O Hasmik addio!
Hui He will sing the title role of Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera on March 26, 31, and April 3 matinee, replacing Hasmik Papian, who has withdrawn.
He, who will make her Met debut with these performances, is seen here in the same role at the Arena di Verona this summer.
Another “did she jump or was she pushed?” situation like Mr. Uusitalo’s illness. When will find out that Mr. Uusitalo is indisposed for his Dutchmans this Spring?
Frankly, the only good performance I heard from Papian in NYC was her Rachel in “La Juive” with Queler over a decade ago. The Met got her too late and in the wrong repertory. The recent Lady Macbeth, Trovatore Leonora and Norma were not triumphs. I never liked Papian’s Aida – much preferred Angela M. Brown (who has lost a lot of weight but still doesn’t seem to be included in any future plans of the Met) and I also liked Micaela Carosi too. Glad to see some freshening up of the casting – that Aida cast was looking very stale on paper.
last i heard angela brown, the voice was rather wild and uncontrolled.
ms. he (pronounced hway heh, not hwee hee) sounds like an improvement over papian.
Russians and Poles everywhere are relieved that her name is spelled “hway” and not “hooy”…
I mean PRONOUNCED “hway” not “hooy.”
Does it sound like something dodgy in those languages? I presume the word ‘governor’ is a problem for Russians.
Now THAT’s radical European Regie.
I like her. It is impossible to tell from a video clip, but she seems to be the real thing. I wish there was more presence to the lower part of the voice, but that is a big no-no today in vocal training. I mean you don’t have to dg into the chest voice like Tebaldi, but it should be better integrated with the rest of the voice, otherwise, the dramatic parts eventually will start to damage the top.
Too bad. I know Papian gets thrashed a bit on here, but when I knew her she was a lovely, pretty-sounding Aida. I wonder what’s going on with her these days?
Papian is coming up for 50. Not any easy age for any woman, let alone a soprano. Those hormones!
I looked up Hui He on the net and came up with this:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~huihe/
She’s kinda butch for a soprano?? Who he?
BTW: Pat Racette in her Opera News interview mentioned that in Europe they are getting away from the 5 or 6 year advance booking casting cycle we are using in the U.S. and casting about 14 or 20 months in advance. Supposedly that 5 year cycle was started by Joan Ingpen at Covent Garden who started booking big stars years in advance so that eventually singers like Domingo were planning seasons 7 years ahead.
Frankly with the lack of a great number or true star singers today, it makes better sense to cast the way Bing and the rest of the operatic world did in the 1950’s and sixties – casting the next season the season prior – 14 months ahead.
Domingo said in a recent British interview he is booked into 2014. Must have a lot of offers to sing Altoum!
Joan Ingpen was the Tamurlane of opera, leaving behind a heap of skulls where once a civilization had flourished wherever she passed.
Casting five years in the future has become an American trend which is, quite frankly, idiotic. It needs to be killed and will be, mostly because no one can know how singers will be functioning five years in the future, much less five minutes from now.
“Supposedly that 5 year cycle was started by Joan Ingpen at Covent Garden who started booking big stars years in advance so that eventually singers like Domingo were planning seasons 7 years ahead.”
Naturally it was vital that Ingpen lock important players like Stafford Dean, Patricia Payne and Commonwealth Artist Joseph Rouleau into long-term Met commitments.
Just recently heard Angela Brown in “Ariadne Auf Naxos” – seemed very controlled at that performance in Indianapolis. I was in the chorus of “Aida” in Indy, when Angela debuted the role, as well. It was a great performance to be part of.
The weight loss doesn’t seem to have changed the voice particularly. She does seem to have several roles lined up in Europe, currently. Doing Amelia in “Ballo” in Hamburg and at Vienna State.
No wonder Joan Ingpen was so cranky if her cycles lasted five years.
yay aprile millo’s recital is tonight! i wonder how it will be. hopefully itll be great! anyone here going?
Hui He sounds like she has a nice, juicy voice. Could be an exciting debut.
Nicest Verdian singing I’ve heard in a while.
“Nicest Verdian singing I’ve heard in a while.”
Not a patch on Joyce Gartside!
I wonder what’s the story behind this. Papian’s voice seems in good health (at least she sounds like she always did). I hope it is not some kind of sickness…
I don’t know where Papian has been singing recently and how she sounded, spidey, but I did hear her as Leonora in “Il Trovatore” last Spring. She let out a scary geschrei on an exposed climactic high note in “Tacea la Notte” and had some very pitchy moments (VERY!) in “D’Amor sull’ali Rosee”. Some less than kind posters on this site referred to her as “Has-been Papian” when critique-ing the second-cast run of “Il Trovatore”.
I think she was a good singer but she has been singing crazy things like Abigaille in “Nabucco” with what is fundamentally a Mimi/Butterfly/Desdemona voice. I think some wear and tear is starting to show along with the inroads of time and age.
I refer to Papian as HAZMAT Papian!