Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met

[canbelto]

I really urge everyone to at least go see the HD. One of the best overall casts the Met has put forward in many years.

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/01/adria-anna-lecouvtrebko.html

[Helene]

It sounded so great over Sirius, and I can't wait to see the Encore.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I only stumbled across Anita Rachvelishvili the other day! (Via this NYT article.) A few seconds into my first clip I wanted to run, not walk, to the Met box office and throw all my money at them for tickets to her performances.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I went to the New Year's Eve performance. Rachelishvili's voice pierced through the auditorium with such force that she ended up owning the performance. Beczala was more than adequate, and same with Netrebko...but it was Anita who had the biggest impact. She was magnificent.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156334141874191&id=647664190

Edited January 6, 2019 by cubanmiamiboy

[abatt]

Stupendous voices.  A thrilling night at the opera.  

[atm711]

On 1/5/2019 at 6:24 PM, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'm embarrassed to admit that I only stumbled across Anita Rachvelishvili the other day! (Via this NYT article.) A few seconds into my first clip I wanted to run, not walk, to the Met box office and throw all my money at them for tickets to her performances.

I HAD THE SAME REACTION!!  For too many years the Met had Dolora Sajek (sp??) as Asucena and I welcomed the change.

Edited January 7, 2019 by atm711

[sappho]

I was at her first Il trovatore performance at the Met last January. Utter magic. It felt at the time like the audience sat in stunned silence between the end of "Stride la vampa" and the beginning of the uproarious applause, as though we all needed a moment to ask ourselves, "Wait, did I really just hear that?"

[abatt]

Rachelishvili will be singing Delilah in Samson & Delilah at the Met.  I think her performances are in March.  

[Helene]

Her dates on the Met website are March 13, 16, 19, 23, 28:

https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/samson-et-dalila/

Her Samson for the first four, Aleksandrs Antonenko, had serious vocal struggles this past Fall.  I hope he's able to turn it around.  A tenor I've never heard before, Kristian Benedikt, sings Samson on March 28.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

On 1/8/2019 at 9:28 AM, abatt said:

Rachelishvili will be singing Delilah in Samson & Delilah at the Met.  I think her performances are in March.  

WNYC & the Metropolitan Opera have started jointly producing a new podcast called Aria Code, hosted by Rhiannon Gibbons of Carolina Chocolate Drops fame. Each episode examines a different (famous) aria in detail. The January 2 episode is about “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” from Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila. I've started listening, and it's pretty good.

Here's a video of Elīna Garanča, who is featured in the episode, performing the aria at the Met. 

You can hear Rachvelishvili sing "Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix" on her new album. 

 

[vendangeuse]

2 hours ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

WNYC & the Metropolitan Opera have started jointly producing a new podcast called Aria Code, hosted by Rhiannon Gibbons of Carolina Chocolate Drops fame. Each episode examines a different (famous) aria in detail. The January 2 episode is about “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” from Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila. I've started listening, and it's pretty good.

I love that podcast. I much prefer it to the one put out by the MetOpera guild. Even if it's an aria I'm already familiar with, Rhiannon Giddens always makes me think about it in a new way, or from another angle.

[Helene]

I've really enjoyed these and the Sirius intermission feature interview with Giddens.  But I do take issue with her assertion in the intro that Delilah seduces Samson for the money: her own expert later in the podcast says it was a combination of tribal/political loyalty and her backstory with Samson.  (The latter, as was pointed out in the podcast, was added to the story for the libretto.)

[Kathleen O'Connell]

44 minutes ago, vendangeuse said:

I love that podcast. I much prefer it to the one put out by the MetOpera guild. Even if it's an aria I'm already familiar with, Rhiannon Giddens always makes me think about it in a new way, or from another angle.

Argh! I can't believe I misspelled Giddens' name. She is one of my favorite artists. 

[canbelto]

I hope everyone enjoyed the HD!

[Birdsall]

I loved it! Golden Age singing from all 3 leads which is rare in 2019! Can't wait to see it in person this coming weekend. Coming up for Aida, Pelleas et Melisande, and Adriana Lecouvreur. I was relieved that Radvanovsky was being replaced in Aida (I want to see the campy, yet glam production one last time before they shelve it in a couple of seasons) , but according to reports the soprano replacing her is even worse! Ugh!!! So Aida will be a mixed bag (and I had expected that even before the new soprano was called in), but very excited to see Pelleas and Adriana......

[Birdsall]

By the way, all the close ups of the singers showed that Netrebko, Beczala, and Rachvelishvili all had perfectly oval mouths as they sang full throttle, and their tongues did not flap/tremor like many singers today......I consider this a sign of great technique......