pira pressure
La Cieca has just learned that Salvatore Licitra has withdrawn “for personal reasons” from the Met’s new Trovatore, which opens February 16, 2009. Marcelo Ãlvarez will be Manrico instead, which means he (Ãlvarez) will cancel Adriana Lecouvreur, which opens on February 6. The replacement Maurizio will be announced at a later date once the hysterical sobbing from the Met’s casting office has subsided.
For once, I agree with Turandot: Palombi possesses a medium-sized voice, performs in a stand-and-deliver style, and has no sense of the stage. He’s everything that Gelb professes to be again.
Everything Verdi that I’ve heard Licitra sing has been horrid. He’s halfway decent in SOME Puccini (Il Tabarro) and was good in Cav/Pag at the Met. And yet, he’s worked like a dog to make Verdi the cornerstone of his career, and probably has (or will) ruin his voice along the way. Too bad.
*against, not again.
Giordano was mediocre as Alfredo in Santa Fe and just OK as Rinnuccio at the Met. I hear nothing special in the voice are certainly nothing suggesting that TOSCA and ADRIANA should be on his dance card. I agree with Lindoro– this is all “looks casting” at work.
Are we confusing the two Giordani tenors? There’s Marcello Giordani, who sang in Trojans recently and who would be as good a choice as any for Maurizio, and there’s Massimo Giordani, a lyric tenor who I can’t imagine tackling Maurizio at this point.
Any word as to why Licitra withdrew from the Trovatores? Has he withdrawn from other engagements recently?
As for the Adrianas… I’m surprised no one has mentioned any former Met Maurizios: Domingo, Carreras, Shicoff. It was Domingo’s debut at the Met and they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of that event this year…
Realistically, however, based on recent Met castings I’d expect Farina to take over the Maurizios. If so, that broadcast should be one of La Cieca’s live blogs this coming season!
Domingo is conducting all performances of ADRIANA this season. Carreras retired from fully staged operas several years ago. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Shicoff is once again persona non grata at the Met.
Massimo GiordanO – Marcello GiordanI. Che imbroglioni quell’Italiani…
I remember when Licitra came to Lisbon to sing Manrico in 2002, about one year after opening La Scala season with the same opera. His high C (or B) in the Pira was a very strange affair but, otherwise, he showed great promise. His Forza broadcast from the Met was a bit troublesome, although the more recent Ballo broadcast was, in my opinion, even worse.
Am I being too optimistic in thinking that a relatively low-lying verismo role like Adriana shouldn’t be a bad fit for Ghuleghina?
Someone mentioned Filianoti. I remember being impressed by a Mose video from La Scala. The last time i heard him was on the Lucia broadcast with Dessay. What happened to his voice?
kashania: the “relatively low lying” part is the problem — a decent Adriana needs some access to chest voice in certain vehement passages. Guleghina has nothing resembling a chest voice, only a tuneless grunt that she occasionally emits to indicate a low B-natural.
Furthermore, even though Guleghina has a strong stage presence and moves quite well, I think she lacks the febrile temperament for the part of Adriana: