Metropolitan Opera – Verdi’s Il Trovatore. February 6, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Balcony (Seat B111, $92.50).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Marco Armiliato.  Ferrando – Kwangchul Youn, Leonora – Jennifer Rowley, Count di Lun – Luca Salsi, Manrico – Yonghoon Lee, Azucena – Dolora Zajick.

We have seen this opera before, twice.  Once in 2009, and the second time in 2012 was with Pastor Al and Miss Ruth.  Pastor Al passed away in 2014, and we just visited Miss Ruth in Florida a few days before.  People change, yet this opera has been around for a good 150 years or so (I am typing this inside a plane and thus am guessing a bit.)  We saw the 652^nd performance by the Met, making this an opera of medium high popularity.

The set was designed by David McVicar, and was first used in 2009.  So it looked familiar, and a little tired; time for a refresh soon, I suspect.  The fire pit, which gave me a sense of dread when I first saw it, now looked familiar.  Indeed, the word “familiar” fits much of what I saw today.  Perhaps I finally figured out how the story hangs together, so I could anticipate the drama that was unfolding on stage.

Or perhaps this was a performance that didn’t quite measure up.  At the risk of being racially insensitive, I should point out two of the (five or six) main characters were Koreans.  Korea must have a long tradition of vocal training as many soloists in the Met roster are from that country.  Youn as Ferrando was quite impressive, strong and clear.  Manrico carried himself enthusiastically on stage, and has a very strong voice.  However, he sounded rough at times.  I saw Rowley a couple of times before, once in Princeton, and once substituting for Racette as Roxane in Cyrano.  Quite a career trajectory.  However, she sounded unrefined at times.

I remember from last time how haunting Azucena sounded in one of the arias.  Today I was listening with anticipation, and – alas – didn’t feel it.  Zajick had to be very familiar with the role: she was in the 2009 and 2012 productions I saw.  After the intermission it was announced that she was sick, and couldn’t continue.  I didn’t get the name of her replacement, but she filled in without skipping a beat, even though the heavy lifting occurred in the first two acts.  I couldn’t see a prompter’s box on stage, which made it very impressive.

Curtain Call.  From left: Salsi as Count di Luna, Rowley as , Armiliato conductor, Lee as Manrico, Rachvelishvili as Azucena, and Youn as Ferrando.

Attendance was not very good tonight.  Most of the row behind us was empty, and we moved to it after the intermission.

The New York Times review was also mixed for Lee and Rowley, calling the latter's singing sympathetic, but never galvanizes.  Turns out Rowley is also replacing an ill colleague.  It also mentions Anita Rachvelishvili as being a great Azucena.

Ellie was away on business, so Anne and I went up to Hoboken to see the grandkids, Anne also prepared dinner for them.  For us dinner was at Europan.  Driving into and out of New York was quite straightforward this time of the year.