Alexander Köpeczi (Prince Gremin), by Bronwen Sharp for the Santa Fe Opera

Audiences in New Mexico have had two opportunities to hear bass Alexander Köpeczi this summer: as Sarastro in The Magic Flute, which was broadcast on Monday, and as Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, which will be broadcast next Monday. Neither interpretation may have wowed Parterre Box critic Ilana Walder-Biesanz, but streets are saying that Köpeczi’s summer residency in Santa Fe is the occasion for a certain Russian soprano’s well-documented tour of the American Southwest.

The two will certainly be spending a lot of time together this fall: Köpeczi will first be Ramfis opposite Netrebko’s Aïda in concerts in Budapest and Rome, and then again in a run of Aïda in Barcelona that will also star Netrebko’s ex-husband Yusif Eyvazov! After that, Köpeczi will be opening doors for Netrebko when the two embark on a tour of Europe in concert performances of Bluebeard’s Castle, and on the cusp of 2027, Köpeczi will perform opposite Netrebko in Budapest in a much more familiar title: La bohème.

Listeners can draw their own conclusions about what Netrebko might find so appealing in Köpeczi from a clip of La gioconda recorded in Barcelona earlier this year.

Ponchielli: La gioconda, “Sì morir ella de’!”

Conductor: Daniel Oren
Gran Teatre del Liceu
23 February 2026
Broadcast

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