'[Opera is when] a tenor and a soprano want to make love, and are prevented from doing so by a baritone,' wrote George Bernard Shaw. It's such a cliche - operas about triangles. If it's not those two men desiring one woman it's a mezzo and soprano vying for the tenor. The Met is lining up some of those classic plots this week.
As always, the Met offers essays and images to accompany the operas. Here's the lineup (dates are for Melbourne.) A note - there are two epic performances by Sondra Radvanovsky in this week's offerings.
Tuesday, March 30 Bellini’s Norma Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja are the triangle, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Production by Sir David McVicar. From October 7, 2017. It's not a glowing production (drab, Tomassini calls it!) but the two women are brilliant in the most challenging of Bellini roles. Met trailer here.
Wednesday, March 31 Strauss’s Capriccio Starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen, and Peter Rose, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Production by John Cox. From April 23, 2011.
Thursday, April 1 Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani, and Mariusz Kwiecień, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Sir David McVicar. From April 16, 2016. Third of the Tudor Queens operas, and a stunning performance by Radvanovsky. Our blog post on these operas is here.
Friday, April 2 Verdi’s Il Trovatore Starring Eva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Jeffrey Wells, conducted by James Levine. Production by Fabrizio Melano. From October 15, 1988. A classic production with classic stars. NYTimes unimpressed.
Saturday, April 3 Massenet’s Werther Starring Lisette Oropesa, Sophie Koch, Jonas Kaufmann, and David Bizic, conducted by Alain Altinoglu. Production by Sir Richard Eyre. From March 15, 2013.
We watched a different production of Werther with Kaufmann and Koch, and absolutely approved it before lockdown. Here's our blog. Now this is your chance to view the Met version with these stars.
It's a cast heaven-made for this heavy opera - wonderful voices for the parts. Kaufmann talks about it here.
Sunday, April 4 Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore Starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień, and Ambrogio Maestri, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Bartlett Sher. From October 13, 2012.
Time for a laugh? One of opera's joyful offerings, and worth watching for Mariusz Kwiecień as the pompous Sergeant and Ambrogio Maestri as the snake oil salesman. Anna's pretty good too.
Monday, April 4 Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Production by Mariusz Treliński. From October 8, 2016.
Wonderful music. Stemme is brilliant, but the gloomy production is challenging and Skelton's performance disappoints. Interesting interview with Nina Stemme here.
This production livestreamed last year - here's our blog post. CLICK HERE for the introduction on our earlier website.