Eugene Onegin. An opera by Tchaikovsky at the Metropolitan Opera House. Valery Gergiev conducting, with Renée Fleming, Elena Zaremba, Ramon Vargas and Dimitri Hvorostovsky.
The Metropolitan Opera is enjoying its best season in decades. Hit after hit beginning with the magnificent Minghella production of "Madama Butterfly," a scintillating new "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," Anna Netrebko's star turn in "I Puritani," Karita Mattila in "Jenufa" and perhaps grandest of all - this glorious all star "Eugene Onegin."
Every part in "Eugene Onegin" is cast from strength. Take the Olga of Elena Zaremba, for once, this crucial role is given to a major singer who breaks our hearts as the girl who loses all through her thoughtlessness. Then there is her doomed lover, Lenski, played to perfection by Ramon Vargas who at last has given the complete performance at the Metropolitan that should make him into a bonafide star. This is luxury casting which boasts the beautiful and gifted Renée Fleming, who has often been so lethargic, but opposite the smoldering Hvorostovsky, she now gives the best performance I've seen from her since she leapt into stardom. Fleming sings with her customary creamy tone, but for once, she's passionate and utterly involved - an ideal Tatiana.
But the greatest stars of the evening were the two Russian superstars - the conductor Valery Gergiev who has this music in his bones - never have I heard a better conducted "Eugene Onegin" and the dashing baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky is historically great. I've heard every recording of this popular opera and nearly all of the historical acoustics by the most famous early Russian singers, dating back to the Czarist era, and none have approached Hvorostovsky. But he's no mere vocalist, he's unbelievably handsome - he stands ramrod straight and proud, his voice easily filling the house (we sat in the balcony and his voice rose up to us with ease, in fact it seems to have grown in size and richness over the years since we first heard his New York Debut at Alice Tully Hall). As noted above, history is being made here and now. This landmark "Eugene Onegin" passed the Bridge and Tunnel Test with an A+
The Metropolitan Opera is enjoying its best season in decades. Hit after hit beginning with the magnificent Minghella production of "Madama Butterfly," a scintillating new "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," Anna Netrebko's star turn in "I Puritani," Karita Mattila in "Jenufa" and perhaps grandest of all - this glorious all star "Eugene Onegin."
Every part in "Eugene Onegin" is cast from strength. Take the Olga of Elena Zaremba, for once, this crucial role is given to a major singer who breaks our hearts as the girl who loses all through her thoughtlessness. Then there is her doomed lover, Lenski, played to perfection by Ramon Vargas who at last has given the complete performance at the Metropolitan that should make him into a bonafide star. This is luxury casting which boasts the beautiful and gifted Renée Fleming, who has often been so lethargic, but opposite the smoldering Hvorostovsky, she now gives the best performance I've seen from her since she leapt into stardom. Fleming sings with her customary creamy tone, but for once, she's passionate and utterly involved - an ideal Tatiana.
But the greatest stars of the evening were the two Russian superstars - the conductor Valery Gergiev who has this music in his bones - never have I heard a better conducted "Eugene Onegin" and the dashing baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky is historically great. I've heard every recording of this popular opera and nearly all of the historical acoustics by the most famous early Russian singers, dating back to the Czarist era, and none have approached Hvorostovsky. But he's no mere vocalist, he's unbelievably handsome - he stands ramrod straight and proud, his voice easily filling the house (we sat in the balcony and his voice rose up to us with ease, in fact it seems to have grown in size and richness over the years since we first heard his New York Debut at Alice Tully Hall). As noted above, history is being made here and now. This landmark "Eugene Onegin" passed the Bridge and Tunnel Test with an A+
posted by James Camner | 9:56 AM
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