Blythe Out of Das Rheingold on Saturday

The Met press office: “Elizabeth Bishop will make her Met role debut as Fricka in Saturday evening’s performance of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, replacingStephanie Blythe, who is ill. As previously scheduled, Bishop will also sing Mère Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites on Saturday afternoon—a rare instance of a singer performing principal roles in two different operas in the same day.”

Blythe is ill!

Elena Manistina will make her Met debut as Azucena in the Saturday, January 19 evening performance of Verdi’sIl Trovatore, replacing Stephanie Blythe, who is ill.

Met Opera Review: Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera is David Alden's Trash Can!

By Francisco Salazar
(for November 27, 2012 performance)

Over the last few weeks since the Met premiered it's new Un Ballo in Maschera I have heard wonders about how amazing David Alden was as a director. Therefore I went into last night's performance of the Verdi work with high expectations. The result was no where near it. What I saw was a travesty trying to take it self seriously.

The Met opened its season to a new production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore that elicited boredom because it tried to take the light-hearted work as a drama and ultimately failed to do so. David Alden attempted the opposite. He tried to treat Verdi's dramatic work Un Ballo in Maschera as an operetta but ultimately made the work numb of any drama. Yes Verdi's work has some comic elements but so do many other dramas such Adriana Lecouvreuer and Il Tabarro. I don't mean to compare these minor works to Verdi's masterpiece but no one ever attempted to approach these as operettas. The comparison of Verdi to operetta is an incredibly pretentious analysis because the title Un Ballo in Maschera does not only pertain to the final act, it pertains to the complete opera as every character hides behind a mask. The music equally demonstrates this with its sarcasm. The finale to the first scene is music of a cynical king who takes Ulrica as a joke. The act 2 conspirator chorus couldn't be more sarcastic and Gustavo's "Scherzo di folie" could be interpreted as a fearful king trying to calm his people down and trying to ignore what Ulrica has told him of his impending death. The Masked Ball is probably the only place where the music can be taken lightheartedly but in that circumstance David Alden does the opposite; he gives us a demonic dance that with a rugged and laughable choreography.

Un Ballo in Maschera Preview 2012-2013

Marcelo Alvarez, Dimitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky lead the cast in David Alden's new Un Ballo in Maschera.

The Production 

The last time Un Ballo in Maschera had a new production was in 1990 with Piero Faggioni's traditional production. The production was lavish with many striking images but many complained over Ulrica's lair and the fact that many of the sets were too similar. For example Renato and Gustavo's palaces were the same stage with different furniture. Twenty two years later Peter Gelb has commissioned a new production by one today's most acclaimed director's David Alden. Alden made his Met debut in 1980 as the stage director to Otto Schenk's production of Fidelio and since then became famed for his post-modern direction. For his Un Ballo in Maschera Alden has decided to bring the action to the early 20th century in a Film Noir setting. According to Alden the piece has a nightmarish quality and as a result has decided to set all the action in King Gustavo's room. Images change in the background and a painting of the fallen Icarus predominates throughout representing the fall of the king. The production designers is Paul Steinberg and the costume designer is Brigitte Reiffenstuel. It will be interesting to see how audiences respond to this concept considering it will be the first modern production of Un Ballo in Maschera at the Met. One only hopes David Alden will be as successful as he is in Europe. The HD transmission represents the third recording of Un Ballo in Maschera for the Met.

Die Walkure premieres tonight on PBS

The second installment of the Ring Cycle premieres tonight. Two years ago I named this performance the best of HD of 2011 and it is truly an incredible performance with an all star cast that includes Deborah Voigt, Bryn Terfel, Jonas Kaufmann, Stephanie Blythe, Eva-Maria Westbroek, and Hans-Peter Konig. James Levine Conducts this exciting new ring.

For information read our review.

Das Rheingold premieres on PBS!

After last nights preview with Wagner's Dream, tonight is the start of the Met's controversial new production of the Ring. Das Rheingold will air on PBS at 8pm. The opera stars Bryn Terfel, Stephanie Blythe, Eric Owens and Richard Croft. It is conducted by James Levine.

For more on the production read our Review.

Il Trovatore Preview 2012-2013 Season

David McVicar's crowd pleasing Trovatore returns with a cast of up and coming stars which include Gwyn Hughes-Jones, Carmen Giannattasio and Alexey Markov

The Production

For years the Met had suffered from terrible productions of Il Trovatore from Fabrizio Melano and Grahm Vick. They were unable to tell the story that has become known for its complicated plot and its complex characters. In 2009, 6 years after the last Trovatore had been shown, the Met unvealed a new production by David McVicar and quickly became a critic and audience darling. The production has only missed one season and has been easily cast. Set in the Spanish Civil War, McVicar's sets uses a rotating turntable to easily move the action forward. The backdrops draw inspiration from “The Disasters of War,” Goya’s series of etchings and give the production a consistent and harrowing look. Having seen the production twice I was absolutely convinced the first time by its direction, and its imagery. As critics stated I believed the Trovatore "curse was broken." However the second time I was bored as the sets looked like drab and ultimately failed to provide any new insight. I don't know if it was because the cast was nothing special or because the production is ultimately a one shot deal. However what I do know is no matter how good a production is, the cast is ultimately what matters when it comes to this opera.