Opera Review: When Her Ship Comes In

The Met revives Der fliegende Holländer.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

I will leave you, loudly: Amber Wagner and Michael Volle in a scene from
Der fliegender Holländer. Photo by Richard Termine © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

There's been a lot of excitement about the Metropolitan Opera's late-season revival of Der fliegende Holländer ("The Flying Dutchman") which opened last week and was seen by this writer at Saturday's matinée performance. This revival marks the first Wagner excursions at the Met for both Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company's newly anointed incoming music director, and baritone Michael Volle, who has been tabbed by general manager Peter Gelb as both Wotan and Hans Sachs in seasons to come.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Der Fliegende Holländer

Yannick Nézet-Séguin steers into Wagnerian waters.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Out to sea: Michael Volle as the Flying Dutchman.
Photo by Richard Termine © 2017 Richard Termine courtesy the Metropolitan Opera.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the future of the Metropolitan Opera when he accepted the role of music director-to-be at the opera house. Here, audiences can hear him cnduct Wagner at the big house for the first time, as he dips into the stormy waters of Der Fliegende Holländer.

Voted off the Island

Amber Wagner Replaces Deborah Voigt in Chicago Ariadne.

Amber Wagner as Elsa in this summer's production of Lohengrin at Savonlinna.
Photo © 2011 Savonlinna Festival

Casting changes from Chicago, where soprano Amber Wagner will step in for Deborah Voigt in the Lyric Opera's company revival of Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos.

Ms. Voigt, who is currently appearing at the Glimmerglass Festival in a production of Annie Get Your Gun, announced today that she will be forsaking the role of Ariadne for heavier, dramatic roles. Ms. Voigt made her reputation as a Strauss specialist in the last two decades, and Ariadne has long been one of her signature parts.


Ms. Wagner is an American soprano. Her current repertory is similar to that of Ms. Voigt's a decade ago: Elsa in Lohengrin, Sieglinde in Die Walküre and a forthcoming appearance in Verdi's Nabucco at the Met this fall. She recently appeared as Elsa in the acclaimed Lyric staging of Lohengrin opposite tenor Johan Botha.

The news was reported this morning on Parterre Box. As the report quoted: Ms. Voigt “is focusing increasingly on dramatic soprano roles and has made the decision to remove the role of Ariadne from her repertoire for the time being.”

As a singer moves from light, to middle, to heavy repertory, the voice changes, and the vocal chords thicken. Unfortunately, the process is irreversable. With Ms. Voigt adding Salome, Brunnhilde and Puccini's La Fanciulla del West to her repertory, we may have heard the last of her Ariadne.