The week at the Met is all bel canto - seven operas - 4 by Donizetti, 2 from Rossini, and 2 from Bellini. Among them are some splendid performances as well as a lot of fun. Most are well known and some have already been screened in the 26 weeks of livestreaming we've been offered from New York - so if you missed them, here's another chance.
But first, a reminder. Given the date differences, on Monday, September 14, we're still in their week 26, the French opera collection, and offered the superb performance of Werther with Kaufmann and Koch. Details in our previous post. Don't miss it.
Week 27 (Bel-Canto Favorites)
The Met provides lots of supplementary content—including videos, discussions, synopses, articles, and more— available here.
Pick of the bunch? My choice is unhesitating - Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment, the 2008 production, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez. Dessay at her brilliant, comic genius best, with her voice at its wonderful peak, paired perfectly with the young Florez. This is swell bel canto. But that's not till Thursday.
Meanwhile, there's another impudent comedy by Donizetti on Tuesday. (Amazing that this was the composer of Lucia di Lammermoor and the tragic Queens operas. Revisit the Queens from earlier this year. But then he did write 75 operas, in a short life.)
Tuesday, September 15 Donizetti’s Don Pasquale offers another challenging comedy bel canto part for another superb soprano - but a very different sort of diva. Starring Anna Netrebko. For more about this formidable star, go to our post here. Listen here to the young Netrebko doing comedy bel canto style.
The Met's favourite tenor/baritone pair, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień, plot a very ageist defeat of the Don, played here splendidly by John Del Carlo. James Levine conducts. From November 13, 2010.
Wednesday, September 16 Rossini’s Le Comte Ory Starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, and Juan Diego Flórez; conducted by Maurizio Benini. From April 9, 2011.
Thursday, September 17 Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment Starring Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, and Alessandro Corbelli; conducted by Marco Armiliato. From April 26, 2008.
My pick of the week - see above.
And Juan Diego Florez as her chosen suitor hits the famous 9 high C's with panache - listen here. Note you get two nights to enjoy Corbelli's characters.
Friday, September 18 Rossini’s La Cenerentola Completing the lineup of divae in their young years, Garanča does an incredibly sweet Cinderella. Lawrence Brownlee sings a sweet prince and Alessandro Corbelli is of course the harassed father. Conducted by Maurizio Benini. From May 9, 2009.
Saturday, September 19 Bellini’s I Puritani Starring Anna Netrebko, Eric Cutler, Franco Vassallo, and John Relyea; conducted by Patrick Summers. From January 6, 2007. This production was screened in June - did you miss it? Reviews raved.
Sunday, September 20 Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore Starring Pretty Yende, Matthew Polenzani, Davide Luciano, and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo; conducted by Domingo Hindoyan. From February 10, 2018.
Monday, September 21 Bellini’s Norma Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. From October 7, 2017.
Tired of Bel Canto? ... For contrast, Prokofiev's first opera
It can't get much different from bel canto - this is gritty realism to the music of another century, The Gambler.
It's available all week on Operavision: the Lithuanian National Opera & Ballet perform The Gambler - sex, money and obsession (yes, with English subtitles).
'In September 1915, the midst of World War I, Prokofiev, now aged 23, enrolled once again into conservatory to avoid military service. Escaping into the world of Dostoevsky’s novel, he decided to follow through with his plan to turn it into an opera. ... According to his autobiography, the opera was composed during a time in which he was searching for ‘a language for strong emotions’. The result is a fast-paced, radically anti-Romantic work consisting of continuous musical declamation.' Read more here.
There's a spirited summary here.
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