[Met Performance] CID:353993



Ariadne auf Naxos
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, May 7, 2011 Matinee
Broadcast Matinee


Debut : Paul Appleby, Noah Baetge




Ariadne auf Naxos (89)
Richard Strauss | Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne/Prima Donna
Violeta Urmana

Bacchus/Tenor
Robert Dean Smith

Zerbinetta
Kathleen Kim

The Composer
Joyce DiDonato

Music Master
Thomas Allen

Harlekin
Vasili Ladyuk

Scaramuccio
Mark Schowalter

Truffaldin
Joshua Bloom

Brighella
Paul Appleby [Debut]

Naiade
Audrey Luna

Dryade
Tamara Mumford

Echo
Lei Xu

Major-domo
Michael Devlin

Officer
Noah Baetge [Debut]

Dancing Master
Tony Stevenson

Wigmaker
David Crawford

Lackey
James Courtney


Conductor
Fabio Luisi


Production
Elijah Moshinsky

Designer
Michael Yeargan

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Stage Director
Laurie Feldman





Ariadne auf Naxos received three performances this season.
Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Broadcast
Broadcast live on Sirius and XM Metropolitan Opera Radio
Production photos of Ariadne auf Naxos by Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera.

Review 1:

Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times
Plush and Lyrical Strauss (and That?s Just the Conducting)

These days people may forget that Fabio Luisi, the Metropolitan Opera's principal guest conductor, made his acclaimed company debut in 2005 in Verdi's "Don Carlo." In the last couple of seasons Mr. Luisi has appeared at the company mostly as a pinch-hitter for James Levine. In April he stepped in again for an ailing Mr. Levine and conducted a compelling performance of Wagner's "Rheingold."

But on Saturday afternoon Mr. Luisi conducted an opera for which he had long been scheduled: Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos;' which returned in Elijah Moshinsky's imaginative 1993 production. True to form, Mr. Luisi drew a rhapsodic and richly detailed performance from the Met orchestra and a good cast.

Mr. Luisi has been reluctant to discuss the possibility that he might succeed Mr. Levine as the Met's music director. But this looks increasingly probable as Mr. Levine continues to grapple with lingering back pain and other health problems, and to withdraw from commitments. Right now the only two dates Mr. Levine has on his schedule through September are the final performances of Wagner's "Walk?re" at the Met on Monday night and Saturday afternoon.

The Met is the house Mr. Levine built, and his physical decline is terribly sad. But on Saturday Mr. Luisi again showed why he was courted by the company and has been embraced by the orchestra musicians. He brings his own expertise and temperament to his work. He is also, in the best sense, an utterly reliable conductor who can fare well in any circumstance and, it would seem, just about any repertory.

Strauss scored this opera for a reduced orchestra of 37 players, to lend intimacy to the tale, a mix of everyday farce and mythical fantasy. During the Prologue we see the backstage preparations for the entertainments that the richest man in Vienna is offering his party guests: a tragic new opera, "Ariadne auf Naxos," by a serious-minded young composer, and a song-and-dance show, courtesy of a troupe of minstrels, In the end, to the dismay of the young composer, his opera is performed in a cut-down version with bits of frothy entertainment from the minstrels mixed in (by order of the host to save time).

Mr. Luisi captured the music's lightness and whimsy but also its lushness and fleeting lyricism. He reminded us that for all its humor, this is still a soaring Strauss opera. In the long final love scene, when Ariadne and Bacchus ascend to the bliss of the beyond, Mr. Luisi conveyed the music's harmonic plushness and lyrical rapture without letting anything sounding forced.

The soprano Violeta Urmana has done her best work at the Met in roles that highlight the dark, earthy colorings of her voice. As Ariadne she may have lacked the shimmering beauty and vocal glamour that the role ideally wants. But she had penetrating sound and a kind of rough-hewn majesty. She sang the role at the Met in 2005; this performance was stronger and richer.

The American heldentenor Robert Dean Smith sang the short but daunting roles of Bacchus and the Tenor. A little more power and vocal abandon would have been welcome. Still, Mr. Smith smartly conserved his voice and sang consistently with healthy technique and expressive urgency.

The adorable and impressive coloratura soprano Kathleen Kim was delightful as the perky entertainer Zerbinetta The veteran baritone Thomas Allen excelled as the Music Master; the vibrant tenor Tony Stevenson was a lively Dancing Master.

In her first Met performance as the Composer, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato won the biggest ovation of the afternoon Her fans have come to admire her through Mozart and bet canto roles, most recently in the new production of Rossini's "Comte Ory." Singers with bigger, more naturally Straussian voices tend to sing the Composer. But Ms. DiDonato found her own approach. If top notes sometimes seemed a little pushed, over all she sent the vocal lines soaring with warm sound. Her softer intimate singing was wonderful.

Mr. Luisi provided sensitive support. No surprise there.



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