Opera Review: An Old Cuckold (with Horns on His Head)

Ambrogio Maestri returns as the Met's Falstaff.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Va, vecchio John: Falstaff (Ambrogio Maestri) gives a lesson in personnel management to
Bardolfo (Keith Jameson) and Pistola (Richard Bernstein) in Verdi's Falstaff.
Photo by Karen Almond © 2019 The Metropolitan Opera.

"It's not going to be my favorite Verdi opera." This, from an attendee on the 1 train riding away from Lincoln Center after the Metropolitan Opera's Wednesday night performance of Falstaff, efficiently sums up the attitude of audiences toward the composer's final opera--and his only successful attempt at writing comedy. Falstaff is a masterwork, but one held in high regard not for its considerable qualities but for its place as Verdi's last musical utterance. On Wednesday night under the baton of Robert Carnes, the opera received a performance that just might change that gentleman's opinion.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Roméo et Juliette

Charles Castronovo and Ailyn Perez are Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Everybody onstage: the masquerade ball from Roméo et Juliette.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The news is that tenor Bryan Hymel has withdrawn from this run of Romeo et Juliette, the evergreen Charles Gounod adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Charles Castronovo is his replacement, but he's been replaced by Andrea Shin in a plague that seems to only affect members of the House of Montague.  Ailyn Perez, fresh off a mostly successful run in the Massenet chestnut Thaïs, is his Juliet. Placido Domingo conducts this first revival of the Met's staging by Bart Sher.

Opera Review: Lust in the Dust

The Met spends its money on Thaïs.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Unholy: mad monk Athanaël (Gerald Finley, right) obsesses over the tide character (Aileen Pérez) in Thaïs. 
Photo by Chris Lee © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Jules Massenet's Thaïs is the operatic equivalent of a rare orchid, an exotically colored, carefully cultivated hothouse plant that is brought out only when an opera company believes it has the right soprano for the difficult title part. On Saturday afternoon, the Metropolitan Opera gave the first performance of this season's revival. Here, the stars were soprano Ailyn Pérez stepping into the leading lady's gilded sandals, and baritone of the moment Gerald Finley singing Athanaël, the troubled monk whose cilice may be on a little too tight.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Thaïs

The most famous French opera with an umlaut in the title.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

You're nobody in Alexandria unless you live in a house with a really big door.
Photo from the Met's last production of Thats by Ken Howard, courtesy the Metropolitan Opera.

The Met revives Massenet's most sensuous opera as a vehicle for soprano Ailyn Pérez and stud baritone Gerald Finley. Thaïs is a lush example of Massenet using an exotic setting to tell a fairly prosaic story of love and obsession. The twist is that the "bad girl" courtesan finds true redemption while the religious, sex-obsessed monk goes down in flames.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Bohéme

The Met brings back its meal ticket featuring four starving artists.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

If the shoe fits...Susanna Philips (center) as Musetta in a scene from Act II of La Bohéme.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

A brace of young, talented tenors, sopranos and baritones portray Puccini's Paris bohemians, trying to stay warm through a long cold winter and a massive Act Three cascade of fake stage snow. This is the Met's most-performed and most revived show, back for another year.

Opera Review: A Grand Night for Singing

The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Made in Brooklyn: opera tenor Richard Tucker.
The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala was held Sunday night.
Image © 1997 The United States Postal Service.

The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala was held this Sunday night at Avery Fisher Hall. The annual showcase for the philanthropic foundation named after the late, great opera tenor is always an important night in the opera season. This year, singers, industry people and opera lovers heard this year's Tucker Prize winner, soprano Ailyn Pérez in a program that put a heavy emphasis on the music of Verdi.

The Tucker Gala is a celebration of singing, honoring both the memory of the late Brooklyn-born tenor. The Tucker Foundation provides support and a showcase for young talent that is about to make a splash on the opera stages of the world. This year's concert also featured appearances from singers currently gracing the stage of the Met: baritones Gerald Finley and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, mezzo Olga Borodina and tenor Marcello Giordani.

Ms. Pérez is the first Tucker winner who happens to be married to a past winner--tenor Stephen Costello. (He won in 2009.) She opened the concert with a fiesty performance of Manon's gavotte, easily adding the difficult ornamentation in the repeated section and producing a high, clear tone above the stave.