parterre box

78 comments

• Orlando Furioso says:

  However long in the tooth Nucci may be, this has to be an improvement. I’ve seen Alvarez in the role, and though the voice is capable, he’s just not an actor on any level — even by generous opera-world standards. I mean that he doesn’t put passion into his singing or relate to the others onstage or react even minimally to anything. Maybe with some roles that would pass unnoticed, but not Rigoletto.

  on May 29, 2010 at 5:59 PM
• atalaya says:

  Leo Nucci with Nino Machaidze as Gilda has me looking forward to this quite a bit. It could be one of the season’s highlights.

  Romeo et Juliette has Domingo conducting and Gheorghiu. I’m going to guess there is no way this actually happens as scheduled. And god willing it does go forward, is there any way this doesn’t turn into a disaster? A diva who eats conductors teamed up with a superstar who can’t conduct. (Domingo at Stiffelio was the worst I’d ever heard the Met orchestra sound.)

  I could not come up with a better scenario to entertain the opera blogs than to line up those two together in this fashion. That run is my prediction for fireworks of the season. Anything less than a trainwreck and it’ll have to be considered a success.

  on May 29, 2010 at 7:22 PM
  • DrugProduct says:

    Gheorghiu will not eat Domingo, he introduced her to international opera houses, back in the days when she was just an “innocent” backcountry girl. If anything, she will be very appreciative of his conducting skills, and very theatrical in doing so, as everything she does is done with an agenda in mind. He still has too much of star power that she still can benefit from.

    on May 29, 2010 at 11:36 PM
• manou says:

  I have just booked to see Rigoletto in Covent Garden with……….Hvorovstosky. I cannot imagine it at all.

  on May 29, 2010 at 7:43 PM
  • manou says:

    Hvorostovsky – sorry.

    on May 29, 2010 at 8:34 PM
  • Regina delle fate says:

    Hasn’t he already sung Rigoletto at Covent Garden? Last revival, I think, which he shared with Nucci, didn’t he? Or am I going senile?

    on May 30, 2010 at 9:58 AM
    • kashania says:

      I know Hvorostovsky has sung Rigoletto in Houston.

      on June 1, 2010 at 12:20 PM
    • manou says:

      I can’t find it in the CG database :

      http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/production.aspx?production=1682&row=3

      (I sometimes fear I am the one going senile…)

      on June 1, 2010 at 12:58 PM
  • CarlottaBorromeo says:

    Could you any more imagine Keenleyside in the role? Not long to wait now – his premiere in Cardiff is on 25 June… I can’t believe this is a good idea…

    on June 1, 2010 at 7:14 AM
    • manou says:

      I could imagine Keenlyside in the role because he is very athletic and physical (cf his Papageno), whereas old Dima is stiff as an old board. We shall see…

      on June 1, 2010 at 7:29 AM
• juilvoc says:

  Real quick, can we talk about how Diana Damrau has only 2 performances as Gilda? Like, wtmff?

  on May 29, 2010 at 7:59 PM
• enzo says:

  Damrau might have better engagements elsewhere. I must say that she’s better than Machaidze. I heard the latter in a concert in Copenhagen on the web this week and virtually every high note was flat.

  I can’t imagine Hvorostovsky as Rigoletto either, but at least he should be better than Nucci, who, like PD, should have retired years ago. I think we’re entering an era of geriatric opera.

  on May 29, 2010 at 8:51 PM
  • pernille says:

    If you are referring to Machaidze’s concert in Arhus, Denmark then perhaps the web flattened her notes. A reliable opera friend ( averse to flat notes) who was at the concert said she sang beautifully. I don’t know if there was a less successful concert in Copenhagen after that.

    on May 29, 2010 at 9:09 PM
• Baritenor says:

  I saw Maichadze’s much-heralded debut in L’ELISIR in LA. She threw in so many interpolated Cs, Bbs and Ds that her high notes actually started to bore me. And yeah, many of them were flat.

  on May 29, 2010 at 9:21 PM
• The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=475

  on May 29, 2010 at 11:12 PM
  • BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK says:

    Yay, The Vicar comes through. How come Fiend and Bathingcap missed this one?

    on May 29, 2010 at 11:18 PM
• Arianna a Nasso says:

  This is very sad for Alvarez. He has cancelled most of his contracts over the last year or two. Something clearly is wrong, even if he is chosing not to share the details publicly. He may not have matched the greats of the past, but he is one of the most legitimate Verdi baritones we have today. Sad.

  I am glad they got Nucci for some performance. 20 years ago I often found him deficient (memories of Cappuccilli and Bruson being too fresh), but recently my respect for him has grown.

  on May 30, 2010 at 12:41 AM
• Harry says:

  When a day comes and the MET cannot find decent casting replacements for the role of Rigoletto, it is a day to ‘turn off the lights before they shut the doors’. The wonders of H.D transmissions is cooked up to be mistakenly seen, as its ‘ great salivation’. in fact all it is doing is recording the decline in standards for posterity. Well other big companies around the World are doing that too, so what is unique about the MET. The MET has now become the ‘old declining MGM model’ of Opera. Better still, think a large supper club venue for either ‘once great stars’ or temperamental things with very limited repertoire, who think they are stars. Sensible planning people would first want in – depth and back up reliable casting’ before they ever thought of anything else. Where is the ‘true fall back contingency plans’? Not a emergency panic station situation of ‘get someone..anyone!!!!’
  Can someone tell me what is so important in one’s musical experiences, to buy tickets to opera after opera where you already know it is going to just ‘passable’ or ‘so-so’ depending on how many of a cast ‘will let it down’, going on their past history. Then the direction and sets are ‘shit’ and you start having disquiet about the conductor scheduled. This is not live opera going, in my book.
  Call it the modern 21st Century Art of gaining a graduate degree in Musical Masochism. The full season subscribers we know they are gluttons and fools to boot, are going for the full post graduate Course.

  on May 30, 2010 at 4:23 AM
  • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

    Wow Harry, that sort of makes me feel better for having stopped going to the opera.

    on May 30, 2010 at 5:09 AM
  • enzo says:

    I couldn’t agree more with Harry.

    BTW, Keenlyside should stay away from Rigoletto if he wants to preserve what’s left of his voice. He’s a lyric baritone, and Rigoletto is one of the most demanding roles ever composed for a dramatic baritone. Think Ruffo and Warren.

    on June 1, 2010 at 9:43 AM
    • Alto says:

      ” … what’s left of his voice”???

      Why on earth would you take a swipe like that at a distinguished artist?

      on June 1, 2010 at 12:03 PM
• Ruxton says:

  Hey Quanto – if you really want to be cheered up just ask Harry to describe the audience

  on May 30, 2010 at 6:39 AM