Rusalka in HD

Conductor:  Mark Elder
Production:  Mary Zimmerman

Rusalka:  Kristine Opolais
Prince:  Brandon Jovanovich
Princess:  Katarina Dalayman
Jezibaba:  Jamie Barton
Gnome:  Eric Owens

Dvorák's Rusalka was live from the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday. Many of the people around me had never seen this opera.  This is my fourth time with all the previous times starring Renée Fleming. 

I was completely won over by the water nymphs at the beginning.  First they danced and then suddenly as if by magic they sang.

In case you thought after her appearance in Nabucco that Jamie Barton was boring, her Jezibaba was evil and fun and completely upstaged everyone else.  Except maybe the water nymphs.

Eric Owens owns the Gnome. He pointed out in his interview that this was his actual Fach while L'Amour is more a baritone role.

This is an excellent role for Kristine.  Someone has to step into Fleming's repertoire.  Her acting is far more intense than Fleming which changes the dramatic intensity of the opera.  Her voice is not really heavy enough for most of the roles she sings, but if she keeps this under control, it should be good for her.

I thought the castle sequence in Act II worked better here than other productions I have seen.  Brandon was the picture of prince charming.  I liked it but don't want to go on and on about it.  The Wagner loving conductor thinks it's one of the great post Wagnerian operas, but for me it's just ok. I tend to think of Dvorák as post Brahms rather than post Wagner.  Wagnerians ignore Brahms.

Matthew Polenzani was an excellent host.

Richard Tucker Gala

Instead of making us wait until the end of the year, the Richard Tucker Gala live streamed from Carnegie Hall on medici.tv today.  What a fabulous concert.  The singers were:

Jamie Barton
Javier Camarena
Joyce DiDonato
Joshua Guerrero
Renée Fleming
Anna Netrebko
Kristine Opolais
Nadine Sierra
and this years winner Tamara Wilson
Asher Fisch conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Yusif Eyvazov was expected but broke his foot.

And here is the program:
Wagner: “Entrance of the Guests” from Tannhäuser
New York Choral Society

Wagner: “Dich, teure Halle” from Tannhäuser
Tamara Wilson, soprano
This was an excellent introduction to Tamara.

Renée Fleming, soprano
Massenet: “Adieu, notre petite table” from Manon
followed by
Leoncavallo: “Mattinata”

Rossini: “La danza”
Javier Camarena, tenor

Donizetti: “Regnava nel silenzo” from Lucia di Lammermoor
Nadine Sierra, soprano

Dvorak: “Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém” (“Song to the Moon”) from Rusalka
Kristine Opolais, soprano
Unfortunately for Kristine there were two other sopranos on the program known for this aria.

Verdi: “Tu al cui sguardo onnipossente” from I due Foscari
Tamara Wilson, soprano
New York Choral Society.  Tamara was excellent in this, too.

Saint-Saëns: Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalila
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano.  For me this was one of the highlights of the evening, sung in a wonderfully smooth legato.

Rossini: “Ah vieni, nel tuo sangue” from Otello
Lawrenece Brownlee, tenor
Javier Camarena, tenor
Two Rossini tenors in competition.  I think it was a tie.

Giordano: “La mamma morta” from Andrea Chénier
followed by
Cilea:  "Io son l'umile ancella" from Adriana Lecouvreur 
Anna Netrebko, soprano
Netrebko was in form and remembered to thank first the cellist and then the violinist for their solos.  She received a bouquet and then left.

Heggie: “Si, son io” from Great Scott
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
This was particularly and surprisingly beautiful.

Bellini: Finale of Act I from Norma
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Guerrero, tenor
New York Choral Society

Donizetti: “Seul sur la terre” from Dom Sébastien
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor

Puccini: “Un bel dì vedremo” from Madama Butterfly
Kristien Opolais, soprano

Handel: “Son nata a lagrimar” from Giulio Cesare
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano

Bellini: “Vieni fra questa braccia” from I puritani
Nadine Sierra, soprano
Javier Camarena, tenor
I liked Nadine and Javier in this.

Bernstein: “Make Our Garden Grow” from Candide
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Joshua Guerrero, tenor
New York Choral Society

The concert lasted 2-1/2 hours.  I skipped another concert for this and found that it was worth it.  This is a slightly lighter mix of arias than is usual for a Richard Tucker Gala.  There was no intermission.

You can watch this now on medici.tv.

Shorts

I watched about half of Boito's Mefistofele streamed from the Bayerische Staatsoper with René Pape as the devil, Joseph Calleja as Faust, Kristine Opolais as Marguerita.  This work has been performed a number of times in San Francisco, and I enjoyed very much the stark, brutal sets from Munich after years of the cute production we have here.  They provided a real witches sabbath.  Incidentally, this part of the Faust story has always confused me.  Faust is supposed to be lured away from heaven by a bunch of witches gathering.  Huh.  I don't get it.  The cast is fantastic.

I went to the movies for The Importance of being Earnest with David Suchet as Lady Bracknell.  It wasn't very funny.  He played her sour which I didn't enjoy.

I may have hated the production, but how can you not love him?

 

Sexiest Today

Philippe Jaroussky

Kristīne Opolais

Danielle de Niese

Elīna Garanča

Vittorio Grigolo

Ailyn Perez

Rene Pape

Isabel Leonard

Paolo Szot

Lisette Oropesa

Luca Pisaroni

Noah Stewart

Oh what the heck.  Jonas Kaufmann

New Releases

New releases from the Metropolitan Opera can be ordered from Amazon in the US, such as this wonderful Falstaff and Renée Fleming's definitive Rusalka.  This is a very distinguished Falstaff, both musically and theatrically. 

Everyone loves Jonas, and his new CD can be preordered here.

This one you can buy from the Met shop but not from Amazon.

At amazon.de [that's Amazon in Germany] you can preorder Jonas's new Aida.  There's no sign of it here.

And look what else I found on amazon.de now in preorder.

I loved the Fanciulla but am waiting to see the Manon Lescaut from the simulcast.

P.S.  Everything can be ordered from Amazon now.
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Manon Lescaut from Munich

Conductor: Alain Altinoglu
Production: Hans Neuenfels

Manon Lescaut: Kristine Opolais (soprano)
Lescaut: Markus Eiche Il (baritone)
Cavaliere Renato Des Grieux: Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Geronte di Ravoir: Roland Bracht (bass)

I didn't mind the production as much as I thought I would.  All that starkness only serves to emphasize how spectacularly wonderful the music was--the conducting, the orchestra, the soloists, Kristine and the ever more wonderful Jonas Kaufmann.  Thank you for bringing me what I wanted.  And thank you for making it even more magnificent than I imagined.
___________

Kristine Opolais

Manon Lescaut

Andris Nelsons in Boston

I watched the inaugural concert for Andris Nelsons at the Boston Symphony on the internet because I could not find it on my local PBS station.  He explained that he programmed what he loves.

The first half was all Wagner.

The prelude to Tannhäuser?
Gralserzählung from Lohengrin sung by Jonas Kaufmann
Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde sung by Nelsons wife, Kristine Opolais

The second half was all Italian (order?).

Un bel di from Butterfly sung by Kristine
Turidu's aria to his mother from Cavalleria rusticana sung by Jonas
Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Love duet from Manon Lescaut by Jonas and Kristine

Encore:  duet from La Boheme

In the Manon Lescaut there is kissing and other carrying on.  Jonas explains in the pauses that the curse of being an opera conductor is that you get to see some other guy making love to your wife.  He seems he's handling it pretty well.  Roberto Alagna and Angela are supposed to have broken up over precisely this issue.

After the singers had left, they played the Pines of Rome.  These are some of the pines of the Giardino Borghese:

His heart is in the late romantic, and he brings an enormous amount of sincere emotion to this repertoire.  He showed a light touch and great attention to detail, things that are not often heard in Wagner or Puccini.  He knows how to follow a singer.  To gauge him as an orchestral conductor I would need to hear maybe Beethoven or someone like that.

Stream Requests from Munich

Dear Bayerische Staatsoper, I would like to see:

Sergej Prokofjew Der feurige Engel, or The Fiery Angel with Evelyn Herlitzius.  The one time I saw this in San Francisco it was amazing.

Richard Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg starring Jonas Kaufmann. Need I say more?

Jaques Fromental Halévy La Juive with Kristine Opolais and Roberto Alagna.

Jean-Philippe Rameau Les Indes galantes with Lisette Oropesa

Giuseppe Verdi Un ballo in maschera with Piotr Beczala, Simon Keenlyside and Anja Harteros.

Kristine Opolais: Die Einspringerin

This is one of my usual translations.  The title means the woman who jumps in.  The original article comes from Crescendo:

Even though Kristine Opolais is already a big star in Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, she still jumps in spontaneously for ill or stricken colleagues. We met the Latvian soprano for an interview and saw a woman who is full of energy, but is still looking for her perfect role.

On a cold Shrove Tuesday, deep within the walls of the Bavarian State Opera, we wait on Kristine Opolais in a bare, big room with a dressing table, a piano and a comfortable seating area. Suddenly she rushes in, apologizing profusely for being late, and orders three bottles of water - an annoying cold makes the Latvian soprano need this, as the voice requires plenty of fluid. When her vocal cords are lubricated enough, we can begin.

crescendo: Ms Opolais, originally you wanted to be a pop singer. What went wrong?

Kristine Opolais: Actually, it was only one of many wishes. I wanted to just stand on stage, strictly speaking, I just had to be on stage - so much energy as I had at the time. But I had actually never intended to be an opera singer. That was my mother's idea.

When were you on stage for the first time?

As a teenager. In the small country where I was born, there was a competition for girls - a bit like "Miss America". In a job, you had to show something, and I just sang. My mother, who was sitting in the audience said afterwards, I absolutely had to study classical music. For me it was a disaster, as you can imagine: Only sixteen years old and already doomed to a lifetime of singing opera! Opera singers - these are those obese women with loud voices. I just had my own ideas, which were admittedly quite far away from reality. At sixteen, one is still very dependent on the visual, because I could not understand what emotional depth that kind of music might have.

Your mother had actually decided that you would go to the conservatory?

It was her decision, yes. She even wanted to be an opera singer herself. And you know what I mean: When parents for any reason cannot satisfy this or that dream, then they transfer these unfulfilled wishes to their children.

When did you finally became a friend of the opera?

There is actually a specific reason, even though I do not remember the exact day. It was one of my first gigs as a choir member at the Latvian National Opera, Riga. When I saw all the soloists sing on stage, I knew: I wanted it too! Then I had my first solo role - and from then on I could not get enough. It was like a drug! In particular, the relationship that you build on the stage with the audience was, and gives me a special energy boost. I give people my soul, and they give me theirs - a particularly nice form of give and take. The entire foundation of my ability I got here in Riga, and not at the Conservatory ...

... That you left without a degree. Why is that?

There simply was not enough time to sing. There were so many lessons in subjects that had nothing to do with singing. I thought then and think even now that it was just a waste of time. If we would only do what we can and love, then we would be in our professions much more professional. And above all happier.We do a lot, but because we're supposed to. This creates pressure, and pressure prevents us from developing our personality. So I put the tuition fees in private lessons - now it was only singing lessons.

Since we're on the subject of teaching: 2007 you were an international opera great, as you have decided in Amsterdam to once again take lessons with Margaret Honey ... 

Margaret is an angel! I'm still her student - just last week I was with her. Not only is she a singing teacher, she's  a yoga singing teacher. It makes you free, fun-loving, and gives you the correct breathing. From time to time I just have to go to her. We singers are just not machines, and sometimes we need someone to give us energy. And she is such a person.

So you are still a student?

Oh, we stay students our whole lives, especially as a singer or actor - simply for the reason because we strive for perfection, but unfortunately are not perfect. We also have in our lives many teachers or mentors. For me that includes also conductors and singer colleagues. That includes Andrejs Zagars, the then director of the Latvian National Opera, to whom I owe an incredible amount.

What actually led you at the time to leave Riga? 

I simply had too many invitations from other opera houses, which was eventually no longer tolerated by my ensemble-life. It was certainly not an easy decision, but I wanted to develop my career.

What was your first job outside of Riga?

I just started as a soloist when I got my first job at the Berlin State Opera. It was very lucky because I did not have to hoof it for years at the smaller opera houses, even if the step from Riga to Berlin was not exactly small. Incidentally, it was Tosca, I sang - a huge role at 26 years old! Not really clever, I know. Daniel Barenboim then came to me and said that I had indeed a great voice, but I should not sing this repertoire, because it was just too hard. At this point I began to think. In Latvia, I really  sang any role, no matter how hard it was. Of course this was also valuable experience.

Is there a special opera production you would call your international breakthrough? 

There are a few roles that were such door openers. The most important was, I believe, Rusalka here at the Bavarian State Opera. After the performance, my manager said at the time: "Now I will not have to explain to anyone anymore who is Kristine Opolais." But the Manon Lescaut last year together with Jonas Kaufmann in Covent Garden, London, was a key experience. This was no longer the main role, but a title role! So much for Europe. As for America, my stand-in in La Bohème at the New York Metropolitan Opera was big break.

Everywhere you jump in so happily for other singers, most recently in Munich with Manon Lescaut - again with Jonas Kaufmann. Do you need the kick of spontaneity?

I have already been thinking about that. I have no idea why the good Lord always holds such surprises for me. If I'm honest: Once an opera house comes up to me with a request to step in quickly, I often think: No, not me. And then I say: Of course, you!  Better to answer quickly than to consider  twice. Well. I'm just a person who takes risks. And if the risk is successful, there's champagne!

If you are on stage - you are then highly concentrated or among the singers who are fully absorbed in their role? 

Of course it is important to always be technically and vocally up to par, my roles are now not the easiest. On the other hand, opera is also theater. When I'm on stage, I'm not thinking a lot, I act almost instinctively. That's why I don't carry out on stage every minute stage direction, but do unexpected things - which is presumably not too weird for my colleagues. I just put myself into the characters as if what happens to them, happens to me.

If you then had to endure three hours of death and hell on stage with all of your tragic roles: How do you relax after that?

I can never really relax, this is one of the few negative aspects of my job. Add to that: Everyone knows what it means to have a baby. It costs incredibly high in energy, even if it is very nice to be a mother. Otherwise, in my spare time I'm shockingly normal. I like to go shopping, eat in good restaurants, give myself time outs in spa baths. But even there, I cannot relax completely. Singing is not just a profession - it is a complete way of life.

Belated Happy Valentine's Day

Click here.

If you didn't guess, the pictures are Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann.

2014 Opera Year in Review KK Opera Awards

It's time for the 2014 KK Opera Awards.

I am actually astounded by how many operas I have added to my operas seen list this year.

We will start with things that are not actually new but were new to me: Ercole Amante by Cavalli on DVD, Matilde di Shabran by Rossini on DVD, I due Foscari by Verdi from ROH, Rita by Donizetti live, Partenope by Handel live, Die schweigsame Frau by Strauss streamed, Les mamelles de Tirésias by Poulenc live, and the classic American opera Susanah by Floyd live. I can't decide about Show Boat. Does the movie count?  I viewed Barber's Anthony and Cleopatra on YouTube for the first time.

New for everyone or practically everyone: The Minotaur by Birtwistle on DVD, Hydrogen Jukebox by Glass live, The End of the Affair by Heggie live, Death and the Powers by Machover simulcast from Dallas, Anya17 by Gorb live, 27 by Gordon live, and Brokeback Mountain by Wuorinen streamed.

If you count Show Boat, this is 17 operas. I think I am impressed. I traveled only for 27. 

• BEST NEW (to me) OPERA AWARD is a tough one. I am torn between 27, The End of the Affair and Death and the Powers.  27 and The Affair are traditional modern with strong acting and production values, but Death seemed truly ground breaking. There was a lot of good stuff here, but I am going to award to Death and the Powers which may possibly be my first science fiction opera.  Also I due Foscari turned out to be better than I imagined it would be.

• BEST VERDI OPERA AWARD must go to Simon Boccanegra in Venice. This was a big year for Verdi for me with 10 performances, only 2 of which were La Traviata. I awarded to La Fenice because of the dramatic intensity and sheer overwhelming presence of the performances. They made me love the characters in this opera.  It's a very important opera for Venice.

• BEST VERDI SINGING AWARD must go to the ever astounding Anna Netrebko for her performances in Il Trovatore from Salzburg and Macbeth in HD. She never ceases to amaze.

• BEST BAROQUE OPERA AWARD must go to Partenope by Handel. My Baroque experiences were limited this year but nevertheless Partenope must win an award. I think it should also win for...

• BEST TRANSFORMATION OF AN OPERA INTO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. It was enormous fun from beginning to end, and the music was still excellent.

• BEST BEL CANTO AWARD has to go to Joyce DiDonato's La Cenerentola from the Met with some of the best singing I've heard, but there was a lot of good Rossini this year.   I especially liked both of Cecilia Bartoli's recent DVD releases--Otello and Le Comte Ory--but the performances didn't actually happen in 2014.

• BEST ROMANTIC OPERA NOT VERDI OR WAGNER AWARD goes, of course, to Werther from the Met starring our boy Jonas Kaufmann. He transforms into this character.  The production clarified the action extremely well.

• BEST PUCCINI AWARD is not given with unqualified enthusiasm and goes to the ROH Manon Lescaut starring Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais. The production even with a lot of censorship was still pretty slutty. This leads to curiosity and a lack of satisfaction. The singing was outstanding, but are we to believe that Manon must become a porn star?  I thought she loved money.  This award is for the singing and the bravery of performing an entire scene 20 feet in the air.

• BEST RICHARD STRAUSS AWARD in the Strauss year must go to Der Rosenkavalier from Glyndebourne. It was an unusual staging that worked for me emotionally. That's what I ask. Do whatever you want with my beloved operas, but the emotion must still work. It did here. I liked the Salzburg, too, but not as much.  There was a lot of Strauss that I missed, including especially Anja Harteros in Arabella.

• BEST ACTING IN AN OPERA AWARD goes to Isabel Leonard in the Met's Le Nozze di Figaro.  Her Cherubino was a delight.  The rest of this opera was quite nice as well, though this one is still not my favorite.  Ailyn Pérez gets an honorable mention for her streamed performance of La Traviata from the ROH.  It was very touching.

• BEST SURPRISE is both Verdi in Italy operas. We forget that we experience opera in a fairly static context, played by orchestras that digest all periods and styles into a single post romantic sound. We forget it until we experience something completely different. There are still places where Verdi remains Italian.

• WORST EUROTRASH PRODUCTION AWARD doesn't really deserve to be awarded this year. The Il Trovatore as museum tour from Salzburg was very silly but not really ghastly.  The clownish Der Rosenkavalier from Malmö might be bad enough.  Perhaps if I'd seen Manon Lescaut from Munich.

There can be no best Wagner award because I have seen no Wagner at all this year. Unless I go to Meistersinger on Wednesday.

2014 was not the spectacular opera year that 2013 was.  Perhaps if Dresden had chosen to stream, or Munich had picked different things to show us.  

Netrebko Drops Out

According to the Bayerische Staatsoper, Anna Netrebko will not appear there in Manon Lescaut, and has been replaced by Kristīne Opolais, who in turn has been replaced at the Met in La Bohème by Sonya Yoncheva.

From the Bayerische Staatsoper management:  “We would still like to thank Anna Netrebko for deciding at an early stage that, due to differing artistic perspectives on the work, she would prefer to pull out."

She resigned because of the production.  Wow.  This is a different production from the full on pornographic production at the Royal Opera, but we can only speculate that it was similar.  They have chosen to prefer their production to her.  She is easier to replace than it.  A lot of people are going to be angry because this is all sold out.

There are no hints so far of what the production will look like.

Netrebko has agreed to sing Tatiana for them next summer.

P.S.  There is an interview with Hans Neuenfels in the recent Der Spiegel.   Basically he says they have had an artistic disagreement. Neuenfels wants Manon to unambiguously choose between these two widely different lives, the poor student or the rich old man, while Netrebko believes that she holds both ideas dear in her mind at once. Neuenfels ridiculed this idea. Obviously he isn't a woman. He may also never have lived in extreme poverty as Netrebko has. Jonas thinks (other source) that there were language problems between the two of them. Neuenfels wants to make clear that he and Netrebko are not angry with one another.

Manon Lescaut at the Movies

I'm very glad I went to see Manon Lescaut at the movies.  Seeing it up close and personal made the entire production make more sense.  The YT film reviewed here also has no subtitles.  I posted the above picture because this scared me to death.  They are flailing away on the edge of a set where they could easily fall and kill themselves.  The theatrical tension was upstaged by the real tension.

I actually think this production is excellent.  In the now ubiquitous interviews it was discussed why this opera is seldom performed.  The answer seemed true:  it requires the perfect operatic couple.  It has found them in Jonas Kaufmann and Kristīne Opolais.  The camera closeups gave us vivid insight into Manon's ever vacillating moods which reflected beautifully in Kristine's face. 

We also got to see the soft porn aspects of the second scene up close and personal.  Opolais is a very game performer is all I can say.

All in all this is a new level of achievement for filming of an opera.

I am here because of my artistic infatuation with Herr Kaufmann.  Waiting for the opera to begin I was reminded of a German song I have only heard once:  Ich möchte noch einmal verliebt sein.  I would like once again to fall in love.  This is a song of a certain age, an age when one does not so easily fall in love any more.  Opera brings us the semblance of love.  We may imagine love in the feigning of it.  I want to thank both the stars of this opera for the masterful semblance of passion.  It was simply wonderful.
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Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut, soprano: Kristīne Opolais
Lescaut, her brother, baritone: Christopher Maltman
Chevalier des Grieux, tenor: Jonas Kaufmann
Geronte de Ravoir, Treasurer General, bass:  Maurizio Muraro

Conductor:   Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano

I go back and forth about this opera, Puccini's Manon Lescaut.   Manon doesn't seem to get to have any fun in this version of the story.

I saw it in Vienna a few years ago where it was all about couture.  There were dresses in store windows, and the scene where the girls names are called was staged as a fashion show.  The singers were almost incidental, but in spite of that it still had a basic unity.

I don't feel repulsed by this production.  I adored the first scene quite madly.  Street people.  A Manon who actually looks like a school girl.  The most wonderfully handsome des Grieux you've seen.  What's not to like?  It sort of goes down hill after that.  The scene in Geronte's house is a bedroom.  This worked for me.  But why did the bed from the previous scene show up in the scene where Manon is supposed to be getting on the boat?  Remember I'm the person who doesn't want to read explanations of the staging before, during or after.  I think this opera is hard to stage because it's all highlights and no continuity.

At the end they are on a wrecked freeway in Monument Valley which is in Arizona, not Louisiana.  It is however a desert.

We weren't here for the sets.  You will seldom ever see such spectacular casting.  The singing was magnificent.  Kristine almost makes it up to Jonas's level.  The tenor part in this opera is actually more significant than the soprano.  She can get away with rather low levels of intensity, but he must sing full voice almost all the time.  Jonas is simply spectacular, for singing, for acting, for looks, for phrasing, every aspect is absolutely beautiful.  All that big singing is thrilling.

The glorious score grows on me.  See this if you possibly can.

This discussion of the opera is interesting.



I seem to recall commenting on the requirement to sing constantly big and wondering if Jonas could do it.  He seems to be doing fine.
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La Bohème in HD

 

Conductor: Stefano Ranzani
Production: Franco Zeffirelli

Marcello: Massimo Cavalletti
Rodolfo: Vittorio Grigolo
Colline: Oren Gradus
Schaunard: Patrick Carfizzi
Benoit: Donald Maxwell
Mimì: Kristine Opolais replacing Anita Hartig who was ill
Alcindoro: Donald Maxwell
Musetta:  Susanna Phillips

This morning we saw Puccini's La Bohème live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera.  This was my first time to see Vittorio Grigolo and Kristine Opolais in performance in an opera.  I came for Vittorio but Kristine was an added bonus.  She sang Butterfly last night and received the call to sing Mimi at 8:00 this morning.  So how does a completely stressed out Mimi seem to work?  Pretty well I would have to say.  You believed she was dying of consumption right from the start.

Short version:  I cried in all three acts, a first.  Vittorio was wonderful.  The emotional atmosphere was perfect from beginning to end.  Mimi died on her chord in fine style.  What more could you ask?  Kudos to all.

I want to point out that few of the regulars I see week after week were there, but the size of the audience was much bigger than usual.  Someone representing the Met handed out questionnaires to survey the audience.

And now for my usual post script.  I have been following Vittorio Grigolo for quite some time, and have already included him in my sexiest list.  I have noticed a tendency to put him down, and I want to go on record opposing this.  Compared to the short performances I have witnessed earlier, his Rodolfo showed a complete technical maturity.  You can't really judge a singer until they reach this.  I think with his good looks, bright lyric tenor and charisma he is a worthy addition to our pantheon.

New Sexiest List

The Huffington Post suggests these opera singers as the current Hot List.

Jonas Kaufmann, of course, soon in Parsifal.

 Kristine Opolais has been seen at the Met in La Rondine.

Anna Netrebko is another of course.

Surely I've listed Charles Castronovo.

Piotr Beczala, soon to be in Rigoletto.

Daniel Okulitch.  Forgive me for saying I'd never heard of him.  Research indicates that he was the savage in The Last Savage at Santa Fe.  And yes, he is very sexy even with clothing.

Pretty Yende in Le Comte Ory.

Vittorio Grigolo will appear at the Met in Rigoletto later in the season.

We don't really count the above nameless person.

Jacques Imbrailo is playing Billy Budd somewhere.

I think their artistic requirements are a bit less stringent than mine.

Break-Out Stars

I found an article in the Huffington Post here showing a slide show of Break-Out Stars of the Metropolitan Opera.  Again the list includes familiar names and unfamiliar names.  The familiar ones are:

Alek Shrader

I saw him in last summer's Magic Flute at the San Francisco Opera as Tamino, though he doesn't seem to have made much of an impression.  We will see him in the simulcast of The Tempest.



Janai Brugger

She was in the Merola Finale just two years ago where I said her performance was "not too bad."  Not a bad review when I completely panned almost everyone else.  A much more favorable reaction came when I flew to LA to see La Bohème last May. I said, "Most outrageous is Musetta [Janai Brugger] whose scene is dramatically enhanced to the point of slapstick.  I loved it." Charisma is something we are looking for, and she almost stole the show.  We will  not see her in the simulcasts this year.




Elza van den Heever 

Elza is a familiar face at the San Francisco Opera.  She became somewhat notorious when she replaced Hope Briggs as Donna Anna in Don Giovenni in 2007.  This incident wasn't her fault.  She also sang Mrs. Lee in the world premier of Appomattox in San Francisco.  I saw her perform Donna Anna in Santa Fe where I described her voice as "big without being heavy."  This is very high praise indeed and may point to stardom.  At the Met in the simulcasts she will sing Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda. Here is something from Idomeneo.




Kristine Opolais

I have not seen Opolais, but here is a sample of her Butterfly. I think her breaking out may already have occurred. We will not see her in the simulcasts, but she will sing in La Rondine at the Met.




Liudmyla Monastyrska

I have not seen Monastyrska, but she has already sung Lady Macbeth at the ROH, so how break-out can she be?  She will sing Aida in the simulcast.  Here you can watch her in the sleepwalking scene.  The presence of a link to Macbeth below will show you she already has a DVD for it.