Here are the twelve concerts I think warrant a journey to the Hollywood Bowl this summer:

JULY FOURTH FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR WITH HARRY CONNICK, JR. – July 2^nd – July 4^th

If you’ve never experienced a fireworks show at the Hollywood Bowl, you clearly don’t know what you’re missing. This year’s headliner for the annual July 4^th concerts is Harry Connick, Jr.

His most recent album centered on songs of faith, but I would expect this concert to focus more on the material he’s best known for which are jazz standards and songs from the Great American Songbook.

Thomas Wilkins leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in these three concerts.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

For those not in the Los Angeles area, he’ll be performing at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego on July 6^th; Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA on July 9^th and 10^th and at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, WA on July 12^th and 13^th. These are the only dates on his schedule right now.

ALL- GERSHWIN – July 11^th

Who could ask for anything more than pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, opera’s Isabel Leonard and Broadway star Tony Yazbeck in an evening of songs and music by George Gershwin?

The program opens with the Cuban Overture and is then followed by Variations on “I Got Rhythm.“ Leonard and Yazbeck conclude the first half with selections of Gershwin’s songs.

The second act features Thibaudet playined Rhapsody in Blue and closes with An American In Paris.

Lionel Bringuier conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

MAESTRO OF THE MOVIES: THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS AND MORE – July 12^th – July 14^th

This annual celebration of all things John Williams will be a little different. Yes, Williams curated the program utilizing his own music and many classic scores he loves from the Golden Age, but he will not be appearing this year.

Williams had to cancel all upcoming appearances due to a health issue “from which he is expected to make a full recovery.” Does that mean light sabers won’t be at the ready for the inevitable selections of music from Star Wars? Of course not. 

David Newman, who regularly conducts the first half of these concerts each year, will be conducting the full program.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

BIG BAND NIGHT – July 17^th

If you love large ensemble jazz music, this concert is for you. The evening opens with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (who have made countless appearances at the Hollywood Bowl).

Next up is The Count Basie Orchestra who will feature vocalist Nnenna Freelon. 

The headliner is the Maria Schneider Orchestra which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. Earlier this year Maria Schneider released a 3-lp vinyl box set entitled Decades. You can’t stream that recording, you can only get it here. But you can hear this incredible artist and her musicians live. This is her only US appearance until September.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

STRAVINSKY & KHACHATURIAN – July 30^th

I’ve written before how Aram Khachaturian’s music isn’t performed often enough. As they did in the Walt Disney Concert Hall this season, the LA Philharmonic is breathing new life into his work in this program that features the composer’s Violin Concerto and the Spartacus Suite No. 2.  Martin Chalifour is the soloist for the concerto.

The concert closes with the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. Kevin John Edusei conducts.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

PROKOFIEV & SHOSTAKOVICH – August 6^th

One of my top five piano concerti of the entire repertoire is being performed by Denis Kozhukhin in this concert. It is Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26. (My favorite recording of it is by Martha Argerich.)

The second half of the program is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The work was completed the same year that Joseph Stalin died and is widely interpreted as the composer’s commentary on the brutality of the Soviet government during Stalin’s reign. It’s a big and powerful symphony.

Ryan Bancroft leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

HERBIE HANCOCK HEAD HUNTERS 50^th – August 14^th

Where were you on October 26, 1973? Maybe you remember the release of Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters which is considered amongst the best jazz-fusion/jazz-funk albums of all time.

Watermelon Man may not be a title recognize, but I guarantee you the music has burrowed its way into your soul. 

This is the ONLY reunion of Hancock with the surviving members of that record:  drummer Harvey Mason; saxophonist Bennie Maupin and percussionist Bill Summers.  Playing bass is Marcus Miller as original bassist Paul Jackson passed away in 2021.

The original four-track album runs less than 45 minutes. Which means there will be a whole lot more music performed by Hancock and his bandmates.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

THE ELEMENTS WITH JOSHUA BELL – August 15^th

Joshua Bell commissioned five composers to write individual movements based on the elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space.  Those composers are Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Heggie and Jessie Montgomery.

Bell performs the work with Rodolfo Barráez conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Also on the program are Aaron Copland’s El Salón México, which opens the concert and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story  which closes the concert.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

SARA BAREILLES WITH THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA – August 17^th

What at one point years ago might have seemed like a pop concert, is now pure heaven for musical theater lovers. Sara Bareilles is a three-time Tony Award nominee having received two nominations for Best Original Score (Waitress in 2016 and SpongeBob SquarePants in 2018) and for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for the 2023 revival of Into the Woods.

Of course, she’ll perform music from throughout her career and this is her only concert on her schedule until late September.

But wait, there’s more. Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton) will open the show.

Thomas Wilkins conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

THE RITE OF SPRING – August 22^nd

The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky is one of classical music’s most important and enduring works. Hearing this monumental work outside is reason enough to see this concert. But fans of Stravinsky’s music are in for a full evening of his genius.

Teddy Abrams, Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert that opens with Stravinsky’s arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner. His Circus Polka follows and the first half closes with Leila Josefowicz performing his Violin Concerto. Then the main attraction is on tap for the second half of the program.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

DUDAMEL LEADS BEETHOVEN 9^th – September 10^th

Not sure what else anyone needs to know beyond Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. But here goes:

The soloists for this concert are bass Dashon Burton; mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey; tenor Anthony León; countertenor Key’mon Murrah and soprano Hera Kyesang Park. The Los Angeles Master Chorale also performs.

The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

DUDAMEL AND THE STARS OF OPERA – September 12^th

I couldn’t tell you the last time tenor Jonas Kaufmann performed in Los Angeles, but I can tell you the next time he will – at this concert where he will be joined by soprano Diana Damrau.

The two will perform selected arias and duets.

The concert opens with Verdi’s Overture to I vespri sicilliani which is followed by the ever-popular Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni. Respighi’s Pines of Rome closes the concert.

Gustavo Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Those are the 12 Hollywood Bowl Concerts Not to Miss in my opinion. What concerts are on the top of your list? Let me know in the comments.

Main Photo: Hollywood Bowl 2023 (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

The post 12 Hollywood Bowl Concerts Not To Miss This Summer appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My  top pick is:

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  AMERICAN COUNTERPOINTS – Experiential Orchestra/James Blachly/Curtis Stewart – Bright Shiny Things

Compositions by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and Julia Perry are highlighted in this album. 

Perkins’s Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk and Sinfonietta No. 1 anchor the first half of this album from the Grammy Award-winning Experiential Orchestra. 

Perry’s very brief Prelude for Strings (a beautiful work) separates those two works by Perkins. She returns with her Symphony in One Movement for Viols and String Basses, Ye, Who Seek the Truth and her Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (a world premiere recording).

Violinist/composer Stewart closes out the album with By Julia Perry and the solo work We Who Seek.

There aren’t too many albums, however good they might be, that make me stop everything all at once to listen to a second time. This is that album.  Founder/conductor Blachly and the Experiential Orchestra could very well find themselves on track for a second Grammy Award for this incredible recording.

For those wanting to explore more of Julia Perry and her work, The Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival takes places in New York from March 13th – March 16th.

Here are the rest of my picks of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: March 1^st:

CLASSICAL: DURUFLÉ REQUIEM/POULENC LENTEN MOTETS – The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge/Stephen Layton – Hyperion Records

There’s a funny thing about requiems and other sacred music. I’m an atheist, but I can’t resist the beauty of the music. That beauty can certainly be heard on this album. I’ve been quite familiar with Duruflé’s Requiem for years. The discovery for me is Poulenc’s Lentent Motets which I hadn’t heard before. Poulenc composed these four motets in 1938-1939 with the first performance taking place in 1939.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge dates back to the 14th century. Their website says they are “exploring a wide-ranging repertoire drawn from both Catholic and Protestant traditions.” For believers I’m sure there’s much more here for you than I can respond to. But on a purely musical level, this is a beautiful recording.

CLASSICAL: SMETANA/MÁ VLAST – Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov – Pentatone Music

Vlatava  (The Moldau) from Czech composer Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Homeland)is very well known and instantly recognizable for classical music fans. Though there are quite a few recordings of the whole work, the other five of these six symphonic poems aren’t as often performed, resulting in less familiarity.

This recording celebrates both the composer’s 200^th birthday and the year of Czech Music. Bychkov is the Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic. Worth noting is that the first record from the Czech Philharmonic was a 1929 release of Má Vlast.

Clearly recording techniques have vastly improved in 95 years and the sound on this recording is spot-on. As is the playing. I strongly recommend this recording.

CLASSICAL: TCHAIKOVSKY/KORNGOLD STRING SEXTETS – Nash Ensemble – Hyperion Records

Tchaikovsky only composed one string sextet. It goes by the name Souvenir de Florence. It’s a wickedly complicated piece. So much so that even he said, “It is frightfully difficult.” However difficult it may be, the musicians from Nash Ensemble that perform this work make it sound positively effortless. Even though the work calls for each musician to act like a soloist within a sextet, there is a uniformity of this performance that is remarkable.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10 is performed equally well. Korngold is best known for his film scores. As a result of his work for Hollywood, his classical works aren’t embraced as fully as they should be. Nash Ensemble’s performance on this album removes any doubt about Korngold’s place in formal/classical music. (Not that I think there should have been any doubt in the first place.)

This is an album I will be going back to several times.

JAZZ: BEING HUMAN – Lynne Arriale Trio – Challenge Records

Pianist/composer Arriale has recorded an album that runs the gamut of human emotions. Listening to this terrific album I felt all the worries of the world melt away. For 40 minutes I didn’t think about anything. I could relax, take deep breaths and be completely and wholly emotionally connected to this music. Arriale reminded me what it means to be human again.

Arriale composed all the music. She’s joined by Alon Near on bass and Lukasz Zyta on drums. This is a traditional two configuration, but I challenge you to find more reassuring music played any better than it is on Being Human.

JAZZ:  TEX BOOK TENOR – Booker Ervin – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

The first Friday of the month finds the arrival of two news vinyl reissues from Blue Note. The first of which is this album recorded by saxophonist/composer Ervin that was recorded in 1968 but not released until 2005 – 35 years after his death. (Inquiring minds would love to know why!)

Ervin composed three of the five tracks: Den Tex, Lynn’s Tune and 204.  The opening track, Gichi, was composed by pianist Kenny Barron (who plays on the album) and the middle track is Woody Shaw’s In a Capricornian Way.

Also joining Ervin on Tex Book Tenor are bassist Jan Arnet;, drummer Billy Higgins and trumpeter Woody Shaw.

If, like me, you weren’t familiar with this album, the vinyl release (or streaming service of choice), will make you glad you took the time to check it out.

JAZZ:  LIBRARY CARD – Stephen Philip Harvey

It makes complete sense to open an album called Library Card with I Could Write a Book written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Then to follow it with six original tracks (all paying homage to various writers) makes something sensical seem almost ballsy.

Harvey and his +2 (Max Murray on bass and Jordon Stanley on drums) make a solid case for this novel album. They are proud to be a chord-less trio (no piano or guitar).

Going Places sounds like the perfect music to accompany the works of Dr. Seuss for whom that (and Huevos Verdes) was written. You’ll have to figure out the rest of the references/associations. Which you can only do by checking this Library Card out. 

JAZZ: SPEAK TO ME – Julian Lage – Blue Note Records

In last week’s New in Music This Week, I commented that “guitar trios are not usually my go-to choice.” Along comes another album to make me realize the error of my ways. 

Lage composed all 13 tracks on this album which finds him performing solo, as a duo and in trio. A few tracks are expanded out to include keyboards and woodwinds.

The album begins quietly with Hymnal and immediately gets its groove going with Northern Shuffle which follows. Lage takes listeners on a journey through Speak to Me and it ends with the beautiful Nothing Happens Here. Rest assured a lot happens on this album. 

JAZZ:  ACTION – Jackie McLean – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

Saxophonist McLean’s album was recorded in 1964, but wasn’t released until 1967. It’s a terrific album that takes the novel approach of substituting vibes (Bobby Hutcherson) in place of a piano.

Also performing on this album are Billy Higgins on drums; Cecil McBee on bass and Charles Tolliver on trumpet. Two of Tolliver’s compositions (Plight and Wrong Handle) are on Action.

McClean wrote the opening track, Action and the closing track Hootnan. A wonderful arrangement of the standard I Hear a Rhapsody is the penultimate track on the album.

JAZZ:  DISCORDIA – Jeremy Rose and the Earshift Orchestra – Earshift Music

The perfect word to describe the times we are living through is discordant.  From the opening track of composer/musician Jeremy Rose’s album you know you are listening to music that perfectly captures the chaos, anger, mayhem that we all encounter on a daily basis.  Which is precisely his point.

This nine-track recording perfectly showcases his compositions as performed by Rose (on  soprano saxophone and bass clarinet), drummer Chloe Kim and the 17-piece Earshift Orchestra.

Don’t expect this album to be all dissonance paired with angry chords and propulsive rhythms. In fact, the quieter moments on this album are absolutely sublime and well mixed in throughout the album. An album that feels very much influenced by the work of Gil Evans.

Discordia is a wildly ambitious album that pays of beautifully.

JAZZ:  FERMENT BELOW/HIGH FIRMAMENT – Jacob Shulman – Endectomorph 

In the liner notes for Ferment Below, saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Shulman says, “Every moment in jazz lives on a tightrope.” So, too, does Shulman on these ambitious two new recordings.

Shulman’s stated goal is to capture the impulses that lead to creativity on Ferment Below and the world of a smoke-filled jazz club on High Firmament – where that creativity on the first album becomes a living and breathing thing on the second.

Both recordings find Shluman joined by Kayvon Gordon on drums, Hayoung Lyou on piano and Walter Stinson on bass. Jasper Dutz performs on Hometown Hero on High Firmament.

Shulman and his colleagues offer up a journey  I thoroughly enjoyed going on. 

MUSICALS: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG/SWEENEY TODD – Masterworks Broadway/Reprise Records

I’ve already covered the digital release of both of these original cast albums. This week both are being released on vinyl. Merrily We Roll Along is a 2-album release. Sweeney Todd is a 3-lp box set. Sondheim fans who collect vinyl (as I do) will want to hear how Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliff sound in Merrily We Roll Along. They will also want to hear Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. All of them at 33 rpm.

In other words, for Sondheim fans this is a good thing going.

OPERA: PARSIFAL – Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézler, Elīna Garança/Phillippe Jordan/Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus – Sony Classical

While critics were somewhat underwhelmed by the production itself, they were universal in their praise for the music and the singing.  No wonder with this cast that shines in this live recording from 2021.

I haven’t seen this (or any other) production of Parsifal, but art from this recording and other images on line make it clear this was a modern dress production.

This was not Kaufmann’s first production of Wagner’s opera, but it is his first recording. It was not Garança’s first production either, but from what I can tell this is her first recording of Parsifal.

With these two leading the cast and the incredible musicianship of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus makes this great new recording so deeply satisfying.

NO CATEGORY:  LUMINESSENCE – Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek – ECM (Vinyl Release)

When Stephen Davis reviewed this album for the New York Times he said it belonged “neither to jazz or modern music.” The three tracks on this fascinating album were composed by Ketih Jarrett (who does not perform on the album).

Numinor, Windsong and Luminessence were composed for string orchestra. Gabarek’s contributions to the recording were all improvised.

How much you like or dislike this album (and there are two camps on this one), the remastering of this for high-grade vinyl will certainly make for great listening. For me, I find some of it incredible and other parts, turgid. But I was always intrigued.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: March 1st.

Enjoy the weekend!

Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the art for Jacob Schulman’s High Firmament

The post New In Music This Week: March 1st appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

I might argue that just a little bit. Thomas Adés’ The Tempest, while many might consider it a modern classic opera, is not traditionally considered a classic opera. Perhaps the definitions have been stretched to include a modern opera based on a classic play that has inspired multiple operatic interpretations.

Since the Met is re-running productions as the bulk of their weekly streaming schedule, I’m going to mix in interviews with the performers and creators in place of clips to avoid the redundancy of showing the same few clips available. Let me know your thoughts!

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on June 7th, you’ll still have time to see the 2019-2020 season production of Glass’s The Akhnaten that was part of The Operas Behind the Podcast week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 65 at the Met:

Monday, June 7 – Verdi’s Rigoletto – 4th Showing

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Beczała, Željko Lučić and Štefan Kocán. This Michael Mayer production is from the 2012-2013 season. 

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about.

Michael Mayer won a Tony Award for his direction of the original production of Spring Awakening. He came up with the idea of a “Rat Pack Rigoletto” and moved the action to Las Vegas in the early 1960s.

While reviews were mixed for the production, Mayer was prepared for whatever reaction was going to come his way for his production as he told the New York Times prior to the first performance. “I’ve been warned, but some people have said if you get booed at the Met or at La Scala, you know you’re doing something right. In any case, to employ a pun: hopefully the booze I will have ingested prior to that moment will make the boos I hear a little dimmer.” 

Tuesday, June 8 – Gounod’s Faust – 5th Showing

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. This Des McAnuff production is from the 2011-2012 season. 

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite. 

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

McAnuff made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. He is best known as the director of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway. In his Faust he chose to set this production before and after the dropping of atom bombs in Japan in World War II.

Critics may have been divided over Des McAnuff’s approach, but they were unanimous in their praise of tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Audiences were too. His performance generated a lot of emotion from audiences attending this production.

Wednesday, June 9 – Bellini’s La Sonnambula – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Evelino Pidò; starring Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez and Michele Pertusi. This Mary Zimmerman production is from the 2008-2009 season. 

Bellini’s opera had its world premiere in 1831 in Milan. The libretto was written by Felice Romani who also collaborated with the composer on Norma. 

The original story was set in a 19th century Swiss village where the orphan Amina is engaged to be married to Elvino. Their plans are complicated by the arrival of Rodolfo who believes Amina to be a long-lost love from younger days. The village, however, is haunted by the appearance of a ghost. This turns out to be Amina walking in her sleep. Elvino becomes suspicious about his fiancé’s activities and begins to fall in love with another woman in the village. Can love conquer all including sleepwalking?

This was the first production of La Sonnambula at the Met since 1972. Zimmerman set the story in a New York rehearsal room where the performers are rehearsing a production of the opera set in a Swiss village.

Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wasn’t a fan of this concept, but he did enjoy the singing.

“It must be said that Ms. Zimmerman has elicited wonderfully sung and mostly affecting performances from her leads, the riveting French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay as Amina, and the charismatic Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino.”

Thursday, June 10 – Handel’s Agrippina – 5th Showing

Conducted by Harry Bicket; starring Brenda Rae, Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2019-2020 season.

George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina has a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. The opera had its world premiere in 1709 in Venice at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo which was owned by Grimani.

Agrippina is the Roman empress who is fixated on the idea of having her highly unqualified son, Nerone, take over the throne. To do that, she will stop at nothing to get her husband, Claudio, to cede it to him.

Though McVicar’s production was first staged in Brussels in 2000, this marked the first ever Metropolitan Opera production of Agrippina. Conductor Harry Bicket lead from the harpsichord and audiences and critics were enthralled.

Zachary Woolfe, in his review for the New York Times said, “Three centuries on, Agrippina remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes.”

Friday, June 11 – Thomas Adès’s The Tempest – 4th Showing

Conducted by Thomas Adès; starring Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Alek Shrader, Alan Oke and Simon Keenlyside. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2012-2013 season.

The Tempest by Thomas Adés had its world premiere in London in 2004. The libretto, by Meredith Oakes, is inspired by William Shakespeare’s play, but is not slave to it. There are differences.

The Duke of Milan, Prospero, has been exiled and with his daughter, Miranda, they have been set to sea. They ultimately land on an island filled with spirits. Amongst those spirits are Ariel and the monster, Caliban. Prospero, who has magical powers, causes a ship carrying the King of Naples and his son Ferdinand to wreck during a storm Prospero created. Relations both personal and professional collide leaving each of the participants changed and one of the characters alone in the island.

Between its London premiere and its debut at the Met in 2012, there had already been four other productions of The Tempest. Few contemporary operas get that many productions in so short a period of time.

Alex Ross, writing for The New Yorker, said of Adés’ opera (one of at least fifty operas based on Shakespeare’s play), “The Tempest is the opposite of a disappointment; it is a masterpiece of airy beauty and eerie power. As if on schedule, Adès, at thirty-two, is now the major artist that his earliest works promised he would become.”

Saturday, June 12 – Verdi’s Falstaff – 5th Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri and Franco Vassallo. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2013-2014 season. 

Two of Shakespeare’s play served as the inspiration for Verdi’s Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor and sections from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Arrigo Boito adapted the plays to create the libretto. Falstaff had its world premiere in 1893 at La Scala in Milan. This was Verdi’s final opera and only his second comedic opera.

Simply put, Sir John Falstaff tries everything he can to woo two married woman so he can assume their husband’s vast fortunes. He’s rather bumbling in his efforts and the machinations in place to thwart his endeavors leave him with nothing short of a major comeuppance.

In Carsen’s production the story has been updated to England in the 1950s. His approach to Verdi’s opera was much lighter than is commonly done and, as a result, yielded overwhelmingly great reviews. 

On opening night Maestri performed the role of Falstaff for his 200th time. Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, raved about him:

“A splendid cast is led by the powerhouse Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, who simply owns the role of Falstaff…At 6 foot 5 with his Falstaffian physique, Mr. Maestri certainly looks the part. A natural onstage, and surprisingly light on his feet, he makes Falstaff a charming rapscallion and sings with consummate Italianate style.”

Sunday, June 13 – Mozart’s Così fan tutte

Conducted by David Robertson; starring Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Bliss, Adam Plachetka and Christopher Maltman. This Phelim McDermott is from the 2017-2018 season.

Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte had its world premiere in Vienna in 1790. Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libertti for The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, wrote the libretto.

Ferrando and Guglielmo are vacationing with their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi. They are sisters. Don Alfonso challenges the men to a bet revolving around the women and their ability to be faithful. Using disguise, deception and a wicked sense of humor, Mozart’s opera ends happily ever after for one and all.

This production transports the original Naples setting in the 18th century to Brooklyn in the 20th century. Specifically, McDermott places the opera at an amusement park filled with the attractions you’d expect to set at the side show: sword swallowers, a bearded lady, a fire eater, a strongman and a contortionist.

Anthony Tommasini seemed a bit torn about the effectiveness of this setting. In his New York Times review he said:

“I have never seen a production that completely cracks the code of Così, and for all its charms and insights, this production also comes up short. Mr. McDermott’s concept doesn’t explore the unsettling elements as much as some productions I’ve seen. But one thing it gets right is the role of sexual desire as a motivator for these lovers. To that end, moving the story to the 1950s, when proper young people refrained from premarital sex, and setting it in an amusement park, where the couples are on vacation, work well.”

That’s the full line-up for Week 65 at the Met. We don’t have any idea what the schedule has for Week 66. Since Nelson Riddle never did an opera that we’re aware of, I guess we won’t be hearing the theme for Route 66 during Week 66.

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas!

Photo: Piotr Beczała in Rigoletto (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Changing the Scene: Week 65 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Amongst the authors whose work inspired the seven operas being streamed are Goethe, Nikolai Gogol, Victor Hugo, Alexander Pushkin, Friedrich Schiller and William Shakespeare.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on April 5th, you might still have time to catch the 2016-2017 season production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde that concludes a week celebrating Love Triangles. And if you’ve never seen this production, I strongly recommend it.

Here is the full line-up for Week 56 at the Met:

Monday, April 5 – Gounod’s Faust

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. This Des McAnuff production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on May 23rd, November 17th and January 27th.

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite. 

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

McAnuff made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. He is best known as the director of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway. In his Faust he chose to set this production before and after the dropping of atom bombs in Japan in World War II.

Critics may have been divided over Des McAnuff’s approach, but they were unanimous in their praise of tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Audiences were too. His performance generated a lot of emotion from audiences attending this production.

Tuesday, April 6 – Verdi’s Rigoletto

Conducted by James Levine; starring Christiane Eda-Pierre, Isola Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Louis Quilico and Ara Berberian. This revival of John Dexter’s 1977 production is from the 1981-1982 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on August 12th and December 30th.

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about. 

For most opera fans, Pavarotti’s appearance in this production was the selling point. But for New York Times critic Edward Rothstein, he found something, or rather, someone else to admire.

“Though Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke may attract the most attention, Louis Quilico, as Rigoletto, was at the center of the drama; his passions and fears could be heard in his voice as well as seen in his face and body. His ‘La ra, la ra, la la’ seemed sobbed out by a jester who has lived too long and seen too much.”

Wednesday, April 7 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

Conducted by Robin Ticciati; starring Anna Netrebko, Elena Maximova, Alexey Dolgov, Peter Mattei and Štefan Kocán. This revival of the 2013-2014 Deborah Warner production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on August 19th.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel of the same name for this opera that had its world premiere in Moscow in 1879. The composer co-wrote the libretto (using much of Pushkin’s text as written) with Konstantin Shilovsky.

Onegin is a rather selfish man. Tatyana expresses her love for him, but he rejects her saying he isn’t suited to marriage. By the time he comes to regret the way he treated her, he has also come to regret the actions that lead to a duel that killed his best friend.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky had been announced to sing the title role in this production. Due to ongoing treatments for cancer, he had to withdraw from the production. When this production opened Mariusz Kwiecien sang the role. Ten days prior to this performance that is being shown, Peter Mattei assumed the role. Exactly seven months after this performance, Hvorostovsky passed away.

Thursday, April 8 – Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil. This Piero Faggioni production is from the 1983-1984 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on August 18th and December 17th.

Riccardo Zandonai is not the best known of composers nor are his works regularly performed. Francesca da Ramini is his most popular work. The opera had its world premiere in Turin in 1914. The libretto was written by Tito Ricordi. Gabriele d’Annunzio’s play Francesca da Rimini was the source material that inspired this opera.

The title character, Francesca, is set to marry Giovanni (who is known by his nickname, Gianciotto.) When she is introduced to his brother, Paolo, she believes this man to be her groom. He falls in love with her, but has conspired to take Francesca away from his brother. Sibling rivalry significantly intensifies when Gianciotto’s youngest brother, Malatestino, gets involved.

The only clip I could find is, unfortunately, the finale. So if you don’t know the opera and don’t want to see how it ends, I’d advise you bypass this clip.

This production marked the first time Zandonai’s opera had been performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 66 years. It also marked the debut of Piero Faggioni.

Donal Henahan, my favorite of all New York Times opera critics had fun with this one. In particular he sharpened his pen for his comments about Scotto’s performance:

“To succeed even on its own modest level, the work needs a Francesca of irresistible stage presence and a voice to match. Renata Scotto is at a point in her career where the voice is colorless and often downright shrill. Her acting powers were stretched beyond their limits by a heavily padded scenario and heavy-handed direction by Piero Faggioni in his Met debut. The problem was not that she indulged in silent-movie histrionics, which cannot and should not be avoided in a period production of this sort, but that she seemed to have only half a dozen poses to draw upon. Her idea of showing desire for Paolo did not extend much beyond kneading her loins and clutching her thighs, which she did at tiresome length.”

Friday, April 9 – Shostakovich’s The Nose

Conducted by Pavel Smelkov; starring Andrey Popov, Alexander Lewis and Paulo Szot. This William Kentridge production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on July 1st.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s satirical The Nose was the composer’s first opera. It had its debut in Leningrad in 1930. The libretto was by Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin and Alexander Preis. It is based on a novel by Nikolai Gogol.

The premise is rather simple. The nose of a Saint Petersburg official leaves his face to go off and explore life by itself. The man goes in search of his missing nose and finds it suddenly much bigger and assuming a position of power over him.

The Nose was not performed in Russian again after its premiere until 1974. This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of the opera. It also marked the Met Opera debut of tenor Paulo Szot as the man with the missing nose. In addition to his opera career, Szot appeared on Broadway in the 2008 revival of South Pacific and won a Tony Award for his performance.

Saturday, April 10 – Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette

Conducted by Plácido Domingo; starring Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Nathan Gunn and Robert Lloyd. This revival of Guy Joosten’s 2005 production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on July 23rd and November 7th.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet served as the inspiration for this five-act opera by Charles Gounod that had its world premiere in Paris in 1867. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré.

The opera closely follows Shakespeare’s play about two star-crossed lovers from warring families. Their love only inflames the animosity between the Montagues and the Capulets. No matter what the young lovers do to be together, fate always seems to find a way to make their love impossible. When that happens, tragedy follows.

In her review for the New York Times, Anne Midgette said of the two leads: 

“You are not going to hear much better singing than this today. True, Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna can both be faulted. She is a little wild, flinging herself into roles and about the stage (especially, on Tuesday, at her first entrance); he has a certain emotional bluntness, and a certain monochrome tone. So much for the obligatory criticism. The bottom line is that Ms. Netrebko produced a luscious sound that you wanted to bathe in forever, especially in her first-act duet with Mr. Alagna. The ultimate measure for a singer should be, Is this a sound you want to listen to? The answer here was yes.”

Sunday, April 11 – Verdi’s Luisa Miller

Conducted by Bertrand de Billy; starring Sonya Yoncheva, Olesya Petrova, Piotr Beczała, Plácido Domingo, Alexander Vinogradov and Dmitry Belosselskiy. This revival of the 2002 Elijah Moshinsky production is from the 2017-2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on May 2nd and August 26th.

Luisa Miller was Verdi’s 15th opera. As with Don Carlo, the composer turned to Friedrich Schiller for inspiration. His work, Kabale und Liebe, was the basis for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. The opera had its world premiere in 1849 in Naples, Italy.

Like many a young woman, Luisa Miller’s father is not thrilled with her choice of boyfriends. Carlo, the man she loves, is not quite who he seems to be. Enter Wurm, who knows the truth about Carlo and who does everything he can to ruin their relationship because he, too, is in love with Luisa.

Domingo announced that his performance of Luisa’s father in this production would make the 149th role he had portrayed in his career. This was part of his career shift after switching from singing tenor roles to baritone roles.

Conductor de Billy was brought in after James Levine was fired from the Metropolitan Opera after an investigation into in appropriate sexual behavior.

The first opera Domingo and Levine collaborated on at the Met was a 1971 production of Luisa Miller. This production was the Met’s first of this Verdi work in over a decade.

That’s it for Week 56 at the Met. Next week the theme is Once Upon a Time. Can you guess what will be shown?

Enjoy your week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Paulo Szot in The Nose (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post From Page to Stage: Week 56 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Two productions stand out to me this week. The first is the third streaming of the 2016-2017 season production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme. This happens to be my favorite opera, but this production is powerful. The second highlight is the first-ever streaming of the 2012-2013 season production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on March 29th, you might still have time to catch the 2019-2020 season production of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer that concludes a week celebrating Myths and Legends.

Here is the line-up for Week 55 at the Met:

Monday, March 29 – Bellini’s Norma

Conducted by Carlo Rizzi; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2017- 2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 5th, September 20th and January 20th.

Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma had its world premiere in Milan in 1831. The libretto was written by Felice Romani based on Alexandre Soumet’s play Norma, ou L’infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide).

The opera is set during Roman occupation of Gaul. Norma, the Druid high priestess, has been abandoned by the Roman consul, Pollione, the father of her two children. He has fallen in love with his wife’s friend, Adalgisa. Norma is devastated when she learns of his betrayal and his plans to marry Adalgisa. This leaves Norma in the position of having to figure out what to do with her children and whether or not to exact revenge on Pollione. 

Maria Callas made Norma a signature role for her after she first performed in a 1948 production at Teatro Comunale di Firenze. She sang the part in 89 performances. The role is considered the Mount Everest of opera. 

James Jorden examined what makes this role so challenging in a 2017 article for the New York Times that ran just before this production opened. You can read that story here.

Tuesday, March 30 – Strauss’s Capriccio

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose. This revival of the 1998 John Cox production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on May 7th and January 15th.

As the Countess, Fleming must make one decision that resonates in a second way. Does she prefer words or music? And by extension, does she prefer the poet or the composer that make up the love triangle in this opera.

When Fleming decided to do the role of the Countess in this opera by Strauss in 2011, it was the first time she had performed the full opera at the Met. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times was impressed:

“The role suits her ideally at this stage of her career, and she sang splendidly. The performance over all, sensitively conducted by Andrew Davis and featuring a winning cast, made an excellent case for this Strauss curiosity, his final opera, which had its premiere in Munich in 1942 in the midst of World War II.”

Wednesday, March 31 – Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień.  This David McVicar production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 29th and October 17th.

Roberto Devereux had its world premiere in Naples in 1837. François Ancelot’s Elisabeth d’Angleterre was the main inspiration for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. It is believed he also used Jacques Lescéne des Maisons’ Historie secrete des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex as inspiration as well.

This opera tells the story of the title character who is the Earl of Essex. Queen Elizabeth I is secretly in love with him. In the very late 16th century (1599 to be exact), she sends him with an army to quash an uprising in Ireland. He is unsuccessful and, despite instructions to do otherwise, he returns to England. He is deemed to be a deserter. This being opera, it isn’t just a political tale nor one of history. There are conflicted relationships that ultimately lead to tragedy.

This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Roberto Devereux. When Radvanovsky sang in this production, she had also performed the two previous Donizetti operas in this informal trilogy in the same season at the Met.

This is how the audience responded on opening night to Radvanovsky’s accomplishment as reported by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times:

“The applause and bravos for the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky were so frenzied at the end of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday night that she looked overwhelmed, almost a little frightened.The audience members knew, it seemed, that they had just witnessed an emotionally vulnerable and vocally daring performance, a milestone in the career of an essential artist.”

Thursday, April 1 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore

Conducted by James Levine; starring Éva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1988-1989 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 7th and January 1st.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore is based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez published in 1836. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano with additions by Leone Emanuele Badare. The opera had its world premiere in Rome in 1853.

The setting is Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon, circa 1412. To offer up a quick synopsis here would be a fool’s game to play. Several stories happen simultaneously and sometimes share the same characters. The opera has rarely been hailed for its story, but it certainly ranks as one of Verdi’s finest compositions.

When this production first opened that season at the Metropolitan Opera, Joan Sutherland sang the role of Leonora and Richard Bonynge was conducting. Pavarotti sang the role of Manrico throughout.

While critics were not so keen on Melano’s direction, Donal Henahan, writing for the New York Times, liked much of Pavarotti’s performance.

“Mr. Pavarotti was in good vocal health, immediately making ears prick up with his offstage song in the duel scene. Later, his ‘Ah, si, ben mio’ was meltingly ardent and unmistakably the work of a genuine lyric tenor. In the opera’s most famous aria, ‘Di quella pira,’ his voice simply lacked the bite and thrust required for this showpiece of the Italian robust tenor.”

Friday, April 2 – Massenet’s Werther

Conducted by Alain Altinoglu; starring Lisette Oropesa, Sophie Koch, Jonas Kaufmann and David Bižić. This Richard Eyre production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available May 11th and September 13th.

Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther was the inspiration for this opera which had its world premiere in 1892 in Vienna. It is not the first opera inspired by Goethe’s novel: Rodolphe Kreutzer wrote one in 1792 as did Vincenzo Pucitta in 1802.

Werther tells the story of a young man who spends some of his time writing poetry and imagining life as he thinks it should be. He falls in love with the daughter of a man who manages a large estate. Things don’t always measure up to his ideal of the world and the title character contemplates suicide. That’s just the first half.

In his New York Times review of this production, Anthony Tomassini said:

“To be a great Werther, a tenor must somehow be charismatic yet detached, vocally impassioned yet ethereal. Mr. Kaufmann is ideal in the role. He sings with dark colorings, melting warmth, virile intensity and powerful top notes. There is a trademark dusky covering to his sound that lends a veiled quality to Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther and suits the psychology of the character.”

Saturday, April 3 – Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień and Ambrogio Maestri. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2012-2013 season.

Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore had its world premiere in Milan in 1832. The libretto by Felice Romani. L’Elisir d’Amore was inspired by Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Daniel Auber’s Le philtre.

In this opera, Adina and Nemorino are the couple at the center of the story. Nemorino is madly in love with Adina, but she toys with his love. In an act of desperation he purchases an “elixir” that he believes will make her fall in love with him. He pretends not to love her anymore which leads, of course, to the planning of their wedding. But will it take place? It’s a comic opera, of course it will!

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini said this production was a much-needed upgrade from the Met’s previous production:

“What mattered on Monday was that the Met, having junked its 1991 production of Elisir, a cutesy show with cartoonish sets, now has a handsome and insightful new staging. The cast, which also stars the tenor Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino, the poor villager who pines for Adina, is terrific. Maurizio Benini conducts a stylish and zesty performance. And Mr. Sher delves beneath the surface of this frothy, tuneful opera to highlight its tale of two young people incapable of facing their mutual attraction.”

Sunday, April 4 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by Simon Rattle; starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape. This Mariusz Trelinski production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on March 23rd and October 5th.

Richard Wagner wrote the music and the libretto for Tristan and Isolde. Gottfried von Strassburg’s novel, Tristan, from the 12th century, serves as his inspiration. The opera had its world premiere in Munich in 1865.

It is a bit of oversimplifying to say that the story in Tristan und Isolde is about two lovers whose passion for each other is so strong, it can only truly thrive in the afterlife. But frankly, in a nutshell, that’s the essential premise. But don’t be mistaken, this is pure drama and glorious music.

Anyone who saw Nina Stemme in Richard Strauss’s Elektra that has streamed a few times know how fully-committed she is to the characters she sings.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, hailed her performance:

“Her Isolde is just as outstanding. Her voice has enormous carrying power without any forcing. Gleaming, focused top notes slice through the orchestra. As Isolde went through swings of thwarted fury, yearning and despair, Ms. Stemme altered the colorings of her sound, from steely rawness to melting warmth. And it is not often you hear a Wagnerian soprano who takes care to sing with rhythmic fidelity and crisp diction.”

Those are the productions available during Week 55 at the Met. I’m not sure what next week has in store – yet! Enjoy the operas and enjoy your week!

Photo: Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme in Tristan und Isolde (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Love Triangles: Week 55 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

So what did you choose? All of the productions are from the 21st century. The earliest from 2007 and the most recent just last year. Amongst the performers showcased this week are Anthony Roth Costanzo, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko. Productions by David McVicar and Bartlett Sher proved most popular (each has two productions being shown this week).

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on March 15th, you might still have time to catch the 2017-2018 season production of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini that concludes a week celebrating Verismo Passions.

Here are your selections for Week 53 at the Met:

Monday, March 15 – Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Conducted by James Levine; starring Anna Netrebko, Kathleen Kim, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsey, Joseph Calleja and Alan Held. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2009-2010 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on April 22nd.

Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman had its world premiere in Paris in 1881. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and was inspired by three short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Offenbach did not live to see this opera performed. He died four months before its premiere.

In the opera Offenbach and Barbier put the author of the stories in the middle of all the action. He’s seeking perfect love and tells a tavern crowd about three fruitless attempts at romance. The first with the daughter of an inventor who turns out to be a doll instead of a human being. The second with a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous voice, but whose singing may lead to her death. The third with a young woman who steals his reflection. Will poor Hoffman ever find love? Or will his writing be his lifelong companion?

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, laid out some of the challenges this production faced and also what it achieved in spite of them:

“As conceived, this production was to have featured the tenor Rolando Villazón as the poet, wild-eyed dreamer and delusional lover Hoffmann. When Mr. Villazón, in the midst of a vocal crisis, pulled out last spring, the young Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, who had never sung this daunting role, accepted the assignment. On Thursday he gave his all, singing with ardor, stamina and poignant vocal colorings and winning a rousing ovation. There were technically shaky elements to his performance, and his focused, quick vibrato revealed every slight inaccuracy of pitch. Still, the insecurity actually befitted Mr. Calleja’s take on the character, laid bare emotionally. 

“The soprano Anna Netrebko may have disappointed her fans by deciding not to sing all four of Hoffmann’s love interests, as originally planned. But she was vocally lustrous, charismatic and wrenching as Antonia, the sickly and frustrated singer who has been warned that singing will lead to her death. She also made a captivating and tart Stella, the prima donna Hoffmann is smitten with.”

Tuesday, March 16 – Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann and Željko Lučić. This revival of the 1991 Giancarlo del Monaco production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on July 26th.

Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910. It was Puccini’s follow-up to Madama Butterfly. Like that work, this was also inspired by a play by David Belasco. The Girl of the Golden West was adapted by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini.

Set during the Gold Rush era in California, Sherriff Rance is told by a Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, that he is chasing a bandit named Ramerrez. Minnie is the owner of the bar where Rance’s unrequited love for Minnie remains just that. A stranger arrives and successfully flirts with Minnie. He identifies himself as Johnson, but in reality he is the bandit Ramerrez. Can he avoid recognition and capture? Will their love save the day?

This production marked Kaufmann’s return to the Metropolitan Opera after a four-and-a-half-year absence from their stages. He had previously been announced in three productions during that time, but withdrew from each one. Skeptics wondered if he would actually appear in this one. He did. And though not in top form, he still received praise from Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times:

“The dusky colorings of Mr. Kaufmann’s voice gave his singing of this Italianate music a Germanic cast, but that quality made his Johnson seem, intriguingly, more of an outsider. He brought melting richness and dramatic nuances to his performance, supported by the sensitive conducting of Marco Armiliato.”

Wednesday, March 17 – Donizetti’s Anna Bolena

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Tamara Mumford, Stephen Costello and Ildar Abdrazakov. This David McVicar production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on April 27th and October 15th.

Anna Bolena has its premiere in Milan in Milan in 1830. The libretto is based on two works: Ippolito Pindemonte’s Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli’s Anna Bolena. Donizetti’s librettist was Felice Romani.

Donizetti wrote four operas about the Tudor period. The three most popular operas are being performed in consecutive order (and the order of their composition) this week. The lesser-known fourth opera (which was actually the first opera) is Il castello di Kenilworth. Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux‘s leading female characters are referred to as the “three Donizetti Queens.”

In Anna Bolena, Henry VIII has fallen in love with Jane Seymour who is Queen Anna’s lady-in-waiting. Though King Henry had demanded Anna separate from Lord Percy to marry him, he now must find a way to make it possible for him to leave her and marry Jane. He contrives a meeting between Lord Percy and Anna in order to set her up for treason and ultimately execution.

This production was the first time the Metropolitan Opera performed Anna Bolena in all its history. It was, however, the second time Netrebko had performed the role having sung it in Vienna earlier that year. Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times, raved about Netrebko’s performance:

“Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. When the audience broke into prolonged applause and bravos, Ms. Netrebko seemed to break character and smile a couple of times, though her look could have been taken as appropriate to the dramatic moment, since the delusional Anna is lost in reverie about happy days with her former lover.”

Thursday, March 18 – Philip Glass’s Akhnaten

Conducted by Karen Kamensek; starring Dísella Lárusdóttir, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aaron Blake, Will Liverman, Richard Bernstein and Zachary James. This Phelim McDermott production is from the 2019-2020. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 20th, November 14th and February 12th.

Akhnaten is one of Glass’s three biographical operas (the others are Einstein on the Beach and Saturday’s opera, Satyagraha.) The composer also wrote the libretto with the assistance of Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell and Jerome Robbins.

Akhnaten was a pharaoh who was controversial for his views on worshipping more than one God. He suggested just worshipping one – the sun. He was husband to Nefertitti and father of Tutankhamun. This opera does not have a linear storyline.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini praised the leads:

“Wearing gauzy red robes with extravagantly long trains, Mr. Costanzo and Ms. Bridges seem at once otherworldly and achingly real. His ethereal tones combine affectingly with her plush, deep-set voice. Ms. Kamensek, while keeping the orchestra supportive, brings out the restless rhythmic elements that suggest the couple’s intensity.”

I’ve seen this production with Costanzo singing the title role and cannot recommend taking the time to watch Akhnaten highly enough. 

Friday, March 19 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo and John Relyea. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2006-2007 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on March 31st and October 19th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

This production marked the debut of Tony Award-winner (and 9-time nominee) Bartlett Sher at the Metropolitan Opera. In Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times he hailed Sher’s production:

“For the inventive, breezy new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera, which opened on Friday night and boasts a winning cast, the director Bartlett Sher, making his Met debut, has embraced the opera’s atmosphere of intrigue and subterfuge. Michael Yeargan’s set is an abstract matrix of movable doors, stairwells and potted orange trees that characters lurk behind as they listen in on conversations. Yet this is in no way an updated production. The costume designer, Catherine Zuber, has dressed the characters in colorful and sexy period garb with comic touches, like the disheveled, curly red wig worn by Rosina, the young heroine. 

“If not updated, the opera is freshened up by Mr. Sher, bringing his perspective as an acclaimed theater director best known to New Yorkers for The Light in the Piazza.”

Saturday, March 20 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This revival of Robert Carsen’s 1997 production is from the 2006-2007 season.This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on March 22nd, November 30th and February 24th

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel of the same name for this opera that had its world premiere in Moscow in 1879. The composer co-wrote the libretto (using much of Pushkin’s text as written) with Konstantin Shilovsky.

Onegin is a rather selfish man. Tatyana expresses her love for him, but he rejects her saying he isn’t suited to marriage. By the time he comes to regret the way he treated her, he has also come to regret the actions that lead to a duel that killed his best friend.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review raved, “You will seldom see better acting in opera then the scenes between Ms. Fleming and Mr. Hvorostovsky. With his white mane, commanding physique and earthy voice, Mr. Hvorostovsky projects charisma naturally, making him perfect for this diffident character.

“Everything and everyone seems to come to Onegin, which accounts for his passivity. In the scene in which he gently chastises Tatiana for having sent him a rash love letter, his paternalistic arrogance, as projected by Mr. Hvorostovsky, would have been infuriating had it not seemed so tragically clueless.”

Sunday, March 21 – Handel’s Agrippina

Conducted by Harry Bicket; starring Brenda Rae, Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 8th and October 27th.

George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina has a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. The opera had its world premiere in 1709 in Venice at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo which was owned by Grimani.

Agrippina is the Roman empress who is fixated on the idea of having her highly unqualified son, Nerone, take over the throne. To do that, she will stop at nothing to get her husband, Claudio, to cede it to him.

Though McVicar’s production was first staged in Brussels in 2000, this marked the first ever Metropolitan Opera production of Agrippina. Conductor Harry Bicket lead from the harpsichord and audiences and critics were enthralled.

Zachary Woolfe, in his review for the New York Times said, “Three centuries on, Agrippina remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes.”

Those are your choices for Week 53 at the Met. At the moment I have no idea what Week 54 has in store for us all. So enjoy the operas you’ve selected and enjoy your week.

Photo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming in Eugene Onegin. (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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My top pick this weekend is Boston Lyric Opera’s new film, directed by James Darrah, of The Fall of the House of Usher. This is a mixed-media film set to the Philip Glass/Arthur Yorinks opera. By the way, you’ll see Darrah’s name several times in these listings.

We have jazz, dance, classical music, new classical music, family-friendly theatre, very mature subject matter and some show tunes.

So let’s get to it. Here are the Best Bets: January 29th – January 31st:

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Hélène Grimaud with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra – Debuts January 29th – 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST – Available through May 31st

Pianist Hélène Grimaud joins conductor Nicholas McGegan and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466. The concert also includes a performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550.

Grimaud released her album The Messenger last year which features her performing this concerto with Camerata Salzburg. As she’s one of our finest pianists performing and recording today, this is a concert certain to please all fans of Mozart and classical piano.

The cost to stream this concert is $10, but does allow for streaming through May 31, 2021.

TOP PICK: OPERA: The Fall of the House of Usher – Boston Lyric Opera – Debuts January 29th

When I recently spoke with director/designer James Darrah he made it clear how he wanted to bring new ideas to opera and classical music. This film he directed of Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher is definitely an example of him doing just that.

Darrah combines hand-drawn animation, stop-motion film, and archival footage to tell this Edgar Allan Poe story.

Collaborating with Glass, as his librettist, was Arthur Yorinks.

This 93-minute film opens with the line, “Not what you expected?” If a traditional performance film is what you expected, perhaps this isn’t for you. Screenwriter Raúl Santos sets a young immigrant girl detained at the United States border within the opera. There is also a warning at the start of the film that certain images and scenes might be too intense for younger viewers.

The Fall of the House of Usher features Chelsea Basler, Jorgeandrés Camargo, Christon Carney, Jesse Darden, Daniel Belcher with David Angus conducting the score.

The design team includes Production Designer Yuki Izumihara; Director of Photography Pablo Santiago; Costume and Doll Designer Camille Assaf; Art Director/Lead Designer Yee Eun Nam; Lead Animator Will Kim; Associate Animator Jian Lee and Lead Illustrator Rodrigo Muñoz.

The rental cost to stream the film is $10 and allows for streaming for a period of seven days. I had a chance to see The Fall of the House of Usher and can tell you it is well worth the money. And for those who don’t think they like opera, give this a chance. This film with surprise you. That’s why it is our Top Pick this week.

MUSICALS: RW Quarantunes – Center Theatre Group – January 29th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

You never know who will show up in this celebration of Broadway. Father and daughter Richard and Demi Weitz have been doing Zoom parties for their celebrity friends (he’s a partner at WME). Amongst those who have participated in previous RWQuarantunes have been Boy George, Josh Groban, Nathan Lane, John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Randy Newman, Bernadette Peters, Rod Stewart and Rufus Wainwright.

Whoever the guests are for this Center Theatre Group Fundraiser, they are going to be performing songs from The Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera and more. Given CTG’s history and reputation, I’d expect some pretty high-caliber participants.

There is no charge to view the show, but you must register for it. As this is a fundraiser, donations are strongly encouraged.

PLAY: The James Baldwin Project – Broadway on Demand – Now – January 31st

Hub Theatre Group from Lubbock, Texas created a project celebrating writer James Baldwin called The James Baldwin Project. Their show, The Dream Unrealized, part of that project, is streaming through the end of this weekend as part of Broadway on Demand’s Martin Luther King, Jr. programming.

This film features actors Alex Hairston (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Tayler Harris, Jenny Laroche and Judine Somerville (Hairspray) reciting Baldwin’s words and adding their own stories to them. This combination yields a powerful message about how little change there has been since Baldwin was alive.

There is a $5 fee to stream The James Baldwin Project.

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT: Grimmz Fairy Tales – Broadway on Demand – Now – March 30th

Hip-hop meets Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretel and Cinderella is this show from the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Creators Ron Lee McGill and Rahsheem Shabazz take on the persona of Jay and Will Grimmz in this family-friendly 71-minute show currently available through Broadway on Demand.

McGill, in an interview last year with the The Charlotte Post, said of the songs they created for Grimmz Fairy Tales, “We want to make this for everyone, not just for kids, but something that everybody—the family—can collectively come together and enjoy this.”

Streaming the show costs $23.54 and allows for 72 hours of viewing.

OPERA: Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier – Royal Opera House – Now – February 6th

Conducted by Antonio Pappano; starring Jonas Kaufmann, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Željko Lučić and Denyce Graves. This David McVicar production is from the 2014-2015 season.

Giordano’s opera had its world premiere in Milan in 1896. It features a libretto by Luigi Illica and is inspired by the life of the poet André Chénier who was executed during the French Revolution.

A love triangle is ultimately at the center of this opera. Chénier says one too many things in the presence of Maddalena, Countess di Coigny’s daughter, about the imbalance between the French government and the poverty that has trapped so many of his countrymen. This is just prior to the French Revolution.

Half a decade later, Carlo Gérard, who was a footman to the now executed King Louis XVI and was influenced by Chénier’s talk, is now a leading political figure. The poet, however, is not in their good graces. This interrupts his plans to meet a young woman with whom he has been corresponding. That turns out to be Maddalena. Though she and Chénier are in love, Gérard also has his eyes on her. Politics and passion collide leading to the poet’s execution.

Tim Ashley, in his review for The Guardian, raved about Kaufmann. “Kaufmann is performing the title role for the first time, and it’s hard to imagine him bettered. His striking looks make him very much the Romantic and romanticised outsider of Giordano’s vision. His voice, with its dark, liquid tone, soars through the music with refined ease and intensity: all those grand declarations of passion, whether political or erotic, hit home with terrific immediacy. His acting is superb, too…”

Tickets to stream the opera are £3 or approximately $4.15 (at press time)

JAZZ: Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Pedrito Martinez – SFJAZZ – January 29th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

If you like your jazz on the Cuban side, you won’t want to miss seeing pianist/composer Gonzalo Rubalcaba and conguero Pedrito Martinez in this SFJAZZ concert from 2017.

This concert, part of the weekly Fridays at Five series, will definitely not leave you sitting still. This is a great way to start the weekend.

You’ll need either a monthly membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60) to view this concert. But given how much great music you’ll get for your investment, it’s well worth the money.

OPERA: Lumee’s Dream – LA Opera – January 29th – February 11th

p r i s m, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by composer Ellen Reid and librettist Roxie Perkins, is the inspiration for this new film by the opera’s direct James Darrah. (He’s obviously been busy.) Here he takes a small moment from the opera and turns it into a long-form sensory experience.

There is no charge to watch Lumee’s Dream. You will need to register at LA Opera.

While you’re there, you can still catch Darrah’s film of p r i s m. That’s also free and will remain available through February 8th.

BALLET: La Fille mal gardée – The Royal Ballet – January 29th – February 27th

A love story between Lise and a young farmer, Colas, is the centerpiece of this ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton. This ballet had its world premiere in 1960.

The translation of the title is The Wayward Daughter. Clearly her parents aren’t too keen on her taste in men. Or in this case, her widowed mother.

Ashton based this work on a 1789 ballet by Jean Dauberval. The music was adapted by John Lanchberry from an 1828 score by Ferdinand Hérold.

This production is from 2015 with Barry Wordsworth conducting members of the Royal Opera Orchestra. Natalia Osipova dances the role of Lise. Steven McRae dances the role of Colas. The role of Lise’s mother is danced by Philip Mosley.

Tickets to stream the opera are £3 or approximately $4.15 (at press time)

NEW CLASSICAL MUSIC: Mother of Bravery – Close Quarters #7 – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – January 29th – Debuts at 9:30 PM EST/6:30 PM PST

Composer Derrick Spiva Jr. is both the curator of this edition of LACO’s Close Quarters episode and also the composer of both works being given their world premiere performances.

Mother of Bravery was commissioned by LACO. The other work is Mind the Rhythm (For Amplified Violin and Electronics). Each work is 10-11 minutes.

As with other Close Quarters films, this will not be a traditional performance video. James Darrah (I told you he was busy) is the director/designer of the accompanying film.

Spiva is a fascinating composer and this series has proven essential. I wouldn’t miss this (and you don’t have to watch it just at the premiere time – it will remain available.) There’s no charge to watch the film.

OPERA: La Traviata – San Francisco Opera – January 30th – January 31st

Conducted by Nicola Luisotti; starring Nicole Cabell and Stephen Costello. This John Copley production is from the 2013-2014 season.

Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the author of The Three Musketeers) wrote the play, La Dame aux camélias on which Verdi’s opera is based. Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto for La Traviata which had its world premiere in Venice in 1853.

In the opera, Violetta, who is in declining health, throws an opulent party. At this party she is introduced to Alfredo by her lover, Baron Douphol. When signs of failing health get noticed by Alfredo, he encourages her to give up her lavish lifestyle. He also admits his great love for Violetta. A love triangle is now in play. From there the opera tells the story of a woman who sacrifices everything to live life on the edge.

DANCE: Search(light) – Kinesis Project dance theatre – January 30th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST and 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST

Two sets of dancers will be performing this work…twice. One set will be at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York and the other set will be at the Kay White Hall at Vashon Center for the Arts on Vashon Island, Washington. This will be a pair of live performances with the dancers being accompanied by music by Sandbox Percussion and violinist Kristin Lee.

Kinesis Project’s main focus has been on site-specific productions. Search(light), utilizing two different sites, was inspired by Melissa Riker’s experience watching fisherman in Seattle. Riker is the artistic director of Kinesis Project dance theatre.

The New York cast includes Claudia-Lynn Rightmire, Therese Ronco, Jeimin Yang, Sumaya Mulla-Carrillo, and Nicole Truzzi. The Seattle cast includes Lorraine Lau, Kimberly Holloway, Hendri Walujo, Robert Moore, Margaret Behm, Madeline Morser. 

Rather than responding through a website, interested viewers should e-mail: Kinesis_RSVP@icloud.com.

The event is free, but donations are encouraged with a suggested donation of $15.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Holocaust Remembrance – New West Symphony – January 31st – 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST

This concert, part of a worldwide series of events for Holocaust Remembrance Week honoring the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, features music that will be very familiar and some selections less so.

Michael Christie leads the Jerusalem String Quartet and pianist Daniel Vnukowski as guest artists.

New West Symphony members violinist/Concertmaster Alyssa Park; violist Phillip Triggs and clarinetist Joshua Ranz also perform.

The program features John Williams’ Theme from Schindler’s List; Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words, Op. 67, No. 2; Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67; Schulhoff’s Five pieces for String Quartet; Kovács’ Sholem-alekhim, rov Feldman!; Szpilman’s Mazurka; Weinberg’s Sonata No. 1 fur Viola Solo, Adagio; Ryterband’s Suite Polonaise – Oberek and concludes with Williams’ Remembrance from Schindler’s List.

Tickets to stream the concert are $25.

PLAY: Hi, Are You Single? – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with IAMA Theatre Company – January 31st – February 28th

Even with technology making everything seemingly readily available, finding someone to hook up with isn’t always as easy as you might think. Consider having an above-average sex drive, being gay and having cerebral palsy. That just increased the degree of difficultly exponentially.

Ryan J. Haddad stars in this one-man show that he also wrote. It allows him to explore the challenges faced not just in getting laid, but in perhaps finding the right person with whom to fall in love. This isn’t a work of fiction, it is an autobiographical show.

As you might imagine, I wouldn’t recommend this as family fare. This is adult material. But it should be enlightening, entertaining and perhaps uplifting.

Tickets are $15 to stream the show, but only if purchased by January 31st prior to the first show at 9:01 PM PST. After that tickets will be $20. Tickets will allow for 48 hours of streaming the show.

That concludes the official list of Best Bets: January 29th – January 31st. But, I do have a few reminders:

In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS has two episodes on Friday, January 29th: Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl and Musicals and the Movies. Check your local listings for exact start times.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, the 20th annual Dance Camera West festival is taking place in Santa Monica. You can get the details in our preview here.

Metropolitan Opera closes out their Antiheroes Week with performances of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer on Friday; Verdi’s Rigoletto on Saturday and Verdi’s Macbeth on Sunday.

This concludes my Best Bets: January 29th – January 31st. That’s a busy and exciting way to close out the first month of 2021. Enjoy your weekend.

Main Photo: An image from The Fall of the House of Usher (Courtesy Boston Lyric Opera)

The post Best Bets: January 29th – January 31st appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The men appearing this week include Piotr Beczała, Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Željko Lučić, Ambrogio Maestri, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape. Don’t fret, there are some powerful women this week, too.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on January 25th, you might still have time to catch the 2010-2011 production of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner that concludes Opera’s Greatest Heroines week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 46 at the Met:

Monday, January 25 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Serena Malfi, Paul Appleby, Simon Keenlyside and Adam Plachetka. This revival of Michael Grandage’s 2011 production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on August 9th.

The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.

Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.

When Simon Keenlyside was announced as the title character in this production, it came two years after he suffered a vocal cord injury while rehearsing a production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in Vienna. A year later, thyroid surgery sidelined him. 

James R. Oesterich, writing in the New York Times said his return was a good one:

“…he seemed in fine shape, vocally and physically. His voice rang out cleanly and clearly, and he showed good stamina in a portrayal long on physical exertion.”

Tuesday, January 26 – Rossini’s Le Comte Ory

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 16th, September 15th and October 24th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory had its world premiere in Paris in 1828. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson who adapted a play they had written eleven years earlier. Rossini used some of the music he had composed for Il Viaggio a Reims, performed at the the coronation of Charles X, in this opera.

Count Ory and his companion Raimbaud disguise themselves as hermits to seduce women left behind during the Crusades while the men went to the Holy Land. The women are on their own. Lady Ragonde takes charge of Formoutiers castle and looks after Adèle, the sister of the castle’s lord. Ory and Raimbaud offer their assistance, but obviously have something else on their minds.

This was the very first production of Le Comte Ory at the Met. All three leads had previously appeared together in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia under Sher’s direction four years earlier. 

Here Sher uses an opera-within-an-opera conceit. It was one that Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times did not expect to like, “Nothing in Ory invites an opera-within-an-opera concept. Still, Rossini artificially turned two unrelated pieces into a completely reconceived opera, so the artifice of Mr. Sher’s staging is somehow resonant. Moreover, for all the antics, Mr. Sher takes Rossini’s characters and their romantic entanglements seriously and coaxes precise, nuanced performances from his gifted cast.” 

Wednesday, January 27 – Gounod’s Faust

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. This Des McAnuff production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on May 23rd and November 17th.

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite. 

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

McAnuff made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. He is best known as the director of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway. In his Faust he chose to set this production before and after the dropping of atom bombs in Japan in World War II.

Critics may have been divided over Des McAnuff’s approach, but they were unanimous in their praise of tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Audiences were too. His performance generated a lot of emotion from audiences attending this production.

Thursday, January 28 – Verdi’s Falstaff

Conducted by James Levine; starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri and Franco Vassallo. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on April 8th, August 30th and December 27th.

Two of Shakespeare’s play served as the inspiration for Verdi’s Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor and sections from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Arrigo Boito adapted the plays to create the libretto. Falstaff had its world premiere in 1893 at La Scala in Milan. This was Verdi’s final opera and only his second comedic opera.

Simply put, Sir John Falstaff tries everything he can to woo two married woman so he can assume their husband’s vast fortunes. He’s rather bumbling in his efforts and the machinations in place to thwart his endeavors leave him with nothing short of a major comeuppance.

In Carsen’s production the story has been updated to England in the 1950s. His approach to Verdi’s opera was much lighter than is commonly done and, as a result, yielded overwhelmingly great reviews. 

On opening night Maestri performed the role of Falstaff for his 200th time. Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, raved about Maestri:

“A splendid cast is led by the powerhouse Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, who simply owns the role of Falstaff…At 6 foot 5 with his Falstaffian physique, Mr. Maestri certainly looks the part. A natural onstage, and surprisingly light on his feet, he makes Falstaff a charming rapscallion and sings with consummate Italianate style.”

Friday, January 29 – Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Anja Kampe, Mihoko Fujimura, Sergey Skorokhodov, David Portillo, Evgeny Nikitin and Franz-Josef Selig. This François Girard production is from the 2019-2020 season.

Richard Wagner’s opera, commonly billed by its English-language name, The Flying Dutchman, had its world premiere in Dresden in 1843. Wagner wrote the libretto and based it on The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski) by Henrich Heine.

Der Fliegende Holländer tells the story of a Dutch sea captain who claims he can sail safely anywhere in the world. The devil, hearing his boasting, condemned him to never die and to forever sail until he finds a woman willing to offer him eternal love. He can only leave the sea once every seven years. When he encounters Senta, he has found the woman that will end his curse. But she already has a fiancé. Whose love will win out?

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, was not thrilled by this production. He did, however, single out Kampe’s performance. “The soprano Anja Kampe, a leading Wagner soprano in Europe, made her belated Met debut as Senta; it’s good to finally have her here. Her singing was plush and warm, with lyrical sheen in tender phrases and steely intensity when Senta’s obsession takes hold. Despite some strained top notes, she was a standout.”

Saturday, January 30 – Verdi’s Rigoletto

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Beczała, Željko Lučić and Štefan Kocán. This Michael Mayer production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore showing of the production that was made available on May 16th and August 24th.

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about.

Michael Mayer won a Tony Award for his direction of the original production of Spring Awakening. He came up with the idea of a “Rat Pack Rigoletto” and moved the action to Las Vegas in the early 1960s.

While reviews were mixed for the production, Mayer was prepared for whatever reaction was going to come his way for his production as he told the New York Times prior to the first performance. “I’ve been warned, but some people have said if you get booed at the Met or at La Scala, you know you’re doing something right. In any case, to employ a pun: hopefully the booze I will have ingested prior to that moment will make the boos I hear a little dimmer.” 

Sunday, January 31 – Verdi’s Macbeth

Conducted by James Levine; starring Maria Guleghina, Dimitri Pittas, Željko Lučić and John Relyea. This Adrian Noble production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 22nd.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth was the first of his plays to inspire an opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave with additional work by Andrea Maffei. The opera had its world premiere in Florence, Italy in 1847. Verdi re-wroked Macbeth and changed the language from Italian to French. The revised version had its premiere in Paris in 1865.

This is not Shakespeare set to music. Verdi did take much of what Shakespeare wrote about a Scottish general who is told by three witches that he will be the King of Scotland. With the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth, he stops at nothing to do so. However, Verdi couldn’t include the whole play in his opera, nor did he want to. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady MacBeth truly anchors this opera.

When this production of Macbeth took place it marked the first time in nearly two decades since its last performance at the Met. Adrian Noble, who directed, made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. From 1990-2003 he was the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.

That completes Week 46 at the Met. Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas!

Photo: Evgeny Nikitin in Der Fliegende Holländer (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

The post The Antiheroes: Week 46 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Amongst the women starring in these productions are Hildegard Behrens, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Anita Hartig, Anna Netrebko, Lisette Oropesa, Anita Rachvelishvili, Sondra Radvanovsky and Deborah Voigt.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on January 18th, you might still have time to catch the 2013-2014 production of Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák that concludes Renée Fleming week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 45 at the Met:

Monday, January 18 – Bizet’s Carmen

Conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado; starring Anita Hartig, Anita Rachvelishvili, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Ildar Abdrazakov. This revival of the 2009 Richard Eyre production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 2nd.

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

In his New York Times review of this production, Zachary Woolfe came to a new realization about the characters in this opera. 

“Watching Ms. Rachvelishvili stare stonily at the tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, as Don José, I was aware as never before of the opera’s conceit that these characters have been thrown together, mostly miserably, by fate. They love each other without ever much liking each other.”

Tuesday, January 19 – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, Mariusz Kwiecień and Ildar Abdrazakov. This revival of the 2007 Mary Zimmerman production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on March 21st and October 12th

Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor was the inspiration for Gaetano Donizetti’s opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. Salvadore Cammarano, who collaborated with the composer on seven operas, wrote this libretto. This opera had its world premiere in Naples in 1835.

The opera, set in Scotland in the early 18th century, is a truly tragic love story. Lucia and Edgardo are secretly in love. They keep their love a secret as they are from opposing families. Her brother keeps them from getting married by lying to Lucia about Edgardo having married another woman. So deep is her despair that she turns to murder and ultimately devolves into madness.

When this production first opened, Rolando Villazón sang the role of Edgardo. On opening night, just prior to the final act, Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Met, announced that Villazón had been singing the performance in spite of being ill. That illness got the best of him and thus Piotr Beczala replaced him and is the Edgardo of this performance.

Wednesday, January 20 – Bellini’s Norma

Conducted by Carlo Rizzi; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2017- 2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 5th and September 20th.

Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma had its world premiere in Milan in 1831. The libretto was written by Felice Romani based on Alexandre Soumet’s play Norma, ou L’infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide).

The opera is set during Roman occupation of Gaul. Norma, the Druid high priestess, has been abandoned by the Roman consul, Pollione, the father of her two children. He has fallen in love with his wife’s friend, Adalgisa. Norma is devastated when she learns of his betrayal and his plans to marry Adalgisa. This leaves Norma in the position of having to figure out what to do with her children and whether or not to exact revenge on Pollione. 

Maria Callas made Norma a signature role for her after she first performed in a 1948 production at Teatro Comunale di Firenze. She sang the part in 89 performances. The role is considered the Mount Everest of opera. 

James Jorden examined what makes this role so challenging in a 2017 article for the New York Times that ran just before this production opened. You can read that story here.

Thursday, January 21 – Verdi’s La Traviata

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Natalie Dessay, Matthew Polenzani, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This Willy Decker production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on April 24th.

Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the author of The Three Musketeers) wrote the play, La Dame aux camélias on which Verdi’s opera is based. Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto for La Traviata which had its world premiere in Venice in 1853.

In the opera, Violetta, who is in declining health, throws an opulent party. At this party she is introduced to Alfredo by her lover, Baron Douphol. When signs of failing health get noticed by Alfredo, he encourages her to give up her lavish lifestyle. He also admits his great love for Violetta. A love triangle is now in play. From there the opera tells the story of a woman who sacrifices everything to live life on the edge.

Dessay was ill when this production started and missed the opening night performance. She recovered and sang the role starting with the second performance.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, said of Dessay’s performance, “This was her first time portraying the touchstone role of Violetta at the Met. And before she uttered a note, Ms. Dessay, who had originally intended to be an actress, made a wrenching impression as the fatally ill courtesan…Dragging her feet, she walked unsteadily, a woman with no doubt that her life is slipping away. But when she heard the bustle of guests approaching, she shook out the wrinkles from her dress, took a whiff of a white camellia, and put on her party face.”

Friday, January 22 – Puccini’s Tosca

Conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli; starring Hildegard Behrens, Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil. This Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 1984-1985 season.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

This production was brand new to the Met. It also marked the first time Behrens had sung Tosca at the Met.

Donal Henahan, as only he could, was less than kind about Zeffirelli’s work in his New York Times review.

“Miss Behrens, it is generally acknowleged, is one of the more astute and intelligent actresses on the opera stage today. Why, then, did her Tosca make so little impact? Perhaps Mr. Zeffirelli’s unimaginative and often clumsy direction got in her way – it is difficult to believe, for instance, that the ”freeze-frame” attitude she struck upon first seeing the murder knife on Scarpia’s dining table was her idea. This was silent-movie posturing that took the place of any genuine dramatic idea at the crucial moment when Tosca must make up her mind to knife her prospective rapist.”

Saturday, January 23 – Massenet’s Manon

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano and Artur Ruciński. This is a revival of the 2011-2012 Laurent Pelly production from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on June 25th.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. But life doesn’t always work out the way we want. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

The main attraction of any production of Manon is the performance of the soprano singing the title role. Oropesa certainly didn’t disappoint.

Joshua Barone, writing for the New York Times, said of Oropesa’s performance, “With a voice by turns brightly crystalline and arrestingly powerful, she persuasively inhabits the role of this chameleon coquette. When she blows a kiss at a crowd of men in Laurent Pelly’s often stylized production, their heads whip backward, as if feeling a sudden gust of wind. The audience can’t avoid catching a bit of the gale, too.

“Ms. Oropesa’s performance, her first at the Met since winning its Beverly Sills Artist Award as well as the prestigious Richard Tucker Award this spring, is alone worth the price of admission.”

Sunday, January 24 – Wagner’s Die Walküre

Conducted by James Levine, starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel and Hans-Peter König. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production streamed on March 25th.

This is the second opera in Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (also known as The Ring Cycle.) It had its premiere as a stand-alone opera in 1870 in Munich. The first performance of the entire cycle was at Bayreuth six years later. Wagner wrote the libretto as well as the music.

The son of the god Wotan is a fugitive named Siegmund. When he finds himself taking refuge at Sieglinde’s house, the two fall passionately in love. But Sieglinde is married and in order for her and Siegmund to be together Siegmund must defeat her husband in a battle to the death.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini, was very impressed by Voigt’s performance.

“Among the cast Ms. Voigt had the most at stake. A decade ago, when she owned the role of Sieglinde at the Met, she seemed destined to be a major Brünnhilde. Her voice has lost some warmth and richness in recent years. But the bright colorings and even the sometimes hard-edged sound of her voice today suits Brünnhilde’s music. I have seldom heard the role sung with such rhythmic accuracy and verbal clarity. From the start, with those go-for-broke cries of “Hojotoho,” she sang every note honestly. She invested energy, feeling and character in every phrase.”

That concludes Week 45 at the Met. Next week’s theme is The Antiheroes with one composer being represented with three operas. What do you think they will be?

Enjoy the opera and enjoy your week!

Photo: Lisette Oropesa in Manon (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Opera’s Greatest Heroines: Week 45 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This week you can see and hear Roberto Alagna, Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, Jessye Norman, René Pape, Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price.

Each production becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on the Metropolitan Opera website. Every opera remains available for 23 hours. They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and recently announced the cancellation of the full 2020-2021 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column early enough on November 30th, you might still have time to catch the 1994-1995 season production of Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi that concludes last week’s Family Drama series. It’s a good lead-in to this week as it features Plácido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa.

Here is the full line-up for Week 38 at the Met:

Monday, November 30 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This revival of Robert Carsen’s 1997 production is from the 2006-2007 season.This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on March 22nd.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel of the same name for this opera that had its world premiere in Moscow in 1879. The composer co-wrote the libretto (using much of Pushkin’s text as written) with Konstantin Shilovsky.

Onegin is a rather selfish man. Tatyana expresses her love for him, but he rejects her saying he isn’t suited to marriage. By the time he comes to regret the way he treated her, he has also come to regret the actions that lead to a duel that killed his best friend.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review raved, “You will seldom see better acting in opera then the scenes between Ms. Fleming and Mr. Hvorostovsky. With his white mane, commanding physique and earthy voice, Mr. Hvorostovsky projects charisma naturally, making him perfect for this diffident character.

“Everything and everyone seems to come to Onegin, which accounts for his passivity. In the scene in which he gently chastises Tatiana for having sent him a rash love letter, his paternalistic arrogance, as projected by Mr. Hvorostovsky, would have been infuriating had it not seemed so tragically clueless.”

Tuesday, December 1 – Verdi’s Aida

Conducted by James Levine; starring Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, James McCracken and Simon Estes. This revival of John Dexter’s 1975 production is from the 1984-1985 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 1st.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida had its world premiere in Cairo in 1871. The libretto is by Antonio Ghislanzoni.

Aida is in love with General Radames and he feels just as passionately about the Ethiopian princess being held captive in Egypt. Radames chooses to wage war against Ethiopia and Aida must reconcile her love for her native land and the General about to wage war against her people.

This video clip does not represent the quality of the film the Met will be streaming. But it does reflect both the power of Leontyne Price and the immense popularity of this particular performance.

This film marked Price’s farewell to opera. From a purely historical perspective, that alone makes this opportunity to see it unmissable. Reviews were mixed on the production, but by the end the ovation Price received acknowledges more than just a production or a performance, but also her career.

As Donal Henahan said in his New York Times review, “The 57-year-old soprano took an act or two to warm to her work, but what she delivered in the Nile Scene turned out to be well worth the wait. In her most taxing aria, ‘O patria mia,’ there were powerful reminders of the Price that we remember best and want to remember, a Price beyond pearls. It was, intermittently but often enough to make the evening a memorable event, the singing of an artist of distinctive vocal timbre and personality.”

Wednesday, December 2 – Wagner’s Parsifal

Conducted by Daniele Gatti; starring Katarina Dalayman, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei and René Pape. This François Girard production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on April 9th and October 11th.

Richard Wagner was inspired by Wolfram von Eschenbach’s poem about the knight Percival who was in search of the Holy Grail and served at King Arthur’s Round Table. Parsifal was the composer’s last completed opera. It had its world premiere in Bayreuth in 1882. Wagner wrote both the music and the libretto.

Young Parsifal is woefully unaware of right or wrong. He has no concept of sin nor redemption. Raised by his mother, he’s unfamiliar with the ways of the world. He meets one of the Knights of the Grail and is given the opportunity to see the Holy Grail. While at the Castle, he hears King Amfortas, crying in pain. Though Amfortas was given a life of immortality by the Grail, his pain comes from a wound inflicted by Klingsor who took the Holy Spear from the King. Parsifal makes it his mission to return the Spear and destroy Klingsor and his kingdom in order so that the King’s suffering can end.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, praised Kaufmann’s performance as the title character. “At 43 Mr. Kaufmann is in his glory, equally adept in German, Italian and French repertory. Handsome and limber, he is a natural onstage. The baritonal colorings of his sound, his clarion top notes, the blend of virility and tenderness in his singing, his refined musicianship — all these strengths come together in his distinctive Parsifal.”

Thursday, December 3 – Verdi’s Macbeth

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Željko Lučić and René Pape. This revival of Adrian Noble’s 2007 production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on April 4th.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth was the first of his plays to inspire an opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave with additional work by Andrea Maffei. The opera had its world premiere in Florence, Italy in 1847. Verdi re-wroked Macbeth and changed the language from Italian to French. The revised version had its premiere in Paris in 1865.

This is not Shakespeare set to music. Verdi did take much of what Shakespeare wrote about a Scottish general who is told by three witches that he will be the King of Scotland. With the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth, he stops at nothing to do so. However, Verdi couldn’t include the whole play in his opera, nor did he want to. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady MacBeth truly anchors this opera.

This production marked the first time Netrebko had sung the role of Lady Macbeth at the Met. Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, set up the challenges she was facing. “…the lead soprano role in Verdi’s Macbeth is not just a daunting challenge. For Ms. Netrebko, who turned 43 last week, it represents a shift from the lyric soprano and bel canto roles with which she made her reputation to vocally weightier repertory. Lady Macbeth is particularly risky and demanding.”

He was more than pleased with the result. “The years that Ms. Netrebko spent singing bel canto heroines paid off here in the skillful way she dispatched the trills and runs that Verdi folds into the vocal lines. One such place is the Act II banquet scene after Macbeth, having murdered King Duncan, has been proclaimed the new monarch. Lady Macbeth sings a drinking song, a brindisi, inviting the guests to join in a toast. Yet there was something eerily malevolent in the way this Lady Macbeth tossed off the song with insistent good cheer. Wearing a ruby red evening gown, her eyes wild, Ms. Netrebko almost willed her guests into having a good time, or else.”

Friday, December 4 – Bizet’s Carmen

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Barbara Frittoli, Elīna Garanča, Roberto Alagna and Teddy Tahu Rhodes. This Richard Eyre production is from the 2009-2010 season.

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review raved about this new production. “In the naturalness of the performances, from that of the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in the title role to those of the children in the chorus who scamper into the town square to watch the changing of the guard, it is clear that Mr. Eyre has lavished attention on everyone. The singers benefited immensely from the work of the rising 34-year-old Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in his Met debut, who led a bracing, fleet and fresh account of the score, although he started the rousing prelude at a breakneck, frenetic tempo.”

Saturday, December 5 – Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos

Conducted by James Levine; starring Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos. This revival of Carl Ebert’s 1962 production is from the 1987-1988 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 13th.

Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos had its world premiere in Stuttgart in 1912. The libretto is by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

This is really an opera-within-an-opera. Two different sets of performers have been brought together at the home of a rich man. One group is a serious ensemble of opera singers who embrace the highest of dramatic operas. The other is a group of comedians who are set on acting out an Italian comedy. Their host, seeing that time is quickly running out, asks them to perform their separate works together.

Many critics believe the opening 40-minute prologue is vastly superior to the rest of the work.

Obviously having Norman and Battle in an opera together is reason enough to watch Ariadne auf Naxos. But here’s some trivia you might not know: Barbara Bonney (in her Metropolitan Opera debut) and Dawn Upshaw play nymphs in this production.

Sunday, December 6 – Puccini’s Tosca

Conducted by James Conlon; starring Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil. This Tito Gobbi production is from the 1978-1979 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 4th.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

When Pavarotti took on this role it was one of his first forays into more demanding roles that were tougher on his vocal chords.

Donal Henahan, had this to say about Pavarotti in his New York Times review, “Mr. Pavarotti, though a bit thin of voice in such outpourings as ‘Recondite armonia,’ pitched himself into the action, vocally and theatrically, with his usual infectious enthusiasm. Puccini is notoriously hard on voices—perhaps more so than Verdi or even Wagner— and Mr. Pavarotti is taking a calculated risk in moving into emotionally heavy and tone‐shredding roles. But his ‘Vittoria!’ rang out excitingly, without sounding strident, and in the lyrical passages he was nothing less than glorious. Bravissimo is not good enough for such singing. How about pavarotissimo?”

Which star and opera most appeals to you about Week 38 at the Met? Whichever opera or stars you choose, enjoy yourself!

Photo: Anna Netrebko, René Pape and Željko Lučić in Macbeth (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Stars in Signature Roles: Week 38 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.