Meet the New "Love Couple"

or "Whatever Anna Wants, Anna Gets."
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jump shot: Anna Netrebko and hubby Yusif Eyvazov will sing 'Tosca' together at the Met.
Photo © 2018 The Royal Albert Hall.

The Metropolitan Opera has announced yet another casting change in the company's current production of Tosca which is scheduled to return to the stage on April 26. Tenor Marcelo Alvarez is out, replaced by the tenor Yusif Eyvazov in only his fourth appearance on the Met stage. He is Ms. Netrebko's husband.

One-Two Princes Here Before You

Javier Cammarena will sing in La Cenerentola.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

This hasn't actually happened onstage yet. Juan Diego Flórez (left) and Javier Camarena (right)
will both woo Joyce DiDonato (center) in the Met's La Cenerentola (background.)
All photographic elements s by Ken Howard and Marty Sohl © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera. 
All photo editing by the author.

In a story that broke late Thursday afternoon, the Metropolitan Opera announced that star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will split her attentions between two bel canto tenors in the company's forthcoming revival of Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Soldier Dodges Bullet

Mathias Goerne steps in for Thomas Hampson in Wozzeck.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Getting the axe: Thomas Hampson has withdrawn from tonight's Wozzeck due to illness.
Matthias Goerne will sing the title role in Berg's opera.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera has a major casting change in tonight's first season performance of Wozzeck: the title role.

In Strauss' Comedy, A New Ingénue

Late casting change in Der Rosenkavalier.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"The Presentation of the Rose" from Act II of Der Rosenkavalier.
Photo © 2009 The Metropolitan Opera.

In a late breaking item (courtesy of  Lisa Hirsch at The Iron Tongue of Midnight) soprano Erin Morley will take over as Sophie in the Metropolitan Opera's 2013 revival of Der Rosenkavalier. The Richard Strauss comedy, one of the composer's most beloved comic creations, opens Friday at the Metropolitan Opera House.

When the Trojan Breaks

Casting changes in Les Troyens, Comte Ory.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A wanderer no more: Marcello Giordani has announced he will cancel the four remaining Troyens
appearances and remove the role of Enée from his repertory.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

It's Saturday morning with the Christmas holiday right around the corner. And that means it's time to write about under-the-radar cast changes at the Metropolitan Opera.

According to a report published by our friends at parterre box (and sourced from the Met press office) Marcello Giordani has dropped out of the current revival of Les Troyens. The Italian tenor (whose other Berlioz operas at the Met have included the title roles in Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust will "retire" the role of Enée from his repertory.

The exciting news: Mr. Giordani's replacement in this five-hour Berlioz-a-thon is tenor Bryan Hymel, a promising American tenor who just finished a Covent Garden run in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable. The performances affected are Dec. 26 and 29, Jan. 1 and Jan. 5, which is the Live in HD broadcast of the opera.

Only the Hunter...Survives

Jay Hunter Morris as Siegfried.
He will sing Götterdämmerung in 2012.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Substitute tenor to take leading role in Götterdämmerung.

Jay Hunter Morris, the Texan heldentenor whose debut in the title role of Siegfried is one of the more successful elements of the Met's new Ring Cycle, has been inked to reprise the role in the Jan. 27 premiere of Götterdämmerung. 

Götterdämmerung is the final chapter of the Ring, and the most technically challenging to bring off onstage. Although the vocal demands of the tenor part are not as demanding as in Siegfried, there are some treacherous passages that are the terror of any would-be heldentenor. The Jan. 27 premiere will be Mr. Morris' debut in this opera.

The first of these comes at the end of Act I, after our hero has dominated the action of the opera for about 90 minutes. In the last scene of the act, a drugged, amnesiac Siegfried uses the Tarnhelm (a magic helmet, acquired in the previous opera) to disguise himself as Gunther, the king of the Gibichungs in order to abduct Brünnhilde.

The problem is, that the singer has to then take the helmet off and sing in his natural register, revealing his identity as Siegfried. In other words, Wagner requires his tenor to turn himself into a baritone for  singing in a dark, hollow register that sounds vaguely Gunther-like.

The second pitfall comes in Act II, when Siegfried's drug-induced treachery is revealed. After singing the arduous oath on Hagen's spear (which is then matched by the soprano in a higher register) Siegfried addresses the stunned assembly of wedding guests, inviting them into the hall. In a cruelly written phrase, he must navigate a full octave drop, over a 16th-note. The effect makes most singers' voices crack, although a smart conductor will slow the orchestra at this point and allow the tenor to safely navigate this tricky passage.

According to a New York Times report by Daniel J. Wakin, Mr. Morris will replace Gary Lehman. Mr. Lehman is still suffering from the effects of a virus, contracted one year ago after consuming shellfish. Mr. Morris will platoon the role with tenor Stephen Gould, and will be featured in the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD broadcast, to be shown in movie theaters on Feb. 11. The two singers will act as each other's covers for the winter performances of Götterdämmerung.

The change in cast has caused a shake-up at the San Diego Opera, where Mr. Morris was slotted to sing the demanding role of Captain Ahab in Jake Heggie's opera Moby-Dick. His replacement will be tenor Ben Heppner, who created the role of Ahab in the opera's 2010 premiere. Ironically, Mr. Heppner was the first singer under contract at the Met to sing Siegfried this season, but cancelled in February of 2011.

UPDATED: Lehman Bailout Rattles Met's Siegfried

Heldentenor cancels due to illness, replacement announced.

Enter the Dragon: Jay Hunter Morris as Siegfried at the San Francisco Opera.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2011 San Francisco Opera.

New York, meet Jay Hunter Morris. 

The Metropolitan Opera announced on Wednesday night that Mr. Morris, an up-and-coming heldentenor, will be singing the title role in the Oct. 27th premiere of the company's new production of Siegfried. In an update, Mr. Morris will also sing the remainder of the fall performances, including the Nov. 5 Met Live in HD telecast.

Mr. Morris replaces Gary Lehman, who cancelled all his fall performances of the role. Mr. Lehman's manager, Brian Jauhiainen, told Daniel J. Wakin in the New York Times that the culprit was a year-long virus contracted from eating shellfish in Oct. 2010. Mr. Jauhiainen said that the tenor was prepared to sing the role but was "physically exhausted." However, he is expected to sing in the Jan. 27 premiere of Götterdämmerung. Next spring, Mr. Lehman will platoon the role in both operas with Stephen Gould.

The late change poses problems with marketing Siegfried, a tough sell even to the most hardened Wagnerian. Mr. Lehman's blonde-wigged profile has dominated much of the company's promotional material for the production. As of this writing, the tenor is expected to sing the part in three spring performances, as part of the complete Ring. Those shows are being sold on a subscription-only basis.

Mr. Lehman was originally added to the Ring cast last year as a replacement for Ben Heppner. Mr. Heppner, who had sung every major Wagner role except Siegfried, was originally under contract to sing in this new production. In February of this year, the Canadian tenor announced that he had cancelled his plans to appear, and withdrawn the role from his repertory.

What's interesting about this cancellation and casting change is that Jonas Kaufmann is in town for a recital at the Met on Oct. 30. Mr. Kaufmann made a stir as Siegmund, the hero of Die Walküre, the previous opera in the Ring. The tenor has sung other Wagner roles such as Lohengrin, but has yet to tackle Siegfried. Then again, it might be weird for Siegmund to play his own son.

The title role in this opera is the summit of the German tenor repertory. The character wrestles a bear, beats up a dwarf, forges a sword, kills a dragon, kills the dwarf, beats up Wotan and then sings a 37-minute long duet with the soprano after having been onstage for about four hours. The role is so demanding that on occasion, each of the three acts have been taken by a different heldentenor.

Mr. Morris, whose other Wagner roles include Erik in Der fliegende Holländer,  sang the role in this year's San Francisco Opera production of the Ring. However, he only played the character in Siegfried. Another tenor, Ian Storey, sang the role in Götterdämmerung. 

This is the second Met production this month to lose its leading man in the week before the premiere. Earlier this month, Peter Mattei replaced Mariusz Kwiecien in Don Giovanni after the Polish baritone suffered a back injury in rehearsal. Mr. Kwiecien is due to return Oct. 25. Both productions are conducted by new Met principal conductor Fabio Luisi, himself a replacement for injured music director James Levine.

Watch for the Superconductor review of the Oct 27 performance of Siegfried.

The Giovanni Shuffle

Baritone Mariusz Kwiecien ready to tackle Mozart opera.

Back to work: Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni.
Photo by Nick Heavican © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Mariusz Kwiecien is coming back to the Metropolitan Opera.

The Polish baritone, who suffered a herniated disc in an Oct. 10 dress rehearsal of the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Don Giovanni, has been cleared to make his debut as the libertine Spanish nobleman on Oct. 25.

Mr. Kwiecien was taken to the hospital on a back board, and underwent surgery earlier this week. He was heard to be in good spirits as he was being lifted off the stage, predicting that he would see the cast "next Thursday." Recovery for this kind of operation can take from two to four weeks.

However, the Oct. 13 season premiere featured Swedish baritone Peter Mattei in the title role of Mozart's opera. Mr. Mattei was under contract to sing Figaro in the Met's current revival of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He switched roles at the urging of Met management.


According to a report by Daniel Wakin in the New York Times Mr. Kwiecien has been cleared by his doctors to do all the physical activity required in this new staging, with the exception of a climb down a ladder in the opening scene. This includes the mandolin playing, sword-fighting, and the occasional attempted sexual assault.

The prognosis means that Mr. Kwiecien will be able to sing the role in the performance on Oct. 29, which will be broadcast live in movie theaters around the globe as part of the Met's Live in HD series. It is standard practice for the company to film the performance before the broadcast as "backup", so expect to see cameras in the house on Oct. 25.

The new production of Don Giovanni is by Tony-winning director Michael Grandage. It opened on Oct. 13. You can read a live blog of the opening night here. Mr. Mattei will be singing on Monday night. That performance will be reviewed on Superconductor next week.