Opera Broadcast Review: Buzz-saw and Dynamo

The Met’s new Norma gives the people what they want.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Woman on top: Sondra Radvanovsky (center) and Joyce DiDonato (right) in Act I of Norma.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

In the twelve years since Peter Gelb took the helm of the Metropolitan Opera, the company's opening night has been a splashy, if tricky proposition. Splashy because it's a big glitzy occasion with celebrities in gowns on the red carpet, a big fancy dinner afterwards and for the little people (like your humble correspondent) a free public simulcast on the electronic wonderwall televisions of Times Square with the opera pumped through speakers. For Mr. Gelb, Opening Night (the caps are his) has been the chance to premiere a new production at the Met. This new Norma (directed by Sir David McVicar and starring Sondra Radvanovsky and Joyce Di Donato) provided every opportunity for a a slam dunk.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: I Puritani

A bel canto favorite returns to the big stage.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A scene from I Puritani. Photo by Ken Howard © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

Diana Damrau and Javier Camarena return to lend heat to the Met's serviceable but decidedly antique staging of Vincenzo Bellini's final opera.

The Sacrifices are on Hold

Anna Netrebko cancels Met and Covent Garden Norma premieres.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The new Met production of Norma will not look at all like this, 
and it will not feature Anna Netrebko. Photo of Anna Netrebko © EPA. 
Background image featuring actor Fernando Hernandez from the film
Apocalypto by Mel Gibson, © 2006 Icon Entertainment. Photo alteration by the author.

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Norma, scheduled to open the 2017 season, is suddenly without its leading lady. Anna Netrebko, the Russian diva whose stage presence and creamy soprano guarantees box office at America's largest opera company, has confirmed that her plans to sing the title role in Bellini's opera are on an indefinite hold.

Concert Review: The Double Black Diamond

Marc-André Hamelin at Hunter College.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marc-André Hamelin gets in touch with nature.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Any recital by Marc-André Hamelin, the extraordinary Canadian pianist and composer is a cause for celebration for piano lovers, drawn to his combination of sober musicianship and always-impressive technical skil. This Sunday, Mr. Hamelin appeared at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, playing a challenging program of Liszt and Chopin along with Toward the Center, a large-scale modern composition by Yehudi Wyner, a contemporary American composer who has taught at Harvard, Yale and Brandeis.

Maria Callas Meets the Incredible Hulk

Opera in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Opera lover: Mark Ruffalo is the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
"Hulk", "Incredible Hulk" and "Avengers" are registered trademarks of Marvel Studios.
Image © 2015 Marvel Studios used for promotional purposes only.

One of the ongoing difficulties faced when writing about opera is the age-old and tired saw that opera has become irrelevant. That the work of Wagner, Verdi and Bellini has nothing to offer the 21st century and that it is a dying or worse yet, fossilized art form.

Opera Review: Lightning Strikes Twice

The Met looks to its future with this revival of I Puritani.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Veil song: Olga Peretyatko sings the Mad Scene from I Puritani as Michele Pertusi looks on.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

Eight years ago, the Metropolitan Opera assured its own future for the next decade with a revival of I Puritani that made Russian soprano Anna Netrebko an overnight sensation. On Thursday night, the Met used the same vehicle to launch the career of another Russian soprano. Like her famous compatriot, Olga Peretyatko is a smoldering, dark-eyed beauty. At the season premiere of this faded but still serviceable production of Bellini's final opera, the younger singer proved that lightning can, given the correct conditions, strike twice.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: I Puritani

A new generation takes on the bel canto classic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Her heart's on fire for Elvira: Olga Peretyatko in I Puritani.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

This is Bellini's last opera.

He died at the age of 33, just nine months after the premiere, but not before he wrote some of his most beautiful tunes, with sky-scraping roles for soprano and primo tenore. Here, the lovers Elvira and Arturo are played by soprano Olga Peretyatko (in her Met debut) and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Dashing baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and bass Michele Pertusi appear in key supporting roles.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Norma

Two great divas; one bel canto classic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Angela Meade (left) and Sondra Radvanovsky are appearing in Norma this season...
...though not together. Photoshop by the author.

This October run of Vincenzo Bellini's most famous opera is one show you may want to see twice. Two great singers take on the title role, with Sondra Radvanovsky singing the first six performances, followed by Angela Meade in the last three. In all performances, Kate Aldrich is Adalgisa and Aleksandrs Antonenko is Pollione.

Recordings Review: Moon Child

Cecilia Bartoli sings Norma.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The right hand of doom: Cecilia Bartoli as Norma.
Photo by Uli Weber © 2013 Decca Classics/UMG.

When an opera singer reaches a certain level of success, they are free to take on "dream" projects, singing roles that are perceived as being outside their regular repertory. Luciano Pavarotti dabbled in popular Italian song and made records with U2. Plácido Domingo is currently steeping himself in Verdi's baritone roles, and has even preserved his Simon Boccanegra for posterity. Last year, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli unveiled her interpretation of Bellini's Norma a work associated in the 20th century with superstar singers of the soprano register.

Opera Review: The Diva Has Landed

Angela Meade brings Norma to Washington.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dolora Zajick (left) and Angela Meade in the Washington National Opera's
new production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma.
Photo by Scott Suchman © 2013 Washington National Opera/The Kennedy Center

Soprano Angela Meade staked her claim in the bel canto repertory this month when she opened a new production of that most elusive of operas, Bellini's Norma at the Washington National Opera. Ms. Meade has drawn much attention in the press (including on this blog) as a throwback to the old-school sopranos who helped revive interest in this repertory in the last century. At Tuesday night's performance the question remained: Did she really have what it took to take on the role of Bellini's high priestess?

Opera Review: Bright Stars on a Dark Horse

The Collegiate Chorale mounts Beatrice di Tenda.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The soprano Angela Meade. Photo by Dario Acosta © the artist.

On Wednesday night, the Collegiate Chorale overcame a surprisingly early start time (6pm?!) and a misbehaving supertitle screen to deliver their first opera of the season: Vincenzo Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda. Written between the twin peaks of Norma and I puritani this is the dark horse in the composer's canon. First presented in a famous 1961 concert performance with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, Beatrice hasn't been mounted in New York (in any form) since 1988.

Opera Preview: Beatrice di Tenda

The Collegiate Chorale presents a Bellini rarity.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Angela Meade stars in Beatrice di Tenda.

On Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, the Collegiate Chorale will present a rare New York performance of Beatrice di Tenda by the bel canto composer Vincenzo Bellini. This is the first performance of this opera in New York since 1988.

Please note: the performance starts at 6pm.

Beatrice stands in the composers's canon between Norma and I Puritani. The opera has a compelling title role (sung here by Angela Meade) and a style of dark choral writing that inspired Verdi in early operas such as Ernani and I due Foscari.

The plot deals with Beatrice's unhappy marriage to Filippo, the Duke of Milan. Filippo has eyes for Agnese, a rial at court. She, in turn is in love with Orombello, another courtier. In the opera's climax, the Duke and Agnese accuse Beatrice of adultery...with Orombello. A trial follows and Beatrice is sentenced to death. The libretto (by Bellini's usual collaborator, Felice Romani) has a curiously unfinished quality, which may account for why Beatrice has never gained a foothold with the public.

However, with singers like this, you don't need to worry too much about the plot. Angela Meade takes on Beatrice. This is the bel canto soprano's first major New York appearance of the 2012 season. She is joined by mezzo Jamie Barton as Agnese, tenor Michael Spyres (Orombello) and baritone Nicholes Pallesan. James Bagwell conducts the Collegiate Chorale and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Opera Review: No Shakespeare Allowed

Bel Canto at Caramoor presents I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi retells the story of Romeo and Juliet
--but it's not based on the Shakespeare play.

Saturday evening at Caramoor afforded New York area opera lovers the chance to hear the Vincenzo Bellini rarity I Capuleti e i Montecchi ("The Capulets and the Montagues") in a concert performance featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke's. This version of the story of two star-cross'd lovers was a tremendous early success from Bellini but like many bel canto works, fell out of fashion.

Closer examination of this non-Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet reveals that it contains some of Bellini's most compelling music, although much of the score was cannibalized from his earlier flop Zaira. I Capuleti brims with strong choral passages for the feuding houses and chromatic writing that anticipates Tristan and the most romantic passages of Die Walküre. (Richard Wagner, never above borrowing a melodic idea from a quality source, conducted this opera on many occasions in his early career.)

The libretto ignores the Shakespeare play based on this story, using as its source Matteo Bandello's version of a story by Luigi di Porto--which also inspired the British playwright. In this version, the two noble houses are on opposite sides of the Renaissance conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibilines. Romeo woos Giulietta by pretending to be an ambassador from the Montecchi (Montagues.) Familiar figures like Old Montague, the Nurse, and Mercutio are not present.