catch our act at the met
So you doyenne may better know the minds of her cher public, she asks you to participate in the following online poll. Which Metropolitan Opera performances this year do you consider the most sizzling Sternstunden, the not-to-be-missed evenings of musico-dramatic madness, or (to put it another way) those nights when you know everyone will be there? So take your pick, my dears, and remember that you are allowed to select as many as five performances before clicking the “vote” box. The poll is right after the jump.
Questions? Opinions? Predictions? Or just general discussion? The floor is open, cher commenters: what’s the new Met season going to be like?
Raspy – exactly!
like shes singing through a tube, too… ick.
I see merit in all the criticism of her, but I still find her compelling on occasion. She came across better in Chicago than in her Leonoras in LA awhile back, of which I saw two. This was probably more due to the vastly superior accoustic of the Lyric than anything else. She also came across better when I saw her Violetta in Santa Fe and Elisabetta in San Diego.
I take it Friedkin and Woody didn’t turn the whole thing into complete crap. I’ll be seeing it next weekend.
“I take it Friedkin and Woody didn’t turn the whole thing into complete crap. I’ll be seeing it next weekend.”
Not at all. On the whole, I think they treated it with respect and were faithful to the music; I thought the Miracle in particular was a coup de theater, and superior to the Met’s version. Schicchi was laugh out loud funny. As I said above, a few questionable choices here and there, nothing Regie-like, and for the most part traditional and nicely done. They were still fussing with lighting and tech stuff, and the singers were mostly singing half voice (Sondra went full blast), so it remains to be seen how it turns in out in full performance, but I was happier with what I saw here than what I saw at the Met HD last year. I am looking forward now to seeing a full blown performance in two weeks.
graustark… we hang out in the same opera houses… whats up??? I also found her Chicago Leonora miles better than her Houston one… and i got to hear Pat Racette sing Violetta in Santa Fe after Sonny R threw her voice out… Im very anxious to hear her in a different role.
Leper Ello–Good to hear they didn’t trash it. I also saw the Met HD and didn’t think too much of it. In LA, I’ll be in the balcony, where the sound is very much in your face. I hope it doesn’t get overbearing as it sometimes does.
High C’s–I was in Santa Fe this year the week after you. That’s a great venue for hearing David Daniels, though he complained about the elevation. The Billy Budd production was exceptional, and Peter Rose’s Claggert was incredible. He got the biggest applause, though at intermission I overheard a woman in her 60’s lamenting over her failure to bring her camera so she could have taken pics of Billy’s pecs. Not as many people fled the Adriana at intermission as I expected. The second act saved the work. It got a standing ovation from most of the audience. BTW, Teddy Tahu and Isabel Leonard were pretty cozy at the Apprentice Scenes concert.
Anja Harteros as Violetta is surely the best cast today!
graustark…Well thats a couple to keep an eye on… i thought Isabel was exceptional as Cherubino… and shes coming to Fort Worth next spring in La cenerentola… cant wait…Did you notice TTR’s nipple ring?
Glad someone else brought up Harteros again. After all this M Price wallowing, courtesy of Lindoro, it’s good to remember that there IS life after Maggie – and it moves much better on stage, too.
Anyway, no point in comparing incomparables. But both are the classiest, and Harteros still has a long way to go. Just you wait for her Elisabetta.
As for sheer loveliness of sound, we’ve also got Schwanewilms. The Golden Age is not past.
At the performance of BUDD I saw in Santa Fe, William Burden justly got he main applause, followed by Teddy Tadu; peter Rose came in third. He was good but the low noted were weak and it did not same a fresh take on the role, as Burden’s was.
Mr. Burden was in fine form, was he not?
Only Dr. Atomic and Thaïs interest me as I haven’t seen either one live.
The rest doesn’t seem very motivating to me. But I’d go to a Brewer Ring if someone other than Levine conducted
I missed TTR’s nipple ring. I was in Row V and missed it even with binoculars.
Leonard was great at performing the role, but vocally she still doesn’t erase memories of Von Stade. But I guess that’s expecting the impossible. The flowers were neat.
Burden was a close second on the applause meter. He’s always interesting. That mournful, haunting voice was really something. Perhaps Rose was in better form the night I saw him.
While attending the world premiere performance of Dr. Atomic, I sat there thinking how it might make a decent made for TV movie. I think Oppenheimer needed to be made a truly tragic character for the thing to work, and that wasn’t done.
I saw Harteros in her first run of Violettas. She was respectable. I assume she’s improved.
“I saw Harteros in her first run of Violettas. She was respectable. I assume she’s improved.”
Expect Mandryka to send his second! Don’t you realize that Harteros is the *greatest soprano of our day* in *everything she undertakes*???
Who is doing a better Violetta than Harteros nowadays? Neither Netrebko nor Ciofi nor Gheorghiu…
Dina Kuznetsova