[Met Performance] CID:205460



Aida
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, February 18, 1966









Review 1:

Review of Richard D. Freed in The New York Times
AIDA IS SUNG AT MET WITH FAMILIAR CAST

Verdi?s ?Aida? at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday, was alive with the kind of excitement one hardly hopes for in so familiar a work, and rarely encounters in any.

Cornell MacNeil made his first appearance of the season as Amonasro and gloriously confirmed what everyone knows by now; that he is the great Verdi baritone of this decade. His characterization seems to grow in subtlety and power from season to season.

Mr. MacNeil joined a splendid team. Martina Arroyo in the title role, Richard Tucker as Radames and Raymond Michalski as the King all sang superbly, and Robert Nagy distinguished himself in his brief appearance as the messenger.

Most of the excitement, though, was generated in the pit. Zubin Mehta had the Met?s orchestra playing as at least this listener had never heard it before, and he and the singers seemed to urge each other on to greater and greater peaks. No rough edges, no singing or playing that was less than brilliant, and a fine head of steam all the way through.


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