Opera Review: Piave's Eleven

The Met's "Vegas" Rigoletto breaks even.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Olga Peretyatko in Act I of the Met's current Rigoletto.
Photo by Richard Termine © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's economic model relies on a careful balance between modern operas (to remain relevant), rarities (to remain interesting) and tried-and-true war-horses like Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. This month, the company revived its current Michael Mayer production, which moves the tale of a revenge-obsessed jester and a libertine Duke from Ye Olde Mantua to (of all places) Las Vegas, Nevada, roughly around the time that the Rat Pack held sway on the Strip.

Opera Review: Lost Vegas

<b>The Metropolitan Opera bets on Rigoletto.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Tapped out: George Gagnidze is a hapless protagonist in the Met's "Vegas" Rigoletto.
Photo by Richard Termine © 2015 The Metropolitan Opera.

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." --Kenny Rogers, The Gambler.

The Metropolitan Opera's current production of Verdi's Rigoletto transposes opera's action to Las Vegas in the 1960s. In director Michael Mayer's mind, the Duke is a cabaret crooner, surrounded by a "rat pack" of buddies in snazzy lamé jackets. Rigoletto is his opening act, warming up the crowd with insult comedy. The Duke's palace is a casino-hotel, where the outside world exists only behind heavy green curtains. When it bowed in 2013, Mr. Mayer's vision of the opera seemed fresh. However, as Wednesday night's performance showed, this show's luck is running out.

Opera Review: All Hail the Queen

The Opera Orchestra of New York presents Roberto Devereux.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Mariella Devia (here pictured in Anna Bolena) returned to Carnegie Hall Thursday night
as Elizabeth I in Roberto Devereux. Photo from Opera di Florenze.

There was a definite feeling of nostalgia surrounding Thursday night's concert performance of Roberto Devereux at Carnegie Hall, the lone season offering this year from the Opera Orchestra of New York. Not only did this concert mark the return of Eve Queler to the podium, but it was also the long-awaited New York return of semi-legendary 66-year-old soprano Mariella Devia in the key role of Elizabeth I, Queen of England. This was the singer's first New York appearance in 15 years.

Opera Review: A Grand Night for Singing

The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Made in Brooklyn: opera tenor Richard Tucker.
The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala was held Sunday night.
Image © 1997 The United States Postal Service.

The 2012 Richard Tucker Gala was held this Sunday night at Avery Fisher Hall. The annual showcase for the philanthropic foundation named after the late, great opera tenor is always an important night in the opera season. This year, singers, industry people and opera lovers heard this year's Tucker Prize winner, soprano Ailyn Pérez in a program that put a heavy emphasis on the music of Verdi.

The Tucker Gala is a celebration of singing, honoring both the memory of the late Brooklyn-born tenor. The Tucker Foundation provides support and a showcase for young talent that is about to make a splash on the opera stages of the world. This year's concert also featured appearances from singers currently gracing the stage of the Met: baritones Gerald Finley and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, mezzo Olga Borodina and tenor Marcello Giordani.

Ms. Pérez is the first Tucker winner who happens to be married to a past winner--tenor Stephen Costello. (He won in 2009.) She opened the concert with a fiesty performance of Manon's gavotte, easily adding the difficult ornamentation in the repeated section and producing a high, clear tone above the stave.

The Fall of the Tower Scene--UPDATE

Condemned man's aria restored Anna Bolena.

Giovanni Battista Rubini, the tenor who
created the role of Percy in Anna Bolena.

UPDATE: According to a news item from our friends at Parterre Box, the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Anna Bolena will no longer be subject to a serious cut in its final act.

The aria is "Vivi tu," sung by Riccardo Percy while he is imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting execution. Met press representative Peter Clarke told parterre that the decision to cut the number was made for "dramatic reasons." The aria was to be sung by tenor Stephen Costello.

With its sweet melodies and soaring high notes, "Vivi tu" is a highlight of the score, allowing the tenor (who has a relatively small part in the opera) his chance to bring the house down. It was sung in New York in 2010, at the Dell'Arte Ensemble's "black box" production of Anna Bolena. But the aria is also one of the most challenging in the entire bel canto repertory, including a sky-scraping high E♭ above the stave.

Donizetti wrote the aria for Giovanni Battisti Rubini, the 18th century super-tenor who created the leading roles in many bel canto operas, including Lord Arturo Talbo in  Bellini's I puritani. The high E♭ note is so difficult that most singers choose to simply transpose the aria down a couple of steps, to make it a nice, safe high C.


The aria was cut for "dramatic purposes" but restored on Aug. 31.

Anna Bolena will open the Met's 2011-2012 season. The opera stars Anna Netrebko in the title role of the doomed English queen who falls out of favor with her husband, the capricious Henry VIII. The production (by David McVicar) is the first staging of the opera by the Met. It will be part of the Met's Live in HD schedule in the coming months.

According to Brad Wilber's (now defunct) Metropolitan Opera Futures page, the run of Anna is to be followed in the coming decade by Donizetti's other two "Queen" operas, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux. These operas have not been heard at Lincoln Center since the 1970s, when soprano Beverly Sills made the "Three Queens" a central part of her repertory.