When this cruel war is over
Jarrett Ott is a star. That is the only surprise takeaway from the well-intended snore, Cold Mountain.
Isabel Leonard
45 pieces since 2009 — in 18 roles, at 10 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
45
pieces
18
roles
10
companies
18
years
By role
Role Ada
Role Angelina
Mice mice baby
This “new-to-Chicago” production is a sheer pleasure from beginning to end.
Role Blanche de la Force
Star-crossed
For more than 40 years, the magnificent opening image from Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites has served as an icon for the Met.
Like a prayer
It was quite a pleasure—a privilege, really—to see John Dexter’s legendary production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites.
Role Carmen
Room temperature
It’s maybe not a surprise that Carmen is neither a good vocal nor temperamental fit for Isabel Leonard.
Role Charlotte
Crazy in love
I am, perhaps instinctively, skeptical of those who commit suicide.
Role Cherubino
Midwinter marriage
Despite having lost its announced Cherubino, conductor and Count (the latter in the midst of rehearsals), the season premiere of Le Nozze di Figaro Saturday afternoon proved to be one of the most enjoyable Met Mozart performances I’ve attended in ages.
Winter afternoon’s dream
It took the better part of a decade—including two high-profile cancelations—or New York to finally hear Anna Netrebko in recital.
Ten thousand bedrooms
The Metropolitan Opera desperately needed a new production of Le nozze di Figaro.
Three quarters of a crazy day
Our JJ‘s review of the Met’s revival of Le nozze di Figaro didn’t make it into today’s New York Post for reasons that you should be able to figure out once you’ve read the piece. At the suggestion of his editor, La Cieca is publishing it here.
Role Cinderella
Every little thing she does is magic
A good time seemed to be had by all though I don’t recall seeing a single child in attendance.
Role Cindrillon
After midnight
The Met’s Cinderella is a charming adaptation of Massenet’s opera. Frothy, fun, and enchanting, it is a magical holiday treat for the whole family to enjoy.
Role Composer
Desert island diva
This sterling revival shows the Metropolitan to be surviving well and in good shape.
Role Donna Elvira
They’re projecting
I love it, truly, just not that much.
The beautiful stage is empty
Two productions at the Aix-en-Provence festival shared one look.
Role Dorabella
The ladies in question
There is a truism that there are no small parts, only small singers. Last night’s Così fan tutte has made me consider another possible truism: there are no bad productions, only miscast productions.
‘Twas ever “Thus”
While James Levine’s name might not immediately spring to mind when pondering the great Mozart conductors, he does have a long and distinguished career leading operas by the Austrian master.
Role Frida Kahlo
Dream a little dream of me
Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego enchants and surprises despite the Disnified treatment of its subject matter.
Role Marnie
The beautiful doom is empty
The Met is on it with something something woker than woke: a noirish psychodrama of a frigid hysteric who seeks redemption via Freudian analysis!
A stolen life
“Trove Thursday” offers a broadcast from last year’s London world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie.
Role Mélisande
House of the setting sun
When a work is named for its lovers one might legitimately expect that pair to dominate its performance but in my experience that is never the case with Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
Role Ramiro
The Multiverse of Morley
A Trove Thursday Mega-Post © featuring the wonderful American soprano Erin Morley in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Richard Strauss’s Brentano Lieder, plus extended live excerpts from Handel’s Orlando, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots.
Role Rosina
You’re better off without me, mein Hair
I hate to say I nearly cringe at the thought of Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Home run
The Barber of Seville turned out to be the most overall solid production of the year and even a bit of old-fashioned fun.
Role Sesto
Carry on Cleo
Natalie Dessay coyly bares a breast on the cover of Virgin Classics’ new Giulio Cesare.
Role Songbird
Bird brain
Opera at the Kennedy Center has been in hibernation this winter.