Two years before she brought the role to Wiener Staatsoper in a production somewhat dominated by Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Nina Stemme sang her first-ever Minnie in La fanciulla del West at Stockholm’s Royal Opera. 

To my ears, the voice sounds more at ease in this 2011 outing that it did in Wien, plus, from the few productions photos I managed to find, she must have been pleased with the physical production.  Imagine her horror at her first fitting in Wien when she saw the overalls which overemphasized her butt, not to mention the Ronald McDonald wig.

Also, there was less competition in Stockholm with Aleksandrs Antonenko as her Dick rather than the attention-grabbing Kaufmann.  Pier Giorgio Morandi also seems to have a better grip on verismo style than Franz Welser-Möst did in Wien.

I hope you enjoy this upload, and stand with me in solidarity with our comrades in Paris.

Giacomo Puccini: La fanciulla del West

Königliches Opernhaus Stockholm
Pier Giorgio Morandi, conductor
17 December 2011

Minnie – Nina Stemme
Dick Johnson – Aleksandrs Antonenko
Jack Rance – John Lundgren
Nick – Niklas Björling Rygert
Ashby – Michael Schmidberger
Sonora – Ola Eliasson
Trin – Karl Rombo
Sid – Gunnar Lundberg
Bello – Linus Börjesson
Harry – Conny Thimander
Joe – Magnus Kyhle
Happy – Kristian Flor
Larkens – Ian Power
Billy Jackrabbit – Alar Pintsaar
Wowkle – Agneta Lundgren
Jack Wallace – John Erik Eleby
José Castro – Anton Eriksson
Pony Express Roder – Jon Nilsson