The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
A scene from Phelim McDermott’s Coney Island “Cosi fan tutte,” from the original production at the English National Opera.
Sondra Radvanovsky, with Angela Meade taking over later in the run. McVicar will then go on, on New Year’s Eve, to replace the Luc Bondy “Tosca,” an early Peter Gelb project that drew a lot of heat, with a new one starring Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel; in April, Anna Netrebko will take over the title role.
The other standard opera to get a new production is “Cosi fan tutte,” which will arrive in the Phelim McDermott production that opened at the English National Opera in 2014, set on Coney Island, with Amanda Majeski as Fiordiligi and Kelli O’Hara as Despina.
The Met’s music director emeritus James Levine will conduct four concert performances of the Verdi Requiem, and productions of “The Magic Flute,” “Il Trovatore,” and “Luisa Miller.”
Placido Domingo will lead the revival of the new “Romeo et Juliette,” with Ailyn Perez and Bryan Hymel.
The real interest on the conducting front, however, are two revivals led by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the Met’s music director designate: the Francois Girard “Parsifal,” with Klaus Florian Vogt, and the acclaimed Patrice Chereau “Elektra,” with Christine Goerke.
Another notable revival is Rossini’s “Semiramide,” with Meade, Elizabeth DeShong, and Javier Camarena, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Among the standard-repertoire pieces are Pretty Yende and Matthew Polenzani in “Elisir d’amore,” a “Lucia” with Olga Peretyatko or Yende opposite Vittorio Grigolo or Michael Fabiano, and possibly even “Thais” with Perez and Gerald Finley. There’s also “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” (featuring Grigolo and Tara Erraught in her Met debut) “Butterfly,” “Turandot,” “Boheme,” “Cav/Pag” (with Roberto Alagna, with Nicola Luisotti conducting; probably worth a look), “Nozze di Figaro,” and Susan Graham as “The Merry Widow.”