Looking forward: the 2012-13 Met season announcement, annotated

As in previous years, operas are listed in order of first appearance. Some one-off cast combinations are omitted.

L'Elisir d'Amore (new Bartlett Sher production)
Netrebko, Polenzani, Kwiecien, Maestri / Benini (opening night through October)
Netrebko, Polenzani, Kwiecien, TBA / Benini (late January through early February)
Anna Netrebko gets a second consecutive opening night.  Nemorino is an excellent part for Matthew Polenzani, but I don't expect this to be any more satisfying for non-Netrebko fans than her previous shot (when her voice was better suited to such parts) at Donizetti comedy. I'd grade Bartlett Sher as one-for-three at the Met so far (Hoffmann yes, Barber and Comte Ory no), but his misses are at least inoffensive.

Turandot
Guleghina, Gerzmava, Berti, Morris / Ettinger (September through early October)
Theorin, Kizart, Giordani, Morris / Ettinger (October 30 through early November)
Theorin, Gerzmava, Fraccaro, Ramey / Ettinger (January)
An interesting pair of Lius, and Maria Guleghina seems to be herself again after an atrocious Turandot run several seasons ago, but the tenor lineup isn't exactly exciting.

Carmen
Royal, Rachvelishvili, Lee, Ketelsen / Mariotti (September 28 through October)
Scherbachenko, Rachvelishvili, Richards, Rhodes / Mariotti (February through March 1)
Young old-school mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili gets two runs, the first with excellent young Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee and the second with debutant Andrew Richards, who may have commented on this blog at some point...  A much more appetizing revival than the Turandot.

Il Trovatore
Giannattasio, Zajick, TBA, Vassallo, Robinson / Callegari (September 29 through early October)
Radvanovsky, Zajick, TBA, Vassallo, Robinson / Callegari (October)
Racette, Blythe, Berti, Markov, Stamboglis / Callegari (January)
Wasn't Anja Harteros supposed to be in this?  Not that the sopranos are objectionable -- it's the men who are eyebrow-raising.  It seems absurd to announce this show with no leading tenor attached, and it's hard to imagine the same Franco Vassallo who previously couldn't make an impact as Belcore now turning in a commanding di Luna.  Angela Meade has a single performance as Leonora on January 16.

Otello
Fleming, Botha, Fabiano, Struckmann / Bychkov (October)
Stoyanova, Cura, Dolgov, Hampson / Domingo (March)
Fall run:  revival of a classic 2008 cast, not to be missed.
Spring run:  bizarre in nearly every way, significant train-wreck possibility.

The Tempest (new Robert Lepage production)
Luna, Leonard, Davies, Shrader, Oke, Burden, Spence, Keenlyside / Adès (October-November)
I know nothing about this piece, but I'm pretty sure it can't be as irritating an attempt at unwriting the original Shakespeare as this season's Enchanted Island was.

Le Nozze di Figaro
Kovalevska, Erdmann, Schäfer, Finley, Abdrazakov / Robertson (October-November)
Very promising cast for this revival, though Mojca Erdmann is again in a part that's perhaps not quite high enough for her voice to shine.

Un Ballo in Maschera (new David Alden production)
Mattila, Kim, Zajick, Álvarez, Hvorostovsky / Luisi (November)
Mattila, Kim, Blythe, Álvarez, Hvorostovsky / Luisi (November-December)
I was hoping for this show with Radvanovsky and Calleja. No complaint -- obviously -- about Mattila, but as much as I enjoy Alvarez's artistry... Many will surely complain about Hvorostovsky lacking vocal weight, but if his concert with Radvanovsky was any indication, he can bring enough of his own particular electricity to make it a largely-incidental matter. Whether Alden's production will be helpful, incidental, or ruinous is another matter.

La Clemenza di Tito
Crowe, Frittoli, Garanca, Lindsey, Filianoti, Gradus / Bicket (November-December)
It's Garanca, not Lindsey, as Sesto. Not sure this is for the best.

Aida
Monastyrska, Borodina, Berti, Mastromarino, Kocán, Sebestyén / Luisi (November)
He, Borodina, Berti, Mastromarino, Kocán, Sebestyén / Luisi (December)
Monastyrska, Borodina, Alagna, Gagnidze, Kocán, Sebestyén / Luisi (December)
He, Borodina, Alagna, Gagnidze, Kocán, Sebestyén / Luisi (December)
Many different parts around Olga Borodina's Amneris. I suppose Fabio Luisi's appearance in this war-horse means he's serious about the Met commitment.

Don Giovanni
Phillips, Bell, Siurina, Castronovo, Abdrazakov, Schrott, Soar, Aceto / Gardner (late November through December)
After a spate of more baritonal Dons, Ildar Abdrazakov brings his bassy charisma to the part. Erwin Schrott, whom I've elsewhere found lacking in the humane element, is an interesting and perhaps inspired choice for Leporello. Exciting to see Susanna Phllips get a big Mozart part here again.

Les Troyens
Voigt, Graham, Cargill, Giordani, Cutler, Croft, Youn / Luisi (December-January)
It seems that Susan Graham has been waiting forever for this revival -- and in fact it will have been almost a decade since that magic first run with Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson's great Met triumph as Didon. Not sure what vocal form the other principals will show, but I think I'll miss Matthew Polenzani's utterly perfect Iopas this time...

The Barber of Seville (abridged holiday version)
Leonard, Shrader, Pogossov, Del Carlo, Bisch / Abel (December-January)
As usual for these holiday shows, the casting is pretty good.

Maria Stuarda (new David McVicar production)
van den Heever, DiDonato, Meli, Hopkins, Rose / Benini (New Year's Eve through January)
Finally, a big Joyce DiDonato bel canto vehicle -- and with the heralded debut of soprano Elza van den Heever to boot. McVicar's Anna Bolena was tasteful and literal and dull, but his promise of a "freer" physical production for this Donizetti installment is a good sign.

La Rondine
Opolais, Christy, Filianoti, Brenciu, Croft / Marin (January)
Kristine Opolais was supposed to have debut in last season's Boheme (as Musetta), but didn't for whatever reason. There's good music in this opera, but I'm not sure it will be half as interesting without the meta-angle that Angela Gheorghiu brought to its last run. Incidentally, Ion Marin hasn't conducted at the Met since 1993.

Le Comte Ory
Machaidze, Deshayes, Resmark, Flórez, Gunn, Ulivieri / Benini (January-February)
The least appealing Florez vehicle to date gets a revival with the impressive but perhaps miscast Nino Machaidze and no Joyce DiDonato.

Rigoletto (new Michael Mayer production)
Damrau, Volkova, Beczala, Lucic, Kocán / Mariotti (late January through February)
Oropesa, Herrera, Grigolo, Gagnidze, Iori / Armiliato (April through May 1)
I don't think the first cast can work (excellent singing, poor fit-to-part), and Vittorio Grigolo's unbearable and overhyped debut has me quite wary of the otherwise-promising spring lineup. As for the new Las Vegas-set production, who knows?

Parsifal (new François Girard production)
Dalayman, Kaufmann, Mattei, Nikitin, Pape / Gatti (February-March)
Dalayman, Kaufmann, Mattei, Nikitin, Pape / Fisch (March)
When the most doubtful part of a cast is Jonas Kaufmann (who wasn't that great in his last Wagner outing here), you've got one heck of a promising show. This is Girard's first big-house/standard-rep show; he of course directed the film 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.

Don Carlo
Radvanovsky, Smirnova, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Furlanetto, Halfvarson / Maazel (February-March)
A fantastic cast that perhaps should have been the premiere lineup.

Francesca da Rimini
Westbroek, Giordani, Brubaker, Delavan / Armiliato (March)
Mark Delavan returns! Not sure how well the rest will go.

La Traviata
Damrau, Pirgu, Domingo / Nézet-Séguin (March-April)
Promising young tenor (Saimir Pirgu) and the season's only scheduled appearances by great conductorial hope Yannick Nézet-Séguin, but it's already past time for Gelb to kill this insultingly stupid & bathetic Willy Decker nonsense under the rubric of having many and rapid new productions. Violetta and papa Germont allow a range of voices, but Diana Damrau and Placido Domingo nevertheless aren't the most obvious choices for these either...

Faust
Poplavskaya, Boulianne, Beczala, Markov, Relyea / Altinoglu (March-April)
Another good tenor, but the rest isn't inspiring. I really liked Marina Poplavskaya's Elisabetta, but her utter humorlessness is a terrible fit for Marguerite.

Giulio Cesare
Dessay, Coote, Bardon, Daniels, Dumaux, Loconsolo / Bicket (April-May)
Dessay's Cleopatra worth the rest? Depends.

Dialogues des Carmélites
Leonard, Racette, Morley, Bishop, Palmer, Appleby / Langrée (May)
This show always works, but I'm not sure Louis Langree is the man to conduct it.

The Ring
Voigt, Morris, Delavan / Luisi (Cycle 1)
Dalayman, Morris, Delavan / Luisi (Cycle 2)
Voigt, Cleveman, Grimsley / Luisi (Cycle 3)
Mark Delavan's Met return is in fact rather huge, with two Ring cycles. The casting as a whole is a bit less starry than this year's, but the staging kinks may have been worked out by 2013.

Back

After some rather distracting upheaval in my life, posting to the blog will resume immediately. To begin: a post looking forward (the next Met season), and a post looking backward (all unreviewed shows I've seen in 2012).

The week in NY opera (Jan. 30-Feb. 5)

Last week in New York opera was rather eventful, with of course the premiere of the last installment of the Lepage Ring at the Met. This week turns more bel canto...

Metropolitan Opera
Enchanted Island (M), Götterdämmerung (T/F), Anna Bolena (W/SM), Ernani (Th), Barber (SE)
Five different shows this week. Enchanted Island ends its run tonight, while Ernani -- with a starry cast -- returns for the first time this season. Twilight features Deborah Voigt again tomorrow and Katarina Dalayman (excellent in 2009) on Friday. Meanwhile Anna Bolena and Barber return from the fall, the former with Anna Netrebko again (Angela Meade, who did well, is in Ernani) and the latter with Diana Damrau.
I'm of course seeing Twilight, but this revival of Verdi's deliriously and infectiously fatalistic early masterpiece Ernani is the show I've been most looking forward to this season.

Carnegie Hall
Susan Graham recital (W)
Europa Galante concert (Th)
Graham sings mostly German and French songs connected to Ophelia, Mignon, and other classic Romantic figures, while Europa Galante showcases another mezzo -- Vivica Genaux -- in a mostly-Vivaldi event.

Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater (Juilliard School)
Rossini double-bill (F/SuM)
Juilliard Opera offers two one-act Rossini operas: La cambiale di matrimonio and La scala di seta.

Belated anniversary 1

In December, this blog had its seventh anniversary. I had some thoughts on the subject, but I think I'll save them for the next birthday proper. Nevertheless, a year (December-December) of the more interesting posts here:

On the baloney brutality of Willy Decker's Traviata
On Meyerbeer's L'Africane
On Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and Russian Francophilia
On Schubert's Edenic Die schöne Müllerin
On Strauss' Capriccio
On Lully's Atys
Review: Siegfried
On Angela Gheorghiu and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur

The week in NY opera (January 16-22)

Metropolitan Opera:
Faust (M/Th), Enchanted Island (T*/SM), Tosca (W/SE)
Aleksandrs Antonenko brings his forceful tenor to Tosca.
* Tuesday's (starred) Enchanted Island is the one just before this Saturday's matinee moviecast, which means that the camera equipment and lights will be out in force. Do not sit in side orchestra, front orchestra, or side parterre -- the house is not interested in optimizing patron experience on these nights, but in making the eventual broadcast go well.

Carnegie Hall:
Megan Hart/Elliot Madore recital (Monday 5:30PM)
Mireille Asselin/José Rubio recital (Wednesday 5:30PM)
The Song Continues... Annual Recital (Th)
American Symphony concert (F)
Most of the interest this week is in the events of "The Song Continues...", which include the above duo recitals by young singers, masterclasses by Marilyn Horne, Renee Fleming, and Graham Johnson, and Friday's concluding mixed recital with, among others, guest star Joyce DiDonato. Friday's ASO concert is mostly non-operatic vocal material by Stravinsky, but it does include his short neo-classical opera Mavra.

Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Thomas Hampson recital (Sunday 7PM)
A program of American songs to coincide with the opening of the (other) Met's New American Wing.

The week in NY opera (January 9-15)

The calendar is slowly, slowly coming out of holiday slowness.

Metropolitan Opera:
Faust (M/F), Tosca (T/SM), Enchanted Island (Th/SE)
Although Calleja dropped out ill after the first intermission of his first scheduled Faust, he's again on the calendar this week. Tosca -- with Racette, Alagna, Gagnidze, and new conductor Mikko Franck -- starts its season tomorrow. My own bit of illness has kept me from writing up a full Enchanted Island post, but for now I'll just say it's terrible theater with some good singing.

Carnegie Hall:
Met Orchestra concert (Sunday 3pm)
Not exactly opera, though there's a fair amount of singing: Mahler songs on the first half and Barber and Herrmann opera excerpts in the second. Renee Fleming seems reasonably well suited to the latter and not at all to the former. Perhaps more interesting is the one-off return of former Met Orchestra principal clarinet Steve Williamson, who was poached by the Chicago Symphony before this season. Williamson's remarkable way with a romantic phrase made the much-discussed departure of his predecessor Ricardo Morales (to Philly) a change rather than a loss. Now, though the Met's other excellent clarinet principal Anthony McGill (also soloing in this program) remains, the orchestra is no longer two-deep in the same way, and events like the first-cast run of Faust -- without McGill -- are less for it. (If last week is any indication, McGill may be playing in these latter Fausts.)

The week in NY opera (January 2-8)

Metropolitan Opera:
Fille (M/F), Hansel&Gretel (T/SM), Enchanted Island (W/SE), Faust (Th)
Although there aren't any new shows this week, there are two notable turns: first, Wednesday's first regular (non-holiday, non-gala) chance to see The Enchanted Island, and second, Thursday's debut of the season's third Faust cast. Joseph Calleja, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Kate Lindsey are exciting additions to the latter who might perhaps offset Marina Poplavskaya's excessively humorless Marguerite.

Faust, cast 2

Faust - Metropolitan Opera, 12/23/2011
Byström, Alagna, Mulligan, Pape / Nézet-Séguin

It works, it works, it works! Never mind the vocal issues -- that Alagna is (as was announced at the worst possible time) indisposed and that Malin Byström is, um, a mezzo. Having a pair of leads actually interested in telling the story makes all the difference.

It's the virtues that stand out. Alagna in French has a conversational-improvisational way with phrases that puts even his difficulties in a favorable light. Met debutante Byström, with her lovely mezzo sound and disconnected/iffy top notes (and fake trill, which makes me wonder how the dramatic coloratura stuff she sings might go), in any case inhabits the part of Marguerite more completely and continuously -- from flightiness to rapture to... everything else -- than any predecessor I can remember, and certainly more so than the all-too-grounded Poplavskaya. Between them they bring the charge of significance to the whole of the opera, and their engagement in Act III as well as the latter acts brings out even more of conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin's magic. (This show was, I think, his finest work here since Carmen.) Even the production, for all its suboptimal choices, makes its real strength clear: an (apparently) unironic appreciation and awe for the power of traditional Christian piety. (It's not really from Goethe's text, but is much of what makes the actual opera tick.)

Vocal force for the evening was provided by not only Rene Pape but baritone Brian Mulligan, who has been singing at the Met since 2003 but got his first real solo chance here. His firm, masculine, easily Met-sized sound was the evening's revelation, and deserves more opportunities than the single cover's performance he got here.

Mulligan won't be back on Wednesday with the rest of this cast (Russell Braun, who lacked the vocal force to make an impact in Valentin's lyric parts, returns), but the magnitude of Friday's success makes the second and last Alagna/Byström Faust a must-see[-again].

The week in NY opera (Dec. 26-Jan. 1)

Another slow holiday week for opera.

Metropolitan Opera:
Hansel&Gretel (M/ThM/FM), Butterfly (T/F), Faust (W), Fille (Th), Enchanted Island (SE)
Due to the holidays there are 11am matinees on Thursday and Friday, but no Saturday matinee. The only big change from last week: the debut of The Enchanted Island, a baroque mashup on the frame of Shakespeare's Tempest. Seems promising, though as with other shows they've loaded the deck in its favor by premiering it for the New Year's Eve gala crowd.
Don't miss the second and last Alagna/Byström Faust on Wednesday.

The week in NY opera (Dec. 19-25)

'twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house(s)... Well, not much was going on. Except the usual Messiahs.

Metropolitan Opera:
Fille (M/SM), Faust (T/F), Hansel&Gretel (W/SE), Butterfly (Th)
I've heard much good about Liping Zhang's Butterfly, and with Yves Abel conducting this week and next, it seems worth a look. The big change, though, is Malin Byström's Met debut in Friday's Faust -- perhaps she and Alagna for Poplavskaya and Kaufmann will bring the non-Pape portions of the show to life.

The week in NY opera (Dec. 12-18)

Metropolitan Opera:
Fille (M/Th), Faust (T/SE), Butterfly (W/SM), Hansel&Gretel (F)
Two new arrivals: Fille du Regiment, with Brownlee and recent arrival Nino Machaidze -- unfortunately in another chirpy part not hugely suited to her serious talents -- and the holiday/English-language Hansel&Gretel. Two conducting debuts: Robin Ticciati in H&G and Pierre Vallet in Saturday's Faust. One show you should keep avoiding until Domingo is out of the pit: Butterfly.

Carnegie Hall:
Chiara Taigi recital (M)
Iestyn Davies recital (Th)
Taigi, the winner of OONY's Vidda Award and Selika in that company's March L'africane, sings operatic material accompanied by Eve Queler and some OONY players; Davies -- the better (and not entirely by default, though Scholl was poor indeed) countertenor in this season's Rodelinda -- offers British and German songs and some new traditional-song arrangements by Nico Muhly.  Both of these are in the small Weill hall.

Avery Fisher Hall:
Little Orchestra Society Amahl and the Night Visitors (Saturday 11am/1pm)
Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas opera, for kids.

The week in NY opera (Dec. 5-11)

Metropolitan Opera:
Butterfly (M/F), Faust (T*/SM), Rodelinda (W/SE), Boheme (Th)
Madama Butterfly appears for the first time this season, but with Placido Domingo in the pit. He still can't conduct, and his presence in the month's-end Handel mash-up likely isn't selling any further tickets, so why is the Met still (embarrassingly) indulging him? Meanwhile with Faust and Rodelinda so imperfectly cast, the one show of note this week may be the last Boheme of the season. Sopranos Hibla Gerzmava and Susanna Phillips are marvelous therein, and though the men aren't really up to the bohemiennes' standard (lead tenor Dmitri Pittas seems either unwell or to have developed flaws in his voice he hadn't previously exhibited), they're fully in the show's spirit. Backed by Louis Langree's well- and much-shaped conducting, it's a "wet eye" run despite all flaws.
* Tuesday's (starred) Faust is the one just before this Saturday's matinee moviecast, which means that the camera equipment and lights will be out in force. Do not sit in side orchestra, front orchestra, or side parterre -- the house is not interested in optimizing patron experience on these nights, but in making the eventual broadcast go well.

Carnegie Hall:
Karita Mattila recital (SE)
Even if the material (French stuff, Sallinen, and Joseph Marx) isn't necessarily that interesting, Mattila herself always is.

DiCapo Opera Theatre:
Iolanta (Th/SE)
A new production of Tchaikovsky's one-act opera.

Heartless

Faust - Metropolitan Opera, 11/29/2011
Poplavskaya, Kaufmann, Braun, Pape / Nézet-Séguin

If all's well that ends well, this new Met Faust was a worthy success: the final scene, as often, wrapped things up in excellent style and strong feeling. But before that...

This time it's not at all Rene Pape's fault. Since his participation as Mephistopheles in the previous Met Faust's premiere six-and-a-half years ago, Pape has actually learned the part and made it -- and the opera -- his. No longer does he stand, wait for the prompter, and sing: now we see the full range of Pape's sounds, moods, and personality, and he rules every scene he's in.

Nor is it the fault of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who again conducts excellently, nor even of baritone Russell Braun, who is decent if undistinguished as Valentin. Mezzo Michele Losier in fact shows well in her small part (Siebel).

No, the main problem here lies with the two lovers, who between them had neither chemistry nor lyric feeling. As Marguerite, the now-ubiquitous Marina Poplavskaya was a pretty good Jenufa. With Jonas Kaufmann -- well, like one of those eye trick images, now that I've seen him as flawed I can't un-see it. Here he was strong, correct, but uninspired for the first Act, crooned awfully in the love duets for the next Acts, and launched some impressive climactic high notes for the last two. So the show's last part -- with Marguerite dramatically distraught and Faust given phrase-capping high notes -- played to their strengths, but the entire romance arc about which the story revolves was, well, nonexistent, flat, and boring. It's not really clear to me why either of these singers is even doing these parts: lyric phrasing & lines are not the pair's strength.

Des McAnuff's new production doesn't really demand much comment. There's a bit of a "concept" frame, but it's fairly innocuous as far as such things go, and is a decent fit for those modern folk who -- like Goethe himself -- have a hard time really believing in damnation or tragedy proper. The main problem is that it's ugly -- the green lighting for the Walpurgisnacht was a big mistake -- and looks cheap, more on the ENO budget scale (where, in fact, the production originated) than the Met's. It's not as stupid as the Andrei Serban production it replaced, but that had a crude vulgar vigor that this sadly lacks. We saw it at curtain call, where the production folks were neither particularly bravoed nor booed, but mostly given polite, dead applause. Yes, it's not even worth booing.

I did like debuting choreographer Kelly Devine's "Thriller"-zombie dance during the Golden Calf song, though.

*     *     *
This was, of course, supposed to have starred Gheorghiu and Kaufmann -- before Gheorghiu got tossed in the lead-up to another Gounod opera (Roméo et Juliette) last season. Even if she can't actually sing the part these days (and maybe she can), one can't help but think that Gheorghiu would have again at least made Kaufmann more interesting.

Wait for the next casts -- perhaps Swedish newcomer Malin Byström is the Marguerite that Poplavskaya is not. But do see Rene Pape before he goes, even if his replacement (with the Calleja cast) is the ageless Ferruccio Furlanetto.

Being Angela Gheorghiu

Adriana Lecouvreur - Opera Orchestra of New York, 11/8/2011
Gheorghiu, Kaufmann, Rachvelishvili, Maestri / Veronesi

I had not rushed out this review because, among other things, I'd thought it self-evidently the first great night New Yorkers have had this season. Apparently this sentiment was not universal, but that's opera fans for you.

From audience response in the hall, one might have thought the prime success to be Jonas Kaufmann's. Contra Maury, though, I disagree. Kaufmann -- both in voice and phrasing -- sings in grand fragments that for many (most, perhaps, given his current popularity) suggest, like some ancient ruin, a grander whole than can any full rendition. But it's not a full rendition, and as impressive and impeccable as Kaufmann may be at climaxes and as much as his characteristic persona may bolster this fragmentarily-presented grandeur, Kaufmann frustratingly leaves a lot of musical and expressive possibility on the table.

No, the evening was Angela Gheorghiu's, and thoroughly so. With Gheorghiu -- more than any other singer I can think of -- the process of her art is visible on the very surface. Results vary: where, as in Boheme, simplicity is wanted, it's not really within Gheorghiu's power to deliver. On the other hand, in a more fit part (like Rondine's Magda) Gheorghiu's hyperdeveloped artifice -- and the peculiar form of sincerity with which it fits -- can be near-incomparably rewarding. It doesn't have to be the most elaborate part: layering her high-stakes business into a part can give even the rustic duality of Elisir's lead flirt Adina unexpected and moving depths. But in fact Adriana Lecouvreur is the ideal Gheorghiu part, even more so than Rondine... or at least it was on this occasion.

Gheorghiu and Kaufmann in fact did the piece a year ago in London, to I believe good notices -- though not necessarily so good as to overshadow the cancellation drama associated with the run. Here, at Carnegie Hall, liberated from repetition and staging and all of the machinery of a full opera production in a house, we got face to face with Gheorghiu's full engagement in a role.

Adriana, like Tosca, is a performer, a theater person full of great impractical urges and moods. But unlike Tosca (who is caught in Real Events and does not do well), Adriana lives -- for the duration of the opera -- in a world suited to her character if not her happines: a back- and around-stage world that's all intrigues, rivalries, and passions. In this world she is (and can be without ridiculousness) both naif and intriguer, priestess and victim, exalted and humble. Her apparent rivalry with fellow-actress Duclos turns out to be imagined, but the hidden one with the Princess de Bouillon turns out be real -- and fatal.

It's this rivalry that defines Adriana, and I think attracted Gheorghiu. Love is the prize, but the fight itself is on the social battleground of status. Here Adriana is the underdog: her artistic prowess is acknowledged and gives her a place, but it's a vague, amorphous one, not to be set easily in that world against the grand eminence of the Princess. And yet she wins: humiliating the Princess in the latter's own home and, eventually, getting her high-noble beloved to ask for her hand in marriage outright, political consequences be damned. But then she dies, because one in her position can't have a more-than-transitory victory... or something like that. (It's usually best not to dive too deeply into the "why"s of a Scribe story.)

Gheorghiu, an underdog romantic heroine? One might have struggled to believe it during that London run, not only for her elaborate and visible style but for the obvious worldly superstardom decorating all her appearances. But on this night, in New York, in her first show here after publicly becoming persona non grata at the Met for the second straight administration, one could believe... well, not perhaps that Gheorghiu was today a humble and humble-born servant of the muses with no solid place in the world, but at least that she might sincerely see herself that way, or want to, even as she wove her elaborate magic.

And weave she did, from Adriana's wonderful entrance song, wonderfully presented, to a final-act love duet with Kaufmann so compellingly sincere (on both sides -- in stark contrast to what we saw from Kaufmann on Tuesday) that I wondered if we weren't witnessing something a public really shouldn't. It's for triumphs like this that Gheorghiu's name was made, and will perhaps be remade again here.

*     *     *
Anita Rachvelishvili's retro presence (last seen here in Carmen with Gheorghiu's on-off-and-is-it-on-again-now spouse Roberto Alagna) was an excellent foil as the Princess. The young Georgian mezzo's voice isn't quite settled at the top or bottom extremes, but the sheer consistent weight and texture of the sound and her fiery way with a phrase made her a joy to hear throughout. Also welcome was baritone Ambrogio Maestri: his pleasant sound and humane touch as Adriana's mentor and secret admirer rounded out the show well.

As for the opera, well, it is pretty much nonsensical in its actual turns, but the scenes it provides are all effective and dramatically sensible as they come. Maury's comparison to Gioconda is fair, though a great Adriana -- as here -- provides a unity to the piece that's difficult with the Ponchielli opera.

The week in NY opera (Nov. 28-Dec. 4)

UPDATE 11/30: spotted Sunday's event on my calendar this time

Metropolitan Opera:
Boheme (M/F), Faust (T/SE), Rodelinda (W*/SM), Satyagraha (Th)
Tuesday is the gala Met premiere of Des McAnuff's ENO-import Faust, with Jonas Kaufmann as the first of the show's three star tenors this season. In Levine's extended absence, Yannick Nézet-Séguin's work therein may turn out to be the first conductorially-exciting event of the season. Meanwhile, those interested in Rodelinda should be careful: Wednesday's (starred) show is the one just before this Saturday's matinee moviecast, which means that the camera equipment and lights will be out in force. Do not sit in side orchestra, front orchestra, or side parterre -- the house is not interested in optimizing patron experience on these nights, but in making the eventual broadcast go well.

Carnegie Hall:
Ian Bostridge recital (M)
Collegiate Chorale Moïse et Pharaon (W)
Bostridge's main-hall appearance is accompanied by composer Thomas Ades, whose own work is on the program, helping to balance by obscurity some well-known peaks of the song repertory (Schumann's Dichterliebe and part of Schubert's Schwanengesang). But the really elaborate rarity is on Wednesday, with a concert performance of Rossini's opera in French. The cast includes James Morris, Angela Meade, Marina Rebeka, and others...

Alice Tully Hall:
Michele Losier recital (Th)
The French-Canadian mezzo (a Met Council finalist some years ago) sings an all-French program.

Frick Collection:
Renata Pokupić recital (Sunday 5pm)
Schumann, Faure, Kunc, Barber, and Weill.