Egyptian-born soprano Amina Edris (above, photo by Capucine de Chocqueuse) sings “Dis-moi que je suis belle” from Massenet’s Thaïs at a concert in Prague with the Prague Philharmonia, conducted by Lukasz Borowicz.
Watch and listen here.
Ms. Edris will be making her Metropolitan Opera debut in April 2025 as Mimi in La Boheme.
Teresa Stratas and Placido Domingo are Mimi and Rodolfo in a scene from Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME from a 1970 televised Gala Performance given at Sadlers Wells in London. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts.
Watch and listen here.
Above: Maria Agresta and Charles Castronovo in LA BOHEME; a MetOpera photo
Saturday January 22md, 2022 matinee – This performance had its ups and downs, The conducting of Carlo Rizzi was hit-or-miss; he sometimes allowed the orchestra to swamp the singers. But I did like his speedy take on the first several minutes of the Cafe Momus scene.
Charles Castronovo repeated his very persuasive Rodolfo from the November run. His singing is emotional without straying from the notes, and he has both power and subtlety in perfect measure. His Mimi this afternoon, Maria Agresta, sounded sadly out-of-sorts, her vibrato prominent, and her highest notes not entirely comfortable. Offsetting these reservations was her congenial phrasing and some lovely piano effects.
Lucas Meachem (above) was a magnificent Marcello, making every phrase count. The voice is large and warm, and he handily dominated the ensemble ‘reprise’ of the “Musetta Waltz” theme in Act II. His duet with Ms. Agresta in Act III was impressively sung. Gabriella Reyes screeched and shrilled Musetta’s lines at first, but settled in for a nice rendering of the Waltz; I feel that she might be better cast as Mimi.
Alexander Birch Elliott was a fine Schaunard, despite having to cope with lacklustre conducting from Mr. Rizzi. I liked Peter Kellner’s Colline very much, too, but the thought of enduring a second Gelb intermission caused me to head home without hearing his “Vecchia zimara“.
The House was substantially full, and there was surprise applause after the Bohemians dismissed Benoit in Act I. Lots of noisy chatter from the ceiling lighting bay during Act I was distracting, and the interminable first intermission simply killed whatever dramatic impetus the opera had going.
Metropolitan Opera House
Janaury 22nd, 2022 matinee
LA BOHÈME
Giacomo Puccini
Mimì....................Maria Agresta
Rodolfo.................Charles Castronovo
Musetta.................Gabriella Reyes
Marcello................Lucas Meachem
Schaunard...............Alexander Birch Elliot
Colline.................Peter Kellner
Benoit..................Donald Maxwell
Alcindoro...............Donald Maxwell
Parpignol...............Gregory Warren
Sergeant................Jonathan Scott
Officer.................Ned Hanlon
Conductor...............Carlo Rizzi
~ Oberon
Jolanda Meneguzzer (above) and Costanzo Gero in a scene from Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME. The recording is from 1970, with the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Firenze conducted by Erasmo Ghiglia. Listen here.
Ms. Meneguzzer is a singer whose name I had often heard in my earlier days of operatic obsession, but I’d never heard the voice til now. Born in Cantù, Italy, around 1930, she studied in Florence and made her operatic debut in 1957 in Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO at the Maggio Musicale. Her career centered mainly in Italy, but she made her American debut San Francisco as Maria in FIGLIA DEL REGIMENTO in 1962, and she appeared briefly at The Met during the 1963-1964 season as Musetta and Gilda.
Jolanda Meneguzzer sings Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate here…
…and a sampling of her Musetta:
Jolanda Meneguzzer – Musetta’s Waltz – with Scotto-Poggi-Gobbi
Ms. Meneguzzer passed away in June 2020, at the age of 90.
Teresa Stratas and Vasile Moldoveanu sing the love duet that ends Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME.
Listen here.
Teresa Stratas and Vasile Moldoveanu sing the love duet that ends Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME.
Listen here.
Nadine Sierra sang Mimi’s narrative “Mi chiamano Mimí” from LA BOHEME for the Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala on April 25th, 2020. Watch and listen here.
Nadine Sierra sang Mimi’s narrative “Mi chiamano Mimí” from LA BOHEME for the Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala on April 25th, 2020. Watch and listen here.
Above: Gianni Raimondi as Rodolfo in LA BOHEME
Tenor Gianni Raimondi was born at Bologna in 1923. He made his operatic debut in 1947 as the Duke in RIGOLETTO and was soon singing in opera houses throughout Italy. His career expanded to Nice, Marseille, Monte Carlo, Paris, London…
…and La Scala, where, in 1956, Mr. Raimondi made his debut in Luchino Visconti now-legendary production of LA TRAVIATA starring Maria Callas.
Callas and Raimondi (above) reunited the following year as Anna and Percy in Donizetti’s ANNA BOLENA. 1957 also marked the tenor’s debut at Vienna, where he was to appear regularly for twenty seasons.
In 1963, the Vienna State Opera’s production of LA BOHEME, under the direction of Herbert von Karajan, was filmed for posterity; Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi appeared as Mimi and Rodolfo. The performance is available on DVD.
Having debuted at San Francisco (1957) and the Teatro Colon (1959), Mr. Raimondi made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Rodolfo in BOHEME in 1965, opposite Ms. Freni.
Above: Freni and Raimondi in BOHEME
BOHEME was the only opera I saw Raimondi in at The Met. The performance was in September 1968, and his Mimi was Teresa Stratas; they were among the most moving of all the many interpreters of these roles I have seen thru the decades. My diary says the tenor was “…terrific…great upper range…beautiful portrayal…”
Mr. Raimondi remained at the Met until 1969; his other roles there were Pinkerton, Donizetti’s Edgardo, Faust, the Duke of Mantua, and Mario Cavaradossi. In 1968, the tenor joined Regine Crespin and Gabriel Bacquier in a thrilling broadcast performance of TOSCA, with Zubin Mehta conducting.
In the 1970s, Raimondi took on the spinto tenor roles in NORMA, I MASNADIERI, I VESPRI SIVILIANI, and SIMON BOCCANEGRA.
Following his retirement from the stage, the tenor lived in his villa by the sea at Riccione. He passed away in 2008.
Here is a collection of arias sung by Gianni Raimondi…some of these take a few seconds to start:
Gianni Raimondi – GIOCONDA aria
Gianni Raimondi – Recondita armonia ~ TOSCA
Gianni Raimondi ~ Nessun dorma – TURANDOT
~ Oberon
Monday Jaunary 19th, 2015 – When my friend Lisette was appearing in WERTHER at The Met in 2014, she spoke well of the tenor Jean-François Borras (above) who was covering the title-role and who ended up singing one performance. Now he is back for three performances as Rodolfo in LA BOHEME and I decided to try it, especially after some soprano-shuffling brought Marina Rebeka into the line-up as Musetta.
Overall it was a good BOHEME, though somewhat compromised by the conducting of Riccardo Frizza who had fine ideas about tempo and some nice detailing but tended to give too much volume at the climaxes: this might have worked had the principals been Tebaldi and Tucker, but not for the current pair of lovers. Mr. Borras wisely tried to resist pushing his voice; Kristine Opolais, the Mimi, was having other problems so riding the orchestra was the least of her worries. It was Ms. Rebeka who ended up giving the evening’s most stimulating performance, along wth baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, an outstanding Marcello.
Following her well-received Met RONDINEs, Ms. Opolais became something of the darling of The Met, especially when – last season – she sang back-to-back performances of Butterfly and Mimi. I heard one of the Butterflies which was marred by some sharpness of pitch. A glance at her bio reveals that she has already sung roles like Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth, Jenufa, even Aida, all of which seem to me ill-suited to what is essentially a lyric voice. Tonight much of her singing was tremulous and pallid, and the tendency to go sharp spoiled several potentially attractive passages. One hears that The Met plans new productions of MANON LESCAUT, RUSALKA, and TOSCA for her (there are even whispers of a new THAIS); unless she can somehow repair her over-spent voice, I can’t see how she’ll get thru these demanding roles in the Big House. Anyway, she seems now to have been usurped as the talk-of-the-town soprano by Sonya Yoncheva…one wonders what new productions she has been promised. Meanwhile it’s sad to hear Ms. Opolais – who might be (have been?) a lovely Pamina, Liu, and Micaela – having pushed herself into inappropriate repertory at the cost of vocal stability.
Mr. Borras gave such an appealing performance that the conductor’s lack of consideration was particularly unfortunate. The tenor’s warm timbre falls most pleasingly on the ear, and he had so many felicitious phrases to give us, and some lovely word-colourings. After the orchestra encroached on the climax of “Che gelida manina” – which the tenor managed nonetheless – I enjoyed the way he handled Rodolfo’s little melodic gems at Cafe Momus, and his persuasive vocalism in Act III was a balm to the ear, especially the lingering bitter-sweetness of his hushed “…stagione dei fiori…”
Ms. Rebeka (above) was the most marvelous Musetta I have encountered since Carol Neblett’s sensational debut at New York City Opera in 1969. Her voice gleaming and generous, Ms. Rebeka seized the stage in no uncertain terms, really making something out of the super-familiar Waltz which she climaxed with a smile-inducing diminuendo on the top-B. She went on to thrill the ear in the ensuing ensemble, and she was excellent in Act III.
Mr. Kwiecien gave a first-rate performance as Marcello. In this music, he can spend his voice generously without having to be concerned with sustaining a full title-character evening, something he’s never had quite the vocal and theatrical presence for, despite his undoubted appeal. Tonight, it was ample-toned, warm singing from note one, and an extroverted, somewhat ‘mad-artist’ view of the character handsomely presented. Would that he’d had a Mimi to match him in the Act III duet. But he and Borras were both superb in their scene, in which they almost came to fisticuffs before Rodolfo finally admitted the truth about Mimi’s illness and his hopeless state of poverty. Kwiecien then melted into the caring ‘best friend’ that makes Marcello a standout portrait in these scènes de la vie de bohème.
Alessio Arduini (Schaunard) and David Soar (Colline) gave attractive vocal performances despite the conductor’s trampling on some of their lines; they were charming during a mini-food-fight at Cafe Momus.
Some of the staging at the Barrière d’Enfer didn’t enhance the narrative: Mimi reveals her eavesdropping presence not by an attack of coughing – such a moving device – but by stumbling down the staircase and collapsing melodramatcally at the door to the inn. Later, too many by-standers surround Marcello and Musetta as they argue, and the ever-so-moving reconciliation of Mimi and Rodolfo is marred by Musetta grabbing a passser-by and kissing him lavishly: this gets a wave of unwanted laughter during one of the opera’s most poignant moments.
The first intermission was debilitating; these extended breaks always drain the life out of the evening, and the better the performance the more annoying they are. And seat-poaching is so unattractive, especially when it causes a disruption if there’s an unexpected seating break – as tonight between the garrett and Momus.
But BOHEME still casts its spell, as it has for me ever since I first heard it on a Texaco broadcast 53 years ago to the day, with Lucine Amara and Barry Morell as the lovers. The Beecham recording remains my touchstone document of this heart-rending score. Tonight’s audience, quite substantial by current standards, embraced the classic Met production warmly.
Metropolitan Opera House
January 19th, 2015
LA BOHÈME
Giacomo Puccini
Mimì....................Kristine Opolais
Rodolfo.................Jean-François Borras
Musetta.................Marina Rebeka
Marcello................Mariusz Kwiecien
Schaunard...............Alessio Arduini
Colline.................David Soar
Benoit..................John Del Carlo
Alcindoro...............John Del Carlo
Parpignol...............Daniel Clark Smith
Sergeant................Jason Hendrix
Officer.................Joseph Turi
Conductor...............Riccardo Frizza
Oberon's Glade 