[Met Performance] CID:294810



Le Nozze di Figaro
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, December 15, 1988

Debut : Mark Elder, Anne Sofie von Otter




Le Nozze di Figaro (308)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Lorenzo Da Ponte
Figaro
John Cheek

Susanna
Hei-Kyung Hong

Count Almaviva
Thomas Hampson

Countess Almaviva
Roberta Alexander

Cherubino
Anne Sofie von Otter [Debut]

Dr. Bartolo
Richard Van Allan

Marcellina
Loretta Di Franco

Don Basilio
Michel S?n?chal

Antonio
James Courtney

Barbarina
Harolyn Blackwell

Don Curzio
Andrea Velis


Conductor
Mark Elder [Debut]


Production
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
Lesley Koenig





Le Nozze di Figaro received nine performances this season.
The revival of Mozart's opera this season was dedicated to the memory of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, who died August 11, 1988.

Review 1:

Review of Bill Zackariasen in the Daily News
?Figaro?: Cheer Amid the Gloom

Celebrated stage director and designer Jean-Pierre Ponnelle died before his time last summer, so it's sad to score again the fact that his production of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," which the Metropolitan Opera revived Thursday, is a pretty gloomy affair. Ponnelle had long considered "Figaro" to be more a social tract presaging the French Revolution than a lighthearted, at times bittersweet, comedy of manners. This is underlined by his forbidding, basically colorless sets and lighting for Count Almaviva's palace; unfortunately, nothing has been done to improve that situation.


However, the stage director for this revival, Lesley Koenig, has reverted to traditional staging, taking advantage of virtually all opportunities for humor. In addition, the current cast accents youth, which also helped to make Thursday's performance so unusually refreshing. So did the superb conducting of debuting Mark Elder, music director of the English National Opera, who led exquisite playing that balanced ebullience with sentiment. Elder also encouraged singers to ornament, and restored the original solo voicing and order of the numbers.


The other debutante, Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, was from first note and word to last virtual perfection as the mischievous page Cherubino ? a thoroughly delicious and believable performance. Soprano Hei-Kyung Hong likewise fulfilled her exceptional promise by singing and acting a pert Susanna who never once turned arch.


Bass John Cheek sang capitally as Figaro, though his sense of humor wasn't as pronounced as that of his master, the Count, sung splendidly once again by baritone Thomas Hampson. There were no complaints at all about the rest of the lineup, which included Loretta Di Franco (Marcellina), Richard Van Allan (Dr. Bartolo) and Michel S?h?chal as a most delightfully unctuous Don Basilio.



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