Metropolitan Opera Preview: Maria Stuarda

Sondra Radvanovsky goes back to the chopping block.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Waiting for axeman: Sondra Radvanovsky as Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda.
Photo by Ken Howard  © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

All New York opera lovers hail the queen as Sondra Radvanovsky sings the title role of Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda, the second of Donizetti's three operas depicting the stormy history of England under Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci

The Met revives the bloody verismo double bill.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Trucking hostile: Marcélo Álvarez in last year's Pagiiacci.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

Although they were written by two different composers, the one-act operas Cavalleria Rusticana (by Pietro Mascagni) and Pagliacci (by Ruggerio Leoncavallo) go together like bacon and eggs. This year, Known in the trade as "Cav/Pag", these two operas are each bloody tragedies of jealousy and murder in small-town rural Sicily.

Opera Review: The Tower of Terror

Sondra Radvanovsky takes on Donizetti's Anna Bolena. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sondra Radvanovsky (center, in white) faces madness and her own fate in the last
scene of Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena.
Photo by  Ken Howard © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

(Note: The Met opens a short second run of Anna Bolena this week. We're re-publishing this review from October of 2015.)

The Metropolitan Opera has slated five five Donizetti operas for this season, with the featured presenation being Sondra Radvanovsky's traversal of the "three queens", operas that depict the tumultuous Tudor dynasty in British history. The first of these is Anna Bolena, with Ms. Radvanovsky as the ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII. The production, seen Monday night at the Met, will be followed later this year by Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux, also starring the American soprano.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Il Trovatore

Verdi's blood and thunder melodrama returns...twice!
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dolora Zajick (left) and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (center) in Il Trovatore.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

Verdi lovers might want to make two trips to the Metropolitan Opera to see Il Trovatore twice this season. The role of the fiery, devout and ultimately suicidal heroine Leonora will be sung by Anna Netrebko in the fall and Angela Meade in the spring. The strong cast also features Dolora Zajick and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in key roles.

Opera Review: Villains and Vaudevillians

A new Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci bows at the Met.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Álvarez y Álvarez: tenor Marcelo Álvarez is Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana (left, background)
and Canio in Pagliacci (right, insert) in the Met's new David McVicar production.
Photos by Cory Weaver © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera. Photo insertion and alteration by the author. 

At the start of David McVicar's new twin-bill production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, (which premiered last night at the Metropolitan Opera) the curtain rises well before the opera starts, to reveal an enormous circular acting surface, surrounded by chairs. A dim, religious atmosphere pervades the stage, aided by the dark lighting design and the minimal set: huge, vaulted brick walls looming in the darkness. Until the orchestra starts, it's not clear if the first half of this famous pairing (the operas were first staged together at the Met in 1893) is being played, or if it's another new Met production of Parsifal.

Opera Review: The Queen, Suddenly Promoted

Danielle De Niese steps in at the Met's Giulio Cesare.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Danielle De Niese swoops in on an east wind as Cleopatra.
Photo by Tristram Kenton © 2005 The Glyndebourne Festival.

Danielle De Niese was only going to the opera last night.

The Australian soprano is not on the Metropolitan Opera's roster of singers this season. She was planning on attending the second performance of the company's new production of Giulio Cesare last night, sitting in general manager Peter Gelb's parterre box and watching the baroque extravaganza starring David Daniels in the title role and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra.