and this one has risen to the top.
Our Ochs, Günther Groissböck, was Ochs in Salzburg in 2014. He adds many layers of depth to this character.
And our Italian singer was none other than Enrico Caruso.
This moment in the second act was also perfection, though of the more traditional sort. Octavian leans over to smell the Persian attar of roses, looks up at Sophie and instantly falls in love. I first heard Erin Morley in King Roger in Santa Fe where she was wonderful. Her Sophie is much more than a mere soubrette and adds soaring lines. Her acting is also more complex than usual.
When I saw her in duets with Anna Netrebko, I did not imagine that our Latvian mezzo Elīna Garanča would turn out to be such a wonderful actress. She was simply spectacular. I'm having a hard time finding the words for something that exceeded my wildest imaginings. She threw herself so gleefully into Mariandel.
We finished with a spectacularly glorious trio. Thank you, Peter Gelb, Metropolitan Opera, Günther Groissböck, Erin Morley, Renée Fleming, and most of all Elīna Garanča for a wonderful memory.
👍🏻
Conductor...............Robin Ticciati
Production..............Deborah Warner
Eugene Onegin......
Peter Mattei
Tatiana.................Anna Netrebko
Lensky..................Alexey Dolgov
Olga....................Elena Maximova
Prince Gremin......Stefan Kocán
Larina..................Elena Zaremba
Filippyevna, nanny....Larissa Diadkova
Triquet.................Tony Stevenson
Today was the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD presentation of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin starring Mattei and Netrebko. This was the third HD presentation of this opera and the second of this production. I had no sense that I was seeing a repeat.
This time the production seemed perfect. The first two acts are clearly in a country villa with villagers and land owners. Larina, Lensky, Olga, Tatiana and Onegin represent the latter.
Every role was cast to perfection. Tony Stevenson did a star turn singing the couplets at Tatiana's birthday party. Larissa Diadkova is very attentive as Tatiana's nanny. Olga and her mother were wonderfully sung by the two Elenas. Alexey Dolgov as Lensky was perfection as the too immature man who simply assumes Olga is his forever and does not know what to do when Onegin flirts with her. We will have to read the novel if we want to know what happens to Olga. Stefan Kocán seems a little young for Gremin but sang beautifully.
But it is the amazing acting of Anna Netrebko and Peter Mattei that brings this opera thrillingly to life. Anna has gone deeper into the character this time with astounding results. Peter portrays arrogance and ennui better than any of his predecessors, and then caps his performance with an intense finish.
Here he appears at a party in St. Petersburg in the third act.
It is an opera about love. I often think that I am happier in my old age because I no longer feel inclined to fall in love. It is far better to watch others suffer at the opera. This performance was a level of theatrical and musical achievement that comes only rarely. Bravi.
Renée Fleming was our hostess. In two weeks we will see her in Der Rosenkavalier. We hope that isn't the last time we see her.
________________________________________
Comment from Stefan Kocán on Facebook:
"Dear my facebook friends ,
I just like to say one thing about Gremin.
He is NOT old!
At the end of opera is Onegin 26, [this is in the dialog.] Tatyana let's say 20-22 (?) and Gremin is around/after 30.
Gremin in his aria only refers to an old man and to a young boy in the bloom of youth...
That means the staging of the MET didn't felt short! ...but totally in
accordance with Pushkin and Tchaikovsky potrayed Gremin as an adult (
not anymore boy) man with an war experience."
Il Marchese di Calatrava / Padre Guardiano: Vitalij Kowaljow Donna Leonora: Anja Harteros Don Carlo di Vargas: Ludovic Tézier Don Alvaro: Jonas Kaufmann Preziosilla: Nadia Krasteva Fra Melitone: Renato Girolami Curra: Heike Grötzinger Un alcade: Christian Rieger Mastro Trabuco: Francesco Petrozzi Un chirurgo: Rafał Pawnuk
I'm having trouble deciding how to approach this writing. I have some very specific memories of this opera that I would like to share. This was Leontyne Price's second opera--Aida and then Forza--so I saw it live with her at the San Francisco Opera and on tv from the Met as part of her farewell from staged opera performances.
Then I remember being a flunky in it in Germany, kneeling on the floor in excruciating pain. We performed it in German. We performed everything in German.
Or should I talk about the table shown above? This table shows up in almost every scene with different numbers of chairs surrounding it. Each person is assigned a place even when they are not in their assigned chair. We presume that the chair with its back to us is for Don Alvaro who shows up late. The accidental shooting was well staged. This is usually confusing for the audience. In each scene there are different numbers of chairs around the table and different singers. Papa and the Padre are the same singer.
In the next scene years later we see Don Carlo in his green sweater and glasses at first, and then he changes into military clothing. This is so we can follow who this is in the rest of the opera.
The music is wonderful, but the opera is too long. You lose interest, or at least I do, when the soprano is missing for scene after scene.
Pride of place in the bows and most enthusiasm in the applause went to Anja Harteros. Is it possible to explain her? Her voice is not beautiful, but it's beautiful enough. In most Verdi you are not really looking for beauty. Maria Callas' voice was also not beautiful. Nor is Sondra Radvanovsky's, Anja's only real rival today. I prefer Anja. For me she has more emotional range, draws me in to the scene more.
Kaufmann and Tézier are well matched. I can't help it, I want the duets to be with the soprano. She dies at the end with a pathetic lack of excitement. I used to blame the lack of popularity of this opera on the opening scene, but now I think it's the whole thing. It just doesn't work.
I was viewing from a Mac in Ohio, and the stream was very jerky. I haven't had that problem at home.
👍🏻
In a week I will be traveling to Salzburg for the last week of the festival, but since my tour didn't include Verdi's Don Carlo, I thought medici.tv was the way to go. I forgot that the live streams don't include subtitles. If and when the stream reappears as a film on medici.tv, subtitles will undoubtedly be added.
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Flilppo II: Matti Salminen Don Carlo: Jonas Kaufmann Elisabetta di Valois: Anja Harteros Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa: Thomas Hampson La Principessa Eboli: Ekaterina Semenchuk Il Grande Inquisitore: Eric Halfvarson Un frate: Robert Lloyd Tebaldo: Maria Celeng Una voce dal cielo: Sen Guo Il Conte di Lerma/Un Araldo reale: Benjamin Bernheim
What an astounding cast. Eric Halfvarson was the only repeat from the Met simulcast. This performance is above all a masterpiece of casting. Pereira knows all of them from Zurich. And Pappano and the staff bring each of them to the peak of intensity. I am feeling numb and speechless.
The opera is about politics. The Catholic Spain has conquered Protestant Flanders and is ruling it with an iron hand. The Inquisition is merciless against them. Philip II shows his bias in his friendship with the Grand Inquisitor. Carlo and Rodrigo band together to speak for the side of Protestant freedom.
There is a wonderful duet with Hampson and Kaufmann where they sing of their friendship. They are marvelous together. Hampson is vocally and emotionally just right for Rodrigo. He projects a certain softness that is very much the character of Rodrigo.
Their defense of the people of Flanders has no effect. Rodrigo argues for Carlo as governor of Flanders. All is a failure, and the prisoners are burned on the stage.
The opera is about the conflict between love and duty. Carlo and Elisabeth meet in the forest in France and fall in love when they realize they are destined to marry. Then politics changes everything--Elisabeth marries Philip II instead. She accepts this reversal of fortune much better than he.
Carlo is a role that consists primarily of duets. Kaufmann is by now very much accustomed to singing with Harteros. Both sing big which is exactly right for Verdi. And both can. To be completely honest, he is working a lot harder at it than she is. Her voice simply is that big. They bring an almost magical balance of voice, stature and emotion when they work together.
When Rodrigo finds out that Carlo is in love with Elisabeth, he betrays him. The plot is not the same without this betrayal which I simply cannot understand. Why would he do this? When the betrayal brings him the favor of Philip, he refuses it. When Carlo is imprisoned, Rodrigo says he will die for him, and then actually does. More beautiful duets.
This is exactly how I want my Verdi. My dears, this is what it is about. What makes a great opera? Those people you see standing there. Their voices, their bodies, their souls, their hearts. A production that explains what they are doing there together and never distracts you from them. And Verdi. Why do the Italians adore him so? Because the best Verdi is the best anything.
With this cast and this conductor it had an intensity and excitement that I have rarely seen in my years as an opera goer. My sense of this opera is transformed.
Giulio Cesare: Andreas Scholl, countertenor Cleopatra: Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano Cornelia: Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano Sesto: Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor Tolomeo: Christophe Dumaux, countertenor Nireno: Jochen
Kowalski, countertenor Achilla: Ruben Drole, bass Curio: Peter Kálmán, bass
Conductor: Giovanni Antonini, l'Orchestre Il Giardino Armonico Regisseur: Olivier Simonnet Production: Moshe Leiser et Patrice Caurier
While watching Giulio Cesare stream from Salzburg, I took notes.
The production is in modern dress, soldiers with helmets and rifles dancing. There is fire on the stage. The stage is full of lizards and oil wells. The chorus is not much.
Scholl as Caesar in a medium blue suit steps out of a limousine with a statue of himself lying on the roof. The statue is taken off and placed on the stage. To the victor belong the spoils. He wears the Roman victory laurel, but quickly takes it off. He sits down and reads the newspapers while singing about victory.
Von Otter and Jaroussky, Pompey's family, appear in time to see Pompey's head delivered in a blue box with a green ribbon. Caesar doesn't know what's in the box and opens it in front of the family.
Caesar goes back to the car to get his gun and sings through the window. Now he is mad as hell. Jaroussky is dressed as a kid. I completely do not buy the head left lying on the floor. They would have done something with it. Cornelia is in despair and puts her head in a lizard's mouth. Sesto is pissed and sees a ghost of Dad. He at least acknowledges the head on the floor.
Cecilia Bartoli is the Intendant of this festival and has made sure she gets plenty of costumes for this opera. No more operas where she spends the whole night in her night gown or a black dress. In her first entrance she is wearing boots and a leopard trench coat. Cute. She dances around the statue of Caesar. There are obscene gestures. This part of the opera is all about having fun.
Her brother Tolomeo throws the statue of Caesar on the floor and kicks it. He tears it up and pulls out its insides. For some unknown reason it has insides. He makes the head of Pompey and the head of Caesar kiss. He is a bum with tattoos, corn rows and long hair. I am booing. So is the audience.
Caesar comes out and lights an oil drum. He takes Pompey's head and puts it in the burning drum. At least he treats it with some respect.
You have guessed by now that this is serious Eurotrash. If it weren't for streaming we wouldn't get to see this sort of thing in America. Philistine that I am, I am enjoying it.
Cleopatra is disguised as Lydia, but as usual, the eyes give her away. She wears a wig that looks like pictures from Maria.
Except sometimes she doesn't. My dear, you are wasting all these charms on me. I already love you. This production is pretty smutty. However, there is absolutely no problem following the plot. It's theatrically quite viable.
Sesto is planning his revenge, puts soot on his face. Cleopatra as Lydia offers to help.
Caesar and Tolomeo meet over drinks. Caesar pours his drink into the flowers, and they immediately wilt. Papers are signed over oil wells, smiles and handshakes are photographed, and Caesar goes off in his limousine.
The Act ends with von Otter and Jaroussky singing an incredibly gorgeous “Son nata a lagrimar” duet.
Act II begins with the seduction scene. Caesar puts on 3D glasses to watch the show.
Cleopatra is sitting on a rocket wearing a blond, frizzy wig, sun glasses, black gloves and a camouflage trench coat. She takes off the coat to show black boots and gray feathers. More giant Sally Rand style feathers appear, held up by men. If I'm the star, I get costumes, dammit. And half naked men to hold my feathers. She sings "V'adoro pupille" and then sails off on the rocket. You knew that. Big cheers.
Caesar is sunk.
I'm not sure why, but I like Eurotrash for Handel.
Tolomeo is still trying to seduce Cornelia who tries to pour gasoline over herself and set herself on fire. Sesto stops her. He sings about snakes in front of a film of snakes. Jaroussky brings a masculine energy to the role of Sesto that a woman could not. He shoots the snake while singing insane coloratura.
Everyone warns Caesar that Tolomeo is coming, but he slowly puts on his shoes and explains he has no fear. Cleopatra wears a gold robe in this scene. Caesar flees but takes his time.
Cleopatra picks up a machine gun and waves it around. She wants the gods to protect Caesar. This aria “Se pietà” is a prayer with dancing soldiers. In the audience is a shouter. This time he says, "Gigante!" It was amazing.
Tolomeo is reading Playboy and ogling the centerfold. Caesar jumps into the sea, and Cleopatra leads the Romans against Tolomeo.
Sesto fails again to kill Tolomeo, and to end the act Cornelia and Sesto strap a bomb around his waist so he can become a suicide bomber.
At the beginning of Act III Achilla is shot. Tolomeo captures Cleopatra and makes her kneel and put a bag over her head. She thinks all is lost. Cecilia Bartoli sings the entire aria "Piangero," brilliantly, kneeling on the floor with a bag over her head.
Caesar can swim and comes up out of the sea. He lies down on the floor amid a group of dying soldiers. Caesar takes the bomb off of Sesto.
Caesar rescues Cleopatra just in time for "Da tempeste." She is happy and dances around an oil well. Curio gives her a note and some money. She counts it and gives him some. A piano comes out, and Cleopatra finishes the aria decorating the stage with strings of lights.
Tolomeo and Cornelia come out. She pulls a gun on him, but Sesto arrives and stabs Tolomeo with his bayonet.
The winners come back, surround the piano and smoke a little pot. Where do I get a picture of Cecilia inhaling? She's wearing a gold lame dress in this scene. She has her wig again.
Scholl and Bartoli sing a wonderful love duet while rolling around on the floor. No longer dead, Tolomeo joins the finale. At the end a real tank appears in the alley behind the stage.
Much shouting.
Question: if you could do anything you wanted, would it be this?
I want to do a musical review of Giulio Cesare based on the stream.
This was my third experience of Cecilia Bartoli's Cleopatra -- first a staged version at the Zurich Opera with Marc Minkowski conducting and La Scintilla playing, then a concert version in Paris with William Christie conducting, and this staged third version from Salzburg with Giovanni Antonini and his orchestra Il Giardino Armonico. It is interesting to explore the subtle differences.
All three were long versions with little or no cuts. Minkowski and
Christie seemed to try to compensate for this by rushing through
everything.
The performance in Zurich was odd. Minkowski is a dynamic but
idiosyncratic conductor who brought out some odd features, like
performing most of the repeats sotto voce. La Scintilla was out of tune
and not in good form. They made the mistake of putting a horn player
on the stage where he proceeded to bloop every third note. I suspect
these problems have prevented this performance from being released on
DVD. Cecilia was very physically dynamic and intense throughout. There
are some poor quality recordings of bits of this on YouTube, and I
notice mainly the quick tempos.
In Paris I was handicapped by sitting behind the performers. A
concert performance can be nice, but you only get the full effect of an
opera when it's staged. There was a kind of sameness to the different
numbers. This is the most common thing that happens in a performance
and is probably the strongest indication that the maestro is present.
What is wished for is complete individuality. Is this too hard to
understand?
Of live performances I have seen, this opera remains my personal
favorite for Cecilia Bartoli. It would have been very hard for me to
miss the Salzburg performance. Thanks to the modern device of live
streaming, I had a front row seat.
We may carp over the staging of this opera, especially the raunchy bits,
but musically it was an absolute triumph. Somewhere in an interview
Cecilia said that all the participants were on the same page
musically--not a direct quote. I can't remember the precise words. It
was that rarest of musical events--the true ensemble performance.
My personal favorite is Cecilia's performance of "Tutto puo donna," a
beautiful woman can accomplish anything. She, of course, is the living
embodiment of these words. Her style of delivering this aria is her own
unique creation. Let's face it, anything she sings is her own unique
creation. This above all else is what makes her her. Her voice is at
its most gorgeous now.
But that same kind of thoughtful personal expression was everywhere,
whether nasty, tragic, sexy, triumphant, or frightened, each achieved a
personal individuality from all the artists present that combined and
blended into great beauty. Perhaps the collective soul of music soars
higher than the individual ego.
I always feel about Giovanni Antonini and his orchestra Il Giardino
Armonico that they embody a similar kind of collective enthusiasm that
spreads out to include everyone in sight. Handel was never this
wonderful.
Romeo: Vesselina Kasarova
Giulietta:
Anna Netrebko
Tebaldo:
Dimitri Pittas
Capellio:
Ante Jerkunica
Lorenzo:
Paul Gay
Conductor: Yves Abel
Production: Vincent Boussard
I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini was streamed from the Bayerischen Staatsoper in Munich Saturday. This is the production we will see in San Francisco next season.
No one plays men like Vesselina Kasarova, and damn she sounds good. Joyce DiDonato who will be our Romeo is going to have her work cut out for her. I am shouting in my computer room. Somehow one does not wish to give up shouting.
This opera is about the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the great Italian political factions of the middle ages. We studied them in the classes I took in Florence. It's all about money. The Guelphs represent the merchants, and the Ghibellines represent the landed gentry. Dante got into the wrong group and was exiled from Florence. Do we care which is which?
The great one is throwing up in her bathroom. You are required to know that that is Anna Netrebko. She's climbed up into the sink and is trying to escape. Throw away your expectations and learn to love her. She is the best.
The music is so merry and gorgeous that it doesn't seem quite suitable. Apparently this Juliet is a lunatic. It is Italian opera, after all. The stream is not perfect and occasionally pauses, sometimes long pauses. The translation is in German which I can read. Sorry if you can't.
This is a stream of consciousness review. My feeling is that Kasarova and Netrebko are well matched, both for voice and for craziness. I have to go somewhere soon and I don't want to. GD. This is fabulous. Y'all can have your Wagner. I'll take a little Bellini any time. Or at least I'll take fabulous Bellini over mediocre to bad Wagner.
👍🏻
I have to get this out of the way: horse in Fanciulla, dogs in Die Walküre. What are things coming to?
Die Walküre is the best Wagner. It is wonderful almost beyond imagining because it's about relationships: the self-named twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, and the father / daughter pair Wotan and Brünnhilde. Both end tragically.
And Donald Runnicles is the best Wagner conductor. Whatever cracks I may ever have made about him, I was only ever referring to his non-Wagner repertoire. For Wagner he is the best. It's ok to care almost exclusively about the orchestra if you are conducting Wagner.
In the production at the San Francisco Opera, shared with the Washington National Opera, all the characters are American. The places are American, the clothing, the trophy cases, the aviatrixes. It's very important to mention the Valkyries as aviatrixes, with boots and goggles and parachute landings. This is by far the loudest bunch of Valkyries I have ever heard. These women can wail.
It's the most emotional Walküre I've seen. Nina Stemme is a singer with a powerful voice who never forces anything, and who creates a wonderful character for Brünnhilde.
# Brünnhilde: Nina Stemme
# Wotan: Mark Delavan
# Sieglinde: Eva-Maria Westbroek*
# Siegmund: Christopher Ventris
# Fricka: Janina Baechle*
# Hunding: Raymond Aceto
It is an excellent cast. Special mention goes to Eva-Maria Westbroek. Go.
👍🏻 Carmen: Elina Garanča Don José: Roberto Alagna Micaëla: Barbara Frittoli Escamillo: Teddy Tahu Rhodes Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin Production: Richard Eyre
Well, maybe, just maybe I never have to see another Carmen again. I think my search for the perfect Carmen is over. My favorite thing was when Renée Fleming as our announcer for the HD broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera said, "Brace yourself." It's nice to be warned.
Elina Garanča has an inner coolness, and before I saw this performance I wondered how it would play against the character of Carmen. Angiolina, the heroine of La Cenerentola, has a hidden heat at her core which for me didn't mesh with Elina. But Carmen is as hard as nails. She is very beautiful, very sexy and very interested in men, but inside is cool, powerful detachment. Don José never stands a chance. How does the character of Carmen play against the specific gifts of Elina Garanča? The answer is spectacularly well. And she is also the best danced Carmen I've seen. Renée couldn't say enough about her dancing. She also has one of the most beautiful voices around today and sang an extremely beautiful mezzo soprano Carmen. I know a lot of sopranos sing this, but I'm not sure why. If you still want more from your Carmen, I can't begin to imagine where you would find it.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes stood in for ailing Mariusz Kwiecien as Escamillo on three hours notice. He was lovely and looked ready to fight bulls.
Roberto Alagna was her Don José. I suppose I should thank him for driving his wife so mad that she would drop out of the production. Roberto was the perfect heat for this cool Carmen. He is the good boy who fondles his crucifix passionately just before stabbing Carmen. The part is good for his voice, and he did some gorgeous high pianissimos.
The instrumental numbers were often accompanied by some lovely dancing. In the bar scene they even attempted a bit of Flamenco. For a rare change it fit seamlessly with the drama.
There should be special kudos for the coaching staff of the Metropolitan Opera, for both music and acting. If you look at the films available on YouTube, you would not have seen this coming. More kudos for the conducting of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
I was thankful for being warned. If this was your first experience of opera, you might spend your life searching for something this good. I am in awe. #ad
