Opera Review: A Blaze of Saddles

Eva-Maria Westbroek shines in Puccini's Golden West.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

California Love: Eva-Maria Westbroek and Yusif Eyvazov in La Fanciulla del West.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

It is a hard existence to be a lesser known work from the pen of a great opera composer, and no opera has suffered more cruel jokes than Puccini's La Fanciulla del West ("The Girl of the Golden West.") Since its premiere on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, Fanciulla has fought for survival, much like the hardscrabble gold miners that make up the bulk of its colorful cast. The opera returned to the Met this month with a good cast. On Monday night, a performance featuring tenor Yusif Eyvazov and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek provided a much needed shot of red blood to an anemic fall season.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Fanciulla del West

Italian opera goes west...with Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Just a small-town girl: Eva-Marie Westbroek as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West.
Photo © 2018 Royal Opera House of Covent Garden.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek are reunited in Puccini's boiled spaghetti Western. This is the story of a barmaid and a bandit and their forbidden love against the spectacular backdrop of the California gold rush. It premiered at the Met in 1910. Beloved by connoisseurs, Fanciulla stands as one of the great Italian operas, and a work that is only revived occasionally. See it!

Concert Review: Tryst and Interruptus

The Boston Symphony Orchestra explores (part of) Tristan und Isolde.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Torn between two lovers: Andris Nelsons (with baton) conducts Camilla Nylund (center) and Jonas Kaufmann (right)
in Act II of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Photo by Hilary Scott © 2018 Boston Symphony Orchestra.

It might be his good looks. It might be his magnetic stage presence. It might be his voice.  Or it might be his rash of cancellations at the Metropolitan Opera in the last few seasons. Either way, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who hasn't sung Wagner on a New York stage since 2013, has a fan following. They were out in force at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night to hear him sing opposite Camilla Nylund, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and music director Andris Nelsons in a concert performance of Act II of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

Recordings Review: The Blood is the Life

The Met broadcast of Parsifal on DVD
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The kiss of life-and death. Katherine Dalayman is atop Jonas Kaufmann in the Met's Parsifal.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013 François Girard production of Wagner's Parsifal is back on the stage next month. So it's time to revisit the Sony DVDs of the Live in HD broadcast of the opera, filmed over two performances in March of that year. Watched here on two DVDs, this Parsifal remains gripping, a look back at this forward-thinking production which owes something to post-apocalyptic environmental disaster and something to an involved medical procedure show from late-night broadcast television.

No Roads Lead to Rome

Sir Bryn Terfel pulls out of the new Met Tosca.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sir Bryn Terfel (center) has exited the Met's troubled new Tosca, opening Dec. 31.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

First they lost their leading lady. Then the conductor. The Cavaradossi quit. And then the second conductor. Now, Sir Bryn Terfel has become the latest artist to pull out of the Metropolitan Opera's increasingly troubled new production of Puccini's Tosca.

Recordings Review: One Man Against the World

Jonas Kaufmann sings Mahler solo.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The mysterious Jonas Kaufmann.
Photo by Julian Hargreaves for Sony Classical.

How does a singer start his next act? If you're Jonas Kaufmann, the heartthrob tenor who is known for his good looks, stage presence and (more recently) frequent cancellations, you do it on record. Mr. Kaufmann is known for the lighter Wagner tenor roles (Lohengrin, Parsifal) as well as heroic parts in the operas of Puccini, Bizet and Massenet. However his newest recording, released this spring by Sony Classical is something different: a solo flight through Mahler’s autumnal epic Das Lied Von der Erde.

The Unreliable Aristocrat

Jonas Kaufmann ditches Tosca at the Met.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

He's moving on: Jonas Kaufmann, shown here in the Met staging of Parsifal
in 2012, will not be appearing in Tosca later this year.

It's all just a little bit of history repeating: Jonas Kaufmann will not be singing at the Met this year. The news dropped today from Michael Cooper at the New York Times.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Werther

The Met brings back its handsome new Werther...without its star, Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Isabel Leonard stands strong as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther.
Well actually this photo is of the mezzo in Cosí fan tutti but we're on deadline.
Photo © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Vittorio Grigolo has big shoes to fill (Jonas Kaufmann's) as the Met revives its Richard Eyre staging of Werther, the tale of a lovestruck poet whose tragic love for the beautiful Charlotte (Isabel Leonard) leads to suicide.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Manon Lescaut

Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kauffmann Roberto Alagna heat up February.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

She's got the ways and means to New Orleans: Kristine Opolais is a glamorous Manon Lescaut.
Photo by Kristian Schuller © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

Jonas Kaufmann is out and Roberto Alagna will make his debut as the Chevalier des Grieux in a new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Kristine Opolais sings the title role. Director Sir Richard Eyre updates Manon Lescaut to Paris during the Nazi occupation. (Why, we're not sure.)

He Won't Be Sailing to America

Star tenor nixes Met Manon Lescaut.

Jonas Kaufmann  and Kristine Opolais (left) will not reunite in the Met's new Manon Lescaut.
Here they sing the roles of Manon and Des Grieux in Munich in 2014.
Photo © 2014 Wilfried Hönl.

Jonas Kaufmann, the German tenor who rose to become one of the most popular opera singers both on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera and in the opera houses of the world, has cancelled his February appearances in New York City, including his commitment to sing in the Met’s new production of Manon Lescaut. The announcement came earlier today.

Recordings Review: Building A Better Pyramid

Antonio Pappano's new studio Aida from Rome.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Studio warrior: Jonas Kaufmann recording Aida in Rome.
Photo © 2015 Warner Brothers Classics.

The classical recording industry of the 21st century is a pale reflection of that which went before: an era where recordings are issued to little fanfare in the non-music press and even the record store is an anachronism in the urban landscape. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that the newly merged Warner Brothers Classics had recorded and would issue a new studio recording of Verdi's Aida in an era where cost cuts and singers' schedules dictate that most operas are now recorded at live performances. A perennial and much-loved show at the most munificent opera companies, Aida is also a small-scale love story and an intimate family drama. That combination has proved to be an elusive one to capture on disc.

2014 In Review: The Five Best Recitals

We list the five best solo performances of the year that was.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Framegrab of mezzo Joyce DiDonato at the Gowanus Ballroom.
Image © 2014 Warner Brothers Classics.

As this very strange year recedes into our memory, we're kicking off our year-end best-of on Superconductor. Stay tuned this week for more best-of posts, including the best operas and best symphony concerts of a very strange calendar year.

 It's tough out there when you're by yourself. It's also hard when you have just a pianist accompanying you. So with that in mind here are the best solo recitals (instrumental and vocal) that I saw in 2014.

Snap Out of It! The Met Live in HD Festival

Opera company teases season with eleven days of outside broadcasts.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Opera lovers: Cher (left) and Nicolas Cage (right) in a production still from Moonstruck.
Image © 1987 MGM.

The Metropolitan Opera has settled its labor crisis, just in time for the company's annual 11-night celebration of general manager Peter Gelb's Live in HD series. This has been one of the better initiatives of the Gelb administration, an annual goodwill gesture inviting opera lovers to Lincoln Center Plaza to watch past broadcasts on a giant screen mounted on the Grand Tier balcony.

Concert Review: The Modern Orpheus

Jonas Kaufmann enthralls Carnegie Hall in his recital debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Take him to your Lieder: Jonas Kaufmann.
Photo © 2013 Sony Classical.

The German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is among the most popular artists currently appearing at the Metropolitan Opera. His potent, versatile voice and dark good looks appeal in roles like Don José, Parsifal and Werther. For Thursday night's concert, the singer's recital debut at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Kaufmann turned his attention to lieder, offering a carefully curated program that instructed as it enthralled.

Opera Review: Poetry in Motion

The Met unveils a new Richard Eyre Werther. (Hey, that rhymes!)
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Talk to the hand: Charlotte (Sophie Koch) rejects Werther (Jonas Kaufmann) with a gesture
as the Met opens Richard Eyre's new production of the Massenet opera.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera unveiled the sixth and final new production of the 2013-14 season on Tuesday night: a new staging of Jules Massenet's Werther. However, the real reasons for celebration were the roof-raising performances of Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, a complex, towering performance that might finally get New York audiences to appreciate Massenet. This was the Met's first new production of the opera in 40 years, and its first performance of Werther since a 2004 revival starring Roberto Alagna. (Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out a previous error.)

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Werther

Jonas Kaufmann shows his sensitive side as Massenet's suicidal poet.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jonas Kaufmann profiles as Massenet's Werther.
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

This new Metropolitan Opera production of Jules Massenet's Werther continues the company's fascination with this French composer, following recent new stagings of Thaïs and Manon. Massenet was an elegant craftsman whose gift for catchy melodies and lyric arias made him fall out of fashion a century ago.

The Superconductor Fall Preview: Carnegie Hall

2013-14 at the "Hall that Music Built."
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Ronald O. Perelman Stage in the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall.
Photo from carnegiehall.org.

For serious concert-going, it's hard to do better than the 2013-14 schedule that Carnegie Hall has put forth this year. From the slate of piano recitals to the first New York appearances in decades of the Vienna State Opera, this is going to be a season to remember.

The Superconductor Untitled Awards

The Five Best Performances* at the Metropolitan Opera...this season.
(*that I saw and wrote about.)
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Our award trophy. Well, it's really a big, weird abstract sculpture
(Untitled, by Mary Callery) in the Metropolitan Opera House.

We are at mid-May and as I start getting ready to work on next season's Metropolitan Opera coverage, it's time to wrap up 2012-2013 at the big house. Here are the five best shows I attended in a very long opera season. I've done this before, but this year, the winners get to print out this article with a nice digital blow-up of the Untitled sculpture located over the proscenium in the Sybil Harrington Auditorium. (Shipping, handling and sculpture not included.)

Before you ask, I couldn't get a ticket for Dialogues of the Carmelites. I heard it was great.

Since this year's schedule was heavily loaded toward Wagner and Verdi, (with five operas by one and seven by the other) it's not surprising to see that three of this year's top five are in fact, Verdi operas. Other honorable mentions this season include Pretty Yende in Le Comte Ory, Lyudmila Montyrska in Aida and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in pretty much anything they played, but especially in Parsifal, Götterdämmerung and The Tempest.

And the winners are....

Opera Review: Changing of the Guardians

Parsifal at the Met: Redux.
By Paul J. Pelkonen

My man Gurnemanz. Rene Pape (left) dresses Jonas Kaufmann in Act III of Wagner's Parsifal.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Parsifal went through its first changes in personnel on Tuesday night. This was the first of two performances to be led by Israeli conductor Ascher Fisch, who is well known for his Wagner performances at the Seattle Opera.. There was also a substitution in the role of Kundry, with mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens stepping in for an indisposed Katerina Dalayman.

Live Broadcast Review: Reigning in Blood

The Met's Live in HD broadcast of Parsifal.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Blood mage: Evgeny Nikitin is Klingsor in the Met's new Parsifal.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

Peter Gelb's term as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera has focused around two key initiatives: the introduction of new stagings to replace the fusty extravaganzas of the past, and the popular Met Live in HD series, beaming Met productions around the globe ten times per season.

On Saturday afternoon, those two initiatives merged in the company’s Live in HD broadcast of Parsifal, seen here in a compelling new production by director François Girard. This stark show shone in a broadcast that featured an all-star cast. Multiple cameras recorded the fine details of this director’s vision, revealing small but important visual elements that may not be readily apparent in the vastness of the Met. The performance was enhanced by intermission interviews (hosted by bass Eric Owens) with most of the principal cast, conductor Daniele Gatti and Mr. Girard.