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Drama queens

Epic rivalries at the Met this week - and it's all about the women.

Tuesday, January 5 Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur

Starring Anna Netrebko (in full flight above), Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczała, Carlo Bosi, Ambrogio Maestri, and Maurizio Muraro, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. From January 12, 2019.

This is one of the productions we missed seeing on the big screen last year and it offers superb singing. The opera is not a classic favourite but is a wonderful vehicle for a star soprano, in this case Netrebko, and a splendid role for a big mezzo - Rachvelishvili is such. Read Bachtrack's review here. NYTimes reviewer agreed, praising the lush singing despite a criticised production.

Wednesday, January 6 Rossini’s La Donna del Lago Starring Joyce DiDonato, Daniela Barcellona, Juan Diego Flórez, John Osborn, and Oren Gradus, conducted by Michele Mariotti. From March 14, 2015.

It came to us live in HD in 2015. as commented then, this is our Rossini fix for the week, with Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez . She sings the most famous aria here. Reviewed here thoughtfully by Operavore. And nice commentary about the music here.



Thursday, January 7 Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles Starring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Nicolas Testé, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. From January 16, 2016.

OK fans, here it is again. Bizet’s lyrical opera of lust and longing set in a dubious setting in the Far East came back to the Met stage for the first time in 100 years in 2016, with Diana Damrau Leïla, the beautiful Hindu priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her hand and singing a popular favourite duet. Here it is from this production with favourite Met tenor and baritone, Polenzani and Kwiecien. (Mariusz Kwiecien ended his Met career a few years later.)

they made him their leader - Mariusz Kwiecien as Zurga

For me, the production, by Penny Woolcock is the star, strangely modernizing this improbable plot to show the rickety, dangerous life of the pearl fishers in the sea and balanced precariously on the shore. Good detail in this Guardian review.


Friday, January 8 Bellini’s I Puritani Starring Anna Netrebko, Eric Cutler, Franco Vassallo, and John Relyea, conducted by Patrick Summers. From January 6, 2007.

Saturday, January 9 Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jane Bunnell, Marcelo Álvarez, George Gagnidze; Patricia Racette, Marcelo Álvarez, George Gagnidze, and Lucas Meachem, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From April 25, 2015.

Sunday, January 10 Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda Starring Elza van den Heever, Joyce DiDonato, Matthew Polenzani, Joshua Hopkins, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From January 19, 2013.

Brilliant. If you've seen it before, revisit. The singing is wonderful and the drama superb. Polenzani is less persuasive here than as Nadir, overshadowed by these formidable women.

See our post on those Tudor Queens way back in April.

Elza van den Heever IS Elizabeth, Joyce DiDonato just IS Mary


Monday, January 11 Verdi’s Il Trovatore

Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna in a less vengeful mood

Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Stefan Kocán, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From April 30, 2011.

One of the last performances by Hvorostovsky at the Met; they have a page on his singing there. and the rest of the cast is starry too. Video here of his meeting with her...

A successful performance of Trovatore is relatively easy, Caruso said, since all that is needed are the four greatest singers in the world. He’s not in this lineup, and NYTimes commented that the Met is lacking great Verdi singers..


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