Excellent Wagnerian singing. Klaus Florian Vogt is also an excellent Lohengrin (he should be experienced live, he’s better live than on recordings)
Still going strong at age 56. One of the better Samsons.
Great singing
Sonya Yoncheva is wonderful in both bel canto and verismo repertoire at the same time.
Great singing.
Wonderful duo. Both Hernandez and Fabiano is excellent here.
Great singing.
This makes me sad. I think Elina Garanca would have been an EXCELLENT Ariadne. I think she would have been good actually in heavy soprano roles instead of just singing mezzo stuff.
For a long time, the Metropolitan Opera in New York was the best opera house in the world. However, I think it has changed in recent years during the leadership of Peter Gelb.
Even though they produce lavish, new productions - there is rare moments where Met reaches top, peak levels (like Tristan with Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres). The number of stars that appears regulary now is Sondra Radvavonsky, Asmik Grigorian, Peter Mattei, Elina Garanca, Piotr Beczala, Roberto Alagna and Michael Fabiano. But many operas today lacks star appeal.
Many stars like Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, Ludovic Tezier, Juan Diego Florez, Malin Byström, Jonathan Tetelman etc are unfortunately completely absent. (It’s even worse when you look at conductors, where the best conductors remain in Europe) The Met wasn’t the best house for Strauss and Wagner 10 years ago - but it was leading when it came to Italian bel canto opera. Now there is a lot less bel canto opera and instead lavish new productions of standard works in the repertoire.
Which house is the best opera house in the world right now? I think Wiener Staatsoper or Bayerische Staatsoper seems to have the most exciting casts of all opera houses.
Great singing! Excellent tenor who is able to sing Nemorino and Tristan in the same season.
Great singing. In my opinion, the best Otellos ever along Plácido Domingo, José Cura, Mario del Monaco and Jon Vickers.
In opera, there are many characters who have a modern profession. Many of them are high paying (doctors, lawyers). But the question is which of them are most competent. Who seems like the best practioners of medicine, theology, rule of law, police work, and well, who is the best poet…
Which character would you like to hire as your family doctor? There are many: Dulcamara, the doctor in Wozzeck, Doctor Grenvil in La traviata and Doctor Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Which priest would you like to have as your parish priest? (Or local rabbi). Some of the characters are Padre Guardiano and Don Alvaro (La forza del destino), Stiffelio, Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Padre Confessor in Dialogues de Carmelites, Eleazar in La Juive, and the priests in Die Zauberflöte.
Which lawyer do you think would represent your interests best? We have Doktor Blind in Die Fledermaus, Un giudice in Un ballo in maschera, or Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro?
Which police officer would you trust the most with solving an everyday crime? Frank in Die Fledermaus, Baron Vitellio Scarpia, Spoletta or Sciarrone in Tosca, Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West or the police officer in Der Rosenkavalier?
Which poet is most useful? Andrea Chénier, Rodolfo in La bohème or Flamand in Capriccio?
I think I would hire Dulcamara (he is probably cheap), use Don Alvaro as family priest (he seem quite nice). Of the attorneys I think Blind at least is trying the most, and I would probably trust Jack Rance. He’s not the smartest but he tries a lot. There are many more characters of those I mention, so if I missed someone pick them.
I just heard Lise Davidsen as Lady Macbeth in Copenhagen. It was a fabolous experience, even though it was a concert performance. Lise Davidsen was completely galvanizing. Exciting; but not crazy and not too cool. She could make good trills, her voice soared out in the ensemble, loud and clear. It’s like always incredible how beautiful her voice is. She was best in the Brindisi. But she nailed the high notes in the sleepwalking scene. WOW. It was amazing. She is really a queen. She was confident, and looked fabolous as well. How she sang Lady Macbeth like this was wonderful. It sounds like she would be a fabolous Leonora in Trovatore - if she would want. Even though it was a concert performance she had the role more or less the role under her skin and had a great sense of acting as well.
Quinn Kelsey was a bit rough in the beginning, but he could put some good pressure on his voice so his voice grow with the time. His sound is a bit more lyric and tenoral, but even though that, it shows that it’s never wrong to sing heavier repertoire. He was especially good from “O mio terror” and in the final aria.
Freddie de Tomasso was a nice baritonal tenor à la Giuseppe Giacomini. His voice is a little bit pinched in the top, but his timbre is fine, and he also was allowed some rubati in his big aria which like always, of course is a showstopper. Alexander Köpeczi as Banquo had an attractive bass-baritone, but was buried in the score most of the time; so neither the duet with Macbeth or his big aria “Studio il passo” was as rewarding as it could be.
Antonio Pappano conducted Det Kongelige Kapel with great success. The orchestra and chorus is truly excellent. He is incredibly singer-friendly, and he has a great sense of style. He’s the best Verdi conductor ever alongside Muti. The tempi was on the slower side, but he also held the orchestra back when it was adequate and didn’t create a loudness war with the audience.
Lise Davidsen is the new queen of opera. The problem after a performance of this calibre is that you dream about the roles you want to hear the singers in. A good idea I think would be Il trovatore with Lise Davidsen as Leonora, Freddie de Tomasso as Manrico, Quinn Kelsey as Conte di Luna in Il trovatore conducted by Antonio Pappano. It would be fabolous. Throw in Elina Garanca for good measure.