Bel canto lushinghier
La Cieca thought that now that Puritani has opened at the Met, it’s as good a time as any to review the company’s (rumored) bel canto plans for the next five years or so. Remember, everything in this life is uncertain, so please regard these “predictions” as the gossip they are.
Anyway, La Cieca hopes you’ll find plenty of fodder for discussion in the following grafs.
Next season (as you all know) opening night will be a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor starring Natalie Dessay. Sharing the role of Edgardo will be a trio of toothsome tenors: Marcello Giordani, Marcelo Alvarez and Giuseppe Filianoti. Further upping the hunk quotient will be Mariusz Kwiecien and John Relyea. The Mary Zimmerman production will be led (on opening night at least) by James Levine.
Per La Cieca’s sources, Mad Lucy will pay a couple of return visits in following seasons, first with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in the fall of ’08, and then with Mlle. Dessay again sometime in 2010. Ze French diva gets the unusual honor of opening two new productions next season, the Lucia, of course, and then a new Fille du Regiment opposite puppylicious Juan Diego Florez.
JDF and Dessay reunite in the fall of 2008 for a new Sonnambula. The tenor will reprise his Tonio during the 2009-2010 season, this time with Diana Damrau as Marie. And that pairing will be repeated in the Met premiere of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory the following season.
Now, jumping back to 2009 again, that’s when the new production of Rossini’s Armida is skedded, featuring of course Renee Fleming and (among other tenors) Eric Cutler.
And then comes 2012, aka “The Year of the Jackpot,” when just possibly we will hear the Tudor Trifecta (Fleming, Netrebko and Angela Gheorghiu) as well as a new Giulliame Tell (presumably for Giordani) plus revivals of L’elisir (Netrebko, Florez, Kwiecien), L’italiana and Semiramide.
Oh, and for Druid fanciers, the outlook is not quite so rosy: a single revival of Norma next season with Dolora Zajick, Maria Guleghina and Franco Farina — or, as Mme. Vera Galupe-Borzkh might sum it up: “Can Belto, Can’t Belto and Can’t Canto.”
I regret Fanciulla as well, especially because in a weird way it’s quite castable right now.
Don’t forget Voigt in the Troyens mix. She always triumphs as Cassandre. I vote for Troyens as often as possible–what glorious music.
I’m surprised Renee doesn’t want to do Anthony and Cleopatra and just get it over with.
Werther has been gone since Hampson did it, right? Time to bring it back with a tenor!
And what’s the buzz on no more Sumi Jo at the Met? Crutchfield used her recently, and I saw her do Bellini in Minnesota. God knows she’s not the best actress in the world and her voice isn’t huge, but she is/was a popular recording artist, has an ethnic draw, and most importantly, sings this music MUCH BETTER than Anna Netrebko.
Hello, Sirius people, can we at least get Les Troyens on your broadcast schedule? The upcoming week is, to my mind, the most disappointing to date on Sirius.
We didn’t get Borodina at the Met (she was originally cast and then withdrew because she was pregnant, I think). But then again, instead we were treated to Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson – so no complaints.
I consider myself very lucky to have witnessed LHL’s Didon. And I too can’t get enough of that opera. Voigt was a good Cassandre and did some great singing but the part lies just a tad too low for her. Plus, she wasn’t terribly exciting and frankly, that role is scenery-chewing type stuff. I would love to see Zajick in the role. And yes, Borodina would be a luscious Didon. I could take either Heppner or Botha as Enee.
I’m with you all who want more Berlioz. I too saw the Troyens with Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson and Voigt, and remember it as one of the most magical nights at the opera. I just love that piece.
…and I was looking forward to Fanciulla. Why was it cancelled?
Werther came back a couple of years ago with Alagna and Kasarova. I thought they both did quite well.
And yes, somehow Fanciulla always gets neglected. It’s a gorgeous score and the plot is not worse than most other operas. Hard to cast Minnie, though.
As for the Sirius schedule for next week, I suggest you don’t miss the Trovatore with the young and very good Millo. That performance took place when her star was rising and we all expected her to be the Verdi soprano of this generation. She wasn’t doing verismo yet.
I echo the call for a Troyens revival. I couldn’t get enough of it – LHL and Michele de Young were both superb as Didon, and I adore Voigt’s Cassandre. (Although a Zajick Cassandre would rock.) Polenzani’s Iopas and Gregory Turay’s Hylas also were high points.
Baritenor
Based on her British performances, and especially the loveliness of her soft singing, how about Joyce Di Donato in the Malibran version of Sonnambula?
And what about Britten, OTHER THAN GRIMES!!!!! Have we forgotten the incredible production of Billy Budd, with Barihunks Gunn and Keenlyside isn’t time for a revival of that magnificent production. Anthony Dean Griffey should be a stunning Vere by Now and Pape as Claggart. I am drooling!!
I had the great privilege of hearing Diana Damrau in Munich singing Die Entfuhrung and was amazed. I, for one, would prefer her voice in the bel canto repetoire. I think she is technically a very solid artist with a very nice size voice capable of singing difficult fioratura. She really is astounding. I have a funny feeling though that the Met will prefer the bigger names, a la Netrebko and Fleming simply because they are more noted stars in the states. I don’t know what anyone else thinks about this singer but I believe her to be first rate all the way. Does anyone else agree with me on this?