Opera Review: New Blood for the Old Kingdom

The third cast is the charm for the Met's long-running Aida.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Radàmes (Jorge de Léon, left) and Aida (Krassmira Stoyanova) in Act III of Aida
at the Metropolitan Opera. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Old-time opera goers love the Metropolitan Opera's Aida, for Verdi's sublime melodies and for the big, martial choruses. Tourists, who have opted for this Met's Egyptian experience over the Temple of Dendur uptown, love it for the "sandstone" sets and elaborate Egyptian palaces, adorned with heiroglyphics, and the real horses in Act II. The show balances '80s excess with economical stage design and has played successfully for almost thirty years. It is always spectacular. But at the Met, Aida isn't always...ya know, good.

Recording Review: There Will Be Blood

Oberto, Verdi's first opera indicates great things to come.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The young Giuseppe Verdi. He started work on Oberto when he was 23.

Oct. 10, 2013 marks the 200th birthday of composer Giuseppe Verdi. To celebrate that birthday in style, Superconductor will offer in-depth coverage of Verdi's long career and vast catalogue in coming months.

We start at the beginning, with Oberto.

Verdi's long career as a composer began with Oberto, Comte di San Bonifacio which had its debut at La Scala in 1839. He was 26, and had worked on the opera for three years.

According to Julian Budden's excellent The Operas of Verdi, this work may have originated under the title Rocester, a libretto by Antonio Piazza. He also hints at a libretto called Lord Hamilton that was making the rounds before Verdi settled on Oberto. Both of these earlier works are either lost or integrated into the structure of Oberto.

Egyptian Plague Strikes Soprano

Sondra Radvanovsky, Latonia Moore to platoon in Aida at the Met.
by Paul Pelkonen.

She's in the Egyptian business: Sondra Radvanovsky.

The winter flu bug has struck Egypt--and the Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera press office announced earlier this week that Violeta Urmana, scheduled to sing Aida at the Met this week, was ill.

Her replacement on Tuesday night was soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. Saturday's matinee broadcast will be sung by Latonia Moore.

Ms. Radvanovsky rose to stardom at the Met with the company's 2009 production of Il Trovatore. She has sung Aida before, but in the much smaller role of the (offstage) Priestess in Act I.

Her last appearances at the Met were in the spring of 2011, where she sang the title role in Tosca and reprised the role of Leonora in Trovatore. Next season, she will sing the role of Elisabetta de Valois in Don Carlo.

Latonia Moore is a recipient of the 2005 Richard Tucker Foundation grant. She has sung the role at the Hamburg State Opera in 2009 and at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 2011. This performance is her Metropolitan Opera debut.

In other news, tenor Marcelo Giordani will sing Radames, taking over for Marcelo Àlvarez. Stephanie Blythe, who has drawn strong reviews for her fiery portrayal of the Egyptian princess Amneris, will sing as scheduled.

For a full review of the Met's Aida starring Ms. Urmana and Ms. Blythe, visit this page on Superconductor.
Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen