Piotr Beczala and Elena Stikhina in Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera / Photo: Marty Sohl
Has it really been almost three years since the premiere of the Met’s new production of Lohengrin, its first in 17 years? Today Parterre Box looks back at that magic moment with the Act III duet sung by Piotr Beczala and the production’s second cast Elsa, Elena Stikhina.
The originally announced cast of Beczala, Tamara Wilson, Christine Goerke, Evgeny Nikitin, and Günther Groissböck, for reasons illness-related and otherwise, scarcely sang together during the monthlong run. Today’s performance captures Stikhina’s first of two performances as Elsa, a scheduled substitution in the midst of many cancellations, which was also her debut in the role.
Cameron Kelsall, who caught the performance live, described her as such:
The relative placidity of Stikhina’s characterization in Acts 1 and 2 gave way to white-hot abandon when, succumbing to the anxiety of influence around her, Elsa demands the one thing Lohengrin forbids: for her to know his name. It was a portrait of a woman driven to frenzy by society, and the way in which Stikhina immediately pulled back and realized her error was chilling. Her plaintive verbalization of Elsa’s regret—“Allewiger, erbarm dich mein”—will stay with me.
Stikhina would have been preparing for Salome in Chicago right about now and a run of performances as Madama Butterfly in New York later this spring, but after announcing her pregnancy, she has been replaced by Jennifer Holloway and Ailyn Pérez, respectively, in those roles. Beczala, recently seen Stateside as Andrea Chénier, will return to today’s role in Baden-Baden in April.
Wagner: Lohengrin, “Das süsse Lied verhallt”
Piotr Beczala
Elena Stikhina
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
The Metropolitan Opera
28 March 2023
In-house
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