This Week in Opera…

Tomorrow evening is the Opening Night Gala at the Metropolitan Opera! For me, the gala begins at 5:30 p.m., as I tune in to Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor broadcast live via Sirius “Met Opera Radio”.

Natalie Dessay

With this production, the Met kicks off its 2007-08 season and tomorrow night’s Lucia promises to be absolutely exhilarating! The opera features French soprano, Natalie Dessay, in the title role.

I enjoy Dessay, she has an interesting perspective on opera and the roles she plays. When asked about the intimidation of being the fifty-eighth Lucia at the Met, and following in the performance footsteps of such great sopranos as Lily Pons, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, she shrugs it off, “I’m not a musicologist” … “These questions of who sang what, when, how–what can I say?” Needless to say, Dessay doesn’t scour ancient scores to rediscover the embellishments of past performers, rather she focuses on her own intrepretation and performance. Dessay says, “The challenge of Lucia, to me, is to make the character real.” In doing so, she focuses on being musical and theatrical at the same time, which requires great care for the words she sings. Dessay desires to create the illusion of speech in her singing, which is the key to creating the right theatrical performance:

“I try not to remind people that I’m singing instead of speaking. To make that happen, you should sing it really, really well, with deep commitment to the truth, so that you are believable as a character, not as a singer. This is what I want to achieve. Music is not the last goal–it’s a way to achieve the goal which is theater.”

Accompanying Dessay’s Lucia will be Sicilian-born tenor Marcello Giordani, who plays Lucia’s lover Edgardo; Mariusz Kwiecien, her scheming brother Enrico; and John Relyea as the compassionate Raimondo. Maestro James Levine conducts the the performance.

On Tuesday night, another Met performance will be broadcast live over Sirius: Gounod’s sensual interpretation of Shakespeare’s Roméo et Juliette.

Anna Netrebko

Starring the stunning Russian soprano, Anna Netrebko, as Juliette, and tenor Roberto Alagna, as her Roméo. Nathun Gunn will play Romeo’s friend Mercutio, and the incomparable Maestro Plácido Domingo will conduct.

The Met will stage several performances of Roméo et Juliette throughout the season, including their New Year’s Eve gala. Accompanying Netrebko during these performances will be several “high-voltage” Roméos: Roberto Alagna for the first two performances, Joseph Kaiser in his company debut, and Matthew Polenzani for the New Year’s Eve performance. Nathan Gunn and Stéphane Degout will share the role of Mercutio. Rolando Villazón was originally scheduled to star opposite Netrebko, but on the advice of his doctor, has cancelled all performances for the next couple of months. Villazón still remains scheduled to play Roméo during the December 15th matinee performance to be simulcast in movie theaters and recorded for television.

It’s going to be a good week!