Oberon's Grove

DVD Preview: BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK

The DVD release of the documentary BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK is set for November 11, 2008. I had the good fortune to receive an advance copy and watched it the other day for the first time. It's something I will watch often, for several reasons.

The historical significance of the New York City Ballet's visit to St Petersburg in 2003 and the thrill of watching our dancers performing for a new and discerning public on Balanchine's home-stage makes this DVD a must-have in any event. But there's a whole other dimension to it and that is the opportunity to watch the dancers up close as they move from class to rehearsal to performance and everything in between. I was hooked on BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK even before the opening credits had finished rolling.

First off are the glimpses of dancers who have since left the Company - people like Carrie Lee Riggins, Genevieve LaBean, Melissa Barak, Eva Natanya, Dana Hanson, Pascale van Kipnis, Jessica Flynn, Jerome Johnson, Seth Orza, Sarah Ricard (Orza) and Amanda Edge.  It's incredible that just a brief shot of any of these individuals can immediately bring to mind so many clear memories of their performances.

Seeing people like Megan Fairchild, Ashley Bouder, Andrew Veyette and Jon Stafford among the corps (or maybe just transitioning to soloist level) makes this quote from the film so meaningful: "Even if you are in the back row of the corps you must perform like the principal dancers who are up front." Those dancers did, and now they are in the spotlight.

In class, the Company are joined by two girls from the Vaganova Academy. Asked afterwards for their impressions, the out-of-breath ballerinas say: "So fast. It's so fast!"

Out front, Andrea Quinn - who I miss, even though I love Faycal - works with the musicians of the Kirov Orchestra. They are not comfortable with Stravinsky. Ms. Quinn speaks of the difficulty of developing musical perfection in view of the fact that orchestral personnel changes from day-to-day, so she never knows who'll be looking up at her from their stands. "Gergiev gets the best!" she whispers. Valery Gergiev, the Kirov's music director, is conducting as a guest. He causes one major headache for the NYCB personnel and dancers when he takes the orchestra away for an additional rehearsal of Stravinsky's SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS during the intermission. As the curtain is held for 20 extra minutes, we see our gorgeous Tess Reichlen and Ellen Ostrom waiting onstage to start; Ellen bides her time practicing her high kick.

The filmed sequences from the various ballets make me want to ask (demand?) that NYCB release a DVD of the actual complete performances. Because it starts off with a stellar SERENADE in which Darci Kistler, Philip Neal and Maria Kowroski perform signature roles which we need to have preserved so we can watch them for years to come. Yvonne Borree, in swirls of tulle, breezes thru pirouettes and the camera follows her right into the wing. And there is an all-too-brief look at James Fayette whose performance in this ballet has set - at least for me - an all-time standard. The film cuts beautifully to Jenifer Ringer, watching her husband from the wings.

Maria K and Charles Askegard are seen in a maddeningly short but splendid bit of the SYMPHONY IN C adagio as those beloved beauties Pauline Golbin and Amanda Edge stand in their demi-posts behind. Janie Taylor and Benjamin Millepied sail onto the stage to commence the third movement of the Bizet. Ben's literally flying. He says later that he gave his jumps some extra juice in honor of the occasion, and then they are shown again in slow motion. Janie is brilliant. The camera work onstage during the curtain calls alternates to slow motion as the dancers rush forward to bow, creating an amazing effect.

Alina Dronova, NYCB's real-Russian ballerina, speaks of having been inspired by reading about Pavlova and of her feelings at being onstage at the Mariinsky where Pavlova won her first bouquets. All of the dancers talk of what it means to be dancing on the stage where so many legends performed and where Mr. B made his start.

Have I gone on too long? There is Darci, speaking so lovingly about working with Balanchine when she was 16. There are Daniel Ulbricht and Craig Hall expressing the excitement of simply being there. There is remarkable footage from HALLELUJAH JUNCTION with Janie, Sebastien and Ben which whets the appetite for the upcoming revival. And there is a simply mesmerizing excerpt from GLASS PIECES with Wendy Whelan and Robert Tewsley...I'd almost say that's the highpoint of the DVD. But then, there are so many. It's like one big high. There's Jock and Wendy in AGON, and there's Peter Boal, Damian, Nikolaj, Jennie Somogyi and Miranda Weese. There's Abi. And Tom Gold. And there's the one-and-only Albert Evans!

Somewhat unsettling is the story which is woven thru the film of Alexandra Ansanelli's preparations to perform the "Borree" role in SERENADE for the first time. Alexandra works on it with Sara Leland and all seems auspicious but when Peter (Martins) asks to see a run-thru on the morning of the debut, it doesn't go so well. Alexandra is taken out of the ballet and she instead makes her Mariinsky debut in WESTERN SYMPHONY at a later performance. I know these things happen in ballet companies and I suppose it is interesting to actually watch how such things are done, but it is also a little cruel and be-laboured.  Alexandra seems so vulnerable; she reminds me of my friend Lisette in a way, so I feel doubly bad for her. Of course, Alexandra has since gone on to become a star at the Royal Ballet and this episode is just a weird vignette from the past. Seeing her reminds me of all her lovely performances here in New York City. Can we get the Royal here for a visit?

For me, beyond all the wonderful segments of the ballets and the opportunities to see the dancers in both a performing and a personal light, the most moving thing about BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK is hearing ballet mistress Rosemary Dunleavy speak of Mr. B and of what it means to her to have worked with him and to continue to work for him. Her emotional remarks come straight from the heart and remind us of the depth of commitment and devotion that Balanchine inspired.

Gail Robinson Has Passed Away

Walking into the waiting area at the Met stage door today to meet Lisette, I saw a sign taped to the door with the name Gail Robinson highlighted. Knowing of her extensive work with young singers, I immediately thought. 'Good, she must be here for some Master-Classes' but then I looked more closely and found it was a notice of her death at the age of 62. She had been suffering for years from severe rheumatoid arthritis and had in fact been forced to abandon her singing career in 1987 because of it. The New York Times states that she died of complications from the disease, which I found quite upsetting. I did not know one could die from arthritis, which severely afflicted my mother for 45 years.

Gail Robinson had a sweet lyric-coloratura voice; her timbre reminded me a bit of the young Mirella Freni's. She made her Met debut in 1970 as the First Genie in ZAUBERFLOETE (also debuting that night was Frederica von Stade as the 3rd Genie!), and she went on to sing over 200 performances at the House. I recall that she was always cast as the 'highest' Flowermaiden in PARSIFAL and she topped those ensembles with such attractive tone. I saw her as Sophie in WERTHER, Gretel, Ilia in IDOMENEO, Oscar in BALLO and a silken-voiced Servilia in CLEMENZA DI TITO.

Around the time of her Met debut, Gail Robinson sang her first Lucia in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR at Lexington, Kentucky. I happened to have an opera buddy living there at the time, and when the performance was broadcast on local radio my friend taped it off the air and sent it to me. Gail sang with appealing fullness and warmth of tone, quite different from the lighter and more silvery sound one often hears from young singers in that music. When I began getting rid of my reel-to-reel tape collection I luckily took a few minutes to copy off her two arias onto a cassette. Just a month ago I was listening to it and thinking to play it for Lisette who is preparing the role.

Listen to Gail Robinson singing Juliette's waltz, "Je veux vivre" from the Gounod opera here.

ABT: David Hallberg in BALLO

Thursday October 30, 2008 - Is there a more princely dancer these days than David Hallberg? Matthew Murphy has generously loaned me one of his beautiful dressing-room photos of David (above). Now that I've started going to ABT with much greater frequency, watching David onstage is becoming addictive. His performance last week in the Tudor ROMEO & JULIET pas de deux was exceptional and it marked the start of a two-week mini-Hallberg festival for me, seeing him twice in BALLO and with Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux still to come.

Above, an Andrea Mohin photo of David Hallberg in Balanchine's BALLO DELLA REGINA. In tonight's performance David's evident joy in being able to do what he does gave BALLO its impetus. Everything is so light and fluid: the clarity of his steps and the elegance of his line. His partnering is effortlessly smooth. David's dazzling performance elicited a brilliant response from Michele Wiles who gave the most scintillating performance I have seen from her to date. The filigree of the rapid steps posed her no problems; her jetees and fouettes were reeled off with real sparkle. Moreover, her facial expressions which sometimes in the past have seemed too 'fixed' now have taken on a more naturally joyous quality. Michele and David did Balanchine's jewel of a ballet proud. 

The attractive demi-quartet maintained the high level set by the principals: Isabella Boylston, Kristi Boone, Simone Messmer and Leann Underwood each displayed the lustrous finish their solo passages demand while their distinctive personalities gave an added appeal to their dancing. In the corps, Jacquelyn Reyes and Hee Seo were particularly fetching.

The pas de deux from ROMEO & JULIET again made me wish to see the complete version of the ballet in Tudor's setting. The Delius music is a welcome contrast to Prokofiev's (much) more familiar ROMEO score. Xiomara Reyes (above) was such a sorrowful Juliet, on the verge of tears throughout. Her performance was moving in its emotional candor..and she danced with gentle grace. Gennadi Saveliev as Romeo was thought by Susan and Leo to be too expressionless and cool. I felt differently: he seemed to be to be steeling himself for his inevitable departure. If Reyes' heartbreak had gotten to him he might never have left Verona: his face as he walked away from her was set, with eyes focussed on his unknown future. Saveliev's partnering was very strong and he loomed over Reyes protectively.  

JARDIN AUX LILAS is just as moving and miraculous as I remembered it from the last time I saw it - thirty years ago. Thomas Forster and Melissa Thomas (in a Lois Greenfield photo, above) created an atmosphere of furtive tenderness and poignant despair as the ballet sweeps inevitably to its heart-stopping final moment when the lovers are separated forever. Tudor uses the Chausson score (his Poeme for Violin and Orchestra) to delineate the shifting dynamics of the two relationships which are central to the ballet: Caroline and her young Lover, and the Man She Must Marry with a mysterious Woman From His Past. Caroline wishes only for the chance to be alone with her Lover for one last time but other guests, unaware, keep intruding. Her husband-to-be finds himself attracted anew to his former mistress, boding ill for his impending marriage to Caroline. Caught in the inevitable flow of a situation which is beyond their control - for none of them would dare break the frame of convention -  they come and go in the shadowy clearing of the lilac garden as fate closes in on them.

Veronika Part danced and emoted as the Mistress with consumate authority and Vitali's Krauchenka as The Man She Must Marry was cool and severe, allowing only the most subtle hints of where his heart really wanted to take him.

As Caroline and her Lover, Melissa Thomas and Thomas Forster were so entirely natural and so movingly and helplessly borne on the tide of fate which would tear them asunder. Ms. Thomas is a delicate beauty with a pale complexion and a vulnerable aspect to the lyrical  poise of her dancing. Mr. Forster was something of a revelation with his modest gallantry and the sheer sincerity of his portrayal. The slender young danseur has an innocent expression and was utterly believable as a man who is losing the one thing he wants and can do nothing to prevent it. In their youthful ardor and frustration, always reined-in by a sense of decorum, Melissa and Thomas were the perfect match for this incredibly touching ballet.

Adding a final touch of charm to their success, the two young dancers seemed a bit unsure of how to react to the audience's warm reception. If they continue to give performances such as they gave tonight, they will learn the curtain-call routine soon enough. Their uncertainty was refreshing, really.

I especially loved the first curtain call after JARDIN where the dancers were seen in a tableau representing the emotional complexities of the ballet rather than just standing in a row and bowing. Really lovely.  

COMPANY B (Andrea Mohin photo) seems darker and darker each time I see it. The veneer of extroversion gives it entertainment value and I suppose some people in the audience simply see it as a fun finale to an evening of dance. But tonight, death and despair were lurking just below the surface.

Mikhail Ilyin in Tico-Tico, Nicola Curry in I Can Dream, Can't I?, Carlos Lopez in Joseph! Joseph! and Thomas Forster with Jessica Saund in There Will Never Be Another You were all highly enjoyable, with Mr. Forster capitalizing on his success in JARDIN. Joseph Philiips danced with appealing playfulness in Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - until he was gunned down. And special kudos to Roman Zhurbin who showed an authentic Tayloresque flair in both his dancing and his free-wheeling stage manner. COMPANY B is a masterwork on another level, too: the Andrews Sisters are terrific harmonists.

Thinking About The Tharp

Looking at the the Andrea Mohin/NY TIMES photos from ABT's performance of Twyla Tharp's BRIEF FLING (Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo, above) made me wonder if I do need to stay on Saturday afternoon and watch it again. My reaction during Tuesday's performace was that it was a piece I would never want to see again and that I could have a short afternoon on Saturday by skipping out after JARDIN. But the Mohin photos (Herman and the guys, below) are making me think about certain things that have stayed in my mind about the piece.

Since Saturday's matinee boasts a different pair of principals (Herrera and Gomes) it will probably be worthwhile to stay. I'm pretty sure in retrospect that it was the music that killed it for me. But I won't know for certain unless I give it another shot.

Facial Attraction

Every once in a while when we are watching films from our extensive Netflix queue, there will be a face (or a form, or a voice) that captures our fancy. Last night we were viewing MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS and we were both taken with Kelly Reilly, the British actress playing the part of Maureen.

I haven't time to say much about the film, which stars Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins and really is very enjoyable, but Ms. Reilly's performance lingers in the mind. Her face seems at once hard and vulnerable and her portrayal of a seemingly uncomplicated young woman is rich in detail. Ms. Reilly has also been seen in PRIDE & PREJUDICE (as the haughty Caroline Bingley), in RUSSIAN DOLLS and L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE. Now I'll be on the lookout for her future releases.

This Week at Joyce SoHo: UGLY

From October 30 thru November 2, Joyce SoHo present choreographer Mathew Janczewski's Arena Dances in UGLY to an electronic score by Morton Subotnick. Evan previews the work here. I will be seeing it on Sunday afternoon. For tickets phone (212) 352-3101.

Viktoria! Viktoria!

A recent update at the Kirov Ballet website brings us a new portrait of Viktoria Tereshkina, the ballerina who made such a magnificent impression in Balanchine's BALLET IMPERIAL when the Kirov danced at City Center earlier this year. It was during the time of their New York visit that the Kirov announced Ms. Tereshkina's promotion to Principal. Photo: Seto-Hidemi.

BALLO/FLAMES/ Kylian/Tharp: ABT

Tuesday October 28, 2008 - The first thing that attracted me to this programme was the chance to see David Hallberg (above) and Gillian Murphy in Balanchine's BALLO DELLA REGINA. Then after seeing an excerpt from Jiri Kylian's OVERGROWN PATH last week at the Gala I was very keen to see the whole thing. The late addition to the programme of the FLAMES OF PARIS pas de deux gives the chance for me to see Danil Simkin, ABT's newest soloist, for the first time. Add Sarah Lane, Xiomara Reyes, Herman Cornejo and a very impressive assembly of dancers for the Kylian and it seemed inevitable this would be a wonderful evening of dance.

In the event, Gillian canceled and Michele Wiles danced in her place. This was just fine, since David & Michele have an established partnership: they match one another in their easy, flowing style and spacious port de bras. In their solo passages, David's expansive jump and delicate beats and Michele's lively set of fouettes caused the audience to lavish them with applause.

The four demi-solistes were excellent, with lush dancing from Misty Copeland followed by the delicious Maria Riccetto and the elegant Hee Seo. After polishing off her solo with remarkable poise, Leann Underwood reappeared moments later, swirling across the stage and into a big balance.

The ballet looks a bit cramped on the City Center stage and the sound of the girls' toe shoes was distractingly loud in a ballet where they should seem to be walking on water.

Ballet fans who find themselves spending long hours at YouTube will likely already know about Daniil Simkin (photo above). He's got some really fantastic clips there, showing not just his virtuosity but a range of styles and a depth of musicality that is very impressive in a young dancer. But videos can't compare to experiencing a dancer 'live' and Daniil and Sarah Lane made a grand impression in the FLAMES OF PARIS pas de deux which I'd never seen before. Sarah in her white tutu with a tricolore sash danced with great spirit and charm, easily polishing off each new technical demand and reveling is a tricky series of hops on pointe. Daniil's effortless delivery of the fireworks and his unbelievable ariel flights of fancy caused the audience to gasp in disbelief. The slender danseur with the disarming smile also took the partnering sequences in stride, tucking Sarah into a neat hands-off final pose as the house erupted in an ovation laced with screams. The young dancers had to come before the curtain twice. For all the excitement his bravura dancing generated, Daniil is not merely a stunt-meister. If his YouTube samples are any indication, we will be seeing him in ballets of a broad stylistic diversity and in roles calling for a full emotional range. I am already thinking of him for Albrecht and Romeo. And Franz in COPPELIA. Does ABT have a COPPELIA? If not, they'd better get one. Bravo Daniil and welcome to New York City!

Above: An Andrea Mohin photo of Daniil & Sarah in FLAMES OF PARIS.

Jiri Kylian's OVERGROWN PATH (Hee Seo & Jose Manuel Carreno, above in an Andrea Mohin photo) is an unusually beautiful ballet: an ensemble piece with a dark core danced by twelve remarkable dancers - the women in soft slippers - who leave virtuosity aside in favor of flowing expressive movement in which Kylian masterfully reflects the tender sadness of Leos Janacek's piano score. People had described this ballet to me as being too unrelentingly bleak. I did not find it so, but rather a moving and indeed haunting look at relationships in a community which accepts loss and sorrow as part of life.

Hee Seo (above) and Jose Manuel Carreno were the central couple. It was a great pleasure to see Jose Manuel in an ensemble piece where his sexy virtuoso persona was shelved in favor of something altogether darker and sterner. The lyrical and vulnerable Ms. Seo displayed a quiet intensity that played ideally off Jose Manuel's brooding handsomeness. Between BALLO & the Kylian I felt Ms. Seo to be one of ABT's outstanding talents.

Paloma Herrera (above) stepped away from her prima ballerina mode and gave a soulful interpretation with a direct emotional charge. Julie Kent found a way to blend her classic technique with the edgier stylistic elements that Kylian demands - she gave a really extraordinary performance. Tall and severe, Kristi Boone made me crave an opportunity to see her in major dramatic roles and Misty Copeland's danced strongly and found the style congenial. Of special note was the pairing of Simone Messmer and Isaac Stappas, attractive and intense in their duets. At one point Simone stands at the rear of the stage, facing away from us yet managing to project a sense of tension thru her back and shoulders. I really like her.

Jared Matthews, Gennadi Saveliev, Thomas Forster and Cory Stearns were the other men in the ballet - excellent dancers all. I felt I was making real progress in my efforts to connect with ABT's dancers of every rank since I recognized everyone in the Kylian without referring to my Playbill.

Kylian's ballet ends with Ms. Seo's departure; in silence the community move in unison advance-and- retreat patterns as the lights slowly fade. I immediately wished to see the ballet again. An enthusiastic 'bravo' for pianist David LaMarche.  

I knew I was going to hate Twyla Tharp's BRIEF FLING from the moment the curtain rose. The canned music, the trying-hard-to-be-quirky costumes on a Scottish theme (plaids, men in kilts) and the tireless but pointless choreography are elements of the worst kind of ballet for me. Despite the spectacular dancing of Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo, I could not wait for BRIEF FLING to end. And yet, on the train trip home, images from the ballet lingered. I may give it another whirl.

Meanwhile, since balletomanes are always looking ahead, one can find much casting detail of ABT's 2009 season at the Metropolitan Opera House by going to their website, clicking on Performances and then on View Full Calendar and then using the drop-down menu to view May, June & July 2009. You can find the dates for the beloved Nina's last ABT performances as well as for new arrivals Osipova and Bolle. And Herman Cornejo is doing Prodigal...with Dvorovenko. Get out the red ink, for there will be many dates to circle.

JARDIN & BALLO

This week I will be seeing three performances by American Ballet Theatre at New York City Center. In addition to repeats of Paul Taylor's COMPANY B the programmes offer Jiri Kylian's complete OVERGROWN PATH (having its ABT premiere performances this season, following a tantalizing sampling at the Opening Gala), Twyla Tharp's BRIEF FLING and Sarah Lane & Daniil Simkin in the pas de deux FLAMES OF PARIS, I especially look forward to seeing BALLO DELLA REGINA (three times!) and Antony Tudor's JARDIN AUX LILAS (twice). One is a Balanchine masterwork from NYCB's rep, the other a ballet I saw only once previously and have never forgotten.

 

BALLO DELLA REGINA has operatic and historical links which really intrigue me. The music is drawn from Verd's five-act French opera DON CARLOS, which premiered in 1867. Operas written for Paris during that era always included a ballet. The ballet music is so light and alive in contrast to the sombre deep-purple tone of most of the rest of the opera. The subtitle of the ballet is La Peregrina which was the name of a great pearl owned by Philip II of Spain, around whose life Verdi's opera unfolds. Above, Philip II's third wife, the regina of the story: Elisabeth de Valois. Verdi seized on the romance surrounding the jewel and Balanchine took things further - for you will notice a nautical look in NYC Ballet's backdrop for this ballet as well as a 'swimming' motif given to the dancers, references to the divers who found the the huge pearl.

Historical note:

"La Peregrina (Spanish: The Pilgrim):

Known once as the Philip II Pearl, La Peregina, (not to be confused with La Pellegrina) was once the most celebrated pearl of its time. Weighing a large 203.8 grains, La Peregrina was celebrated not only for its great size, but also its perfect pear shape, and bright white coloration.

La Peregrina was found off the coast of Panama in the 16th century, and was promptly delivered to King Philip II of Spain who presented the jewel to his new bride, Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) of England. The great pearl later belonged to Queen Margaret, and then to Joseph Bonaparte before the British Marquis of Abercorn acquired it. In 1969, La Peregrina was purchased by actor Richard Burton for a mere $37,000, as a gift for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor, a pearl-lover and a catalyst of Tahitian pearl popularity, owns La Peregrina to this day."

Antony Tudor's JARDIN AUX LILAS made a deep impression on me when I first saw it danced at ABT in 1978. (Photo above: Antony Tudor). I've never forgotten the overwhelming final gesture of despair with which George de la Pena, playing Caroline's lover, ended the ballet as Caroline (poignantly danced by Gelsey Kirkland) leaves with the Man She Must Marry. For a short ballet, JARDIN is dense with plot. Find the entrancingly haunting Chausson music for JARDIN (his Poeme for Violin and Orchestra) here in Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's evocative interpretation, paired with her excellent Sibelius. I'm excited to be seeing this ballet again this week with two different casts.

   

Tucker Gala 2008

Sunday October 26, 2008 - The annual Richard Tucker Music Foundation gala took place at Avery Fisher Hall today. Above, the celebrated tenor in Puccini's TOSCA. I saw Richard Tucker many times, starting with a performance of COSI FAN TUTTE at the old Met; I recall an especially superb BOHEME he sang and also his performances in BALLO, CARMEN, GIOCONDA and LUISA MILLER...among others.

I really don't like opera galas very much, at least not any more. And this one in particular had an assembly-line feeling as the singers entered from the left, sang, bowed, and exited to the right as the next performer walked on. Corrado Rovaris was on the podium for a neat BARBIERE overture and then led members of the Met Orchestra thru the succession of arias and duets; his pacing was fairly swift all evening.

Some operatic excerpts are not really gala items: Manon Lescaut's 'Sola, perduto, abbandonata' was given a powerfully emotional reading by Sondra Radvanovsky (photo above) but the aria is too personal and intense to work well out of context. Likewise Bryn Terfel, a welcome late entry to the evening, was a menacing Scarpia in the Te Deum that ends Act I of Puccini's TOSCA but it's too declamatory to fit into a parade-of-stars evening. I wish he had sung some Wagner!

Dmitri Pittas's timbre seemed a little darkish for Faust's aria and the violinist had trouble sustaining the final high piano at the end of her obbligato. Ruxandra Donose was a bit too 'gestural' as she sang CENERENTOLA's final rondo with a light touch. Marcello Giordani opened the evening with a beautifully blended 'Au fond du temple saint' from PECHEURS DES PERLES with Bryn Terfel, but later the tenor was extremely erratic in an aria and a duet from FORZA DEL DESTINO: within a single phrase one might hear a really golden tone or two followed by a husky or off-pitch bit. His low register was not working at all.

In an appealing performance, Susan Graham (above) breezed thru the demands of Handel's 'Dopo notte' from ARIODANTE with lots of body English; she was clearly enjoying herself in this impressive interpretation.

Baritone Zeljko Lucic sometimes errs in pitch but he has the big, warm sound and the Italianate style to deliver the Verdi baritone items - Posa's farewell aria from DON CARLO and a FORZA duet with Giordani - with real authority. I have his Germont in TRAVIATA coming up at the Met.

Pictured above, tenor Lawrence Brownlee's vocal finesee and charm made his Rossini contributions two of the evening's brightest highlights. He sang the ITALIANA IN ALGERI aria with ravishing timbre and many dynamic nuances, reeling off the fiorature with airy poise. He and Ms. Donose flashed up and down their scales in the CENERENTOLA duet, blending sweetly in the harmonized passages.

Yesterday's Edgardo at the Met, Polish tenor Piotr Beczala (photo above) gave the evening's most impressive performance as he poured his clear, ardent tones into Werther's 'Pourquoi me reveiller'. Later he was joined by Lisette Oropesa, Renee Tatum and Bryn Terfel for a very fine RIGOLETO quartet. The tenor phrased with seductive warmth as he lured Maddalena with amazingly sustained notes in the higher range. Lisette sounded girlish and poised; she portrayed Gilda's emotional turmoil with very expressive body language as well as vocal urgency. Ms. Tatum and Mr. Terfel were vocally and physically attuned to the dramatic situation. Mr. Beczala's is a really appealing voice, falling so plesantly on the ear and used with passionate expression but never overdone. I just bought tickets to see him with Mr. Lucic in RIGOLETTO at the Met on February 12, 2009,  Mr. Beczala's only performance of the Duke at the Met this season.

We did not stay for the SOUTH PACIFIC selections.