Wednesday January 16, 2013 - Despite passing moments of relief, tonight's TROVATORE at The Met was one of the most bizarre operatic experiences of my life. I am not sure why we stayed til the end...perhaps out of a sense of disbelief that this could be happening.
Of the cast, only Christophoros Stamboglis as Ferrando was wholly successful: a big, robust sound from top to bottom and a good actor to boot. The other singers were - for various reasons - maddeningly uneven. To catalog their problems (and their random good passages) would be an exercise in futility. The audience, one of the smallest I have seen in the House since the days following 9/11, were either ignorant or charitable. In the pit, Daniele Callegari kept the evening whipping along at a brisk pace. He probably wanted to get it over with.
Metropolitan Opera House
January 16, 2013
IL TROVATORE
Giuseppe Verdi
Manrico.................Marco Berti
Leonora.................Angela Meade
Count Di Luna...........Alexey Markov
Azucena.................Stephanie Blythe
Ferrando................Christophoros Stamboglis
Ines....................Edyta Kulczak
Ruiz....................Hugo Vera
Messenger...............David Lowe
Gypsy...................Brandon Mayberry
Conductor...............Daniele Callegari
