Interludes

2013’s Best in Opera

• By drediman
• January 10, 2014
• No Comments

It was a bittersweet year for opera lovers.  After 70 years, New York City Opera shuttered, but not before bidding farewell in thrilling fashion with its triumphant “Anna Nicole” by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Otherwise, the Met enjoyed a successful year under Peter Gelb, with a few notable new productions and revivals.

(Note: the list below is in alphabetical order)

1. Anna Nicole

Mark-Anthony Turnage’s audacious and vivacious “Anna Nicole” was a fitting farewell to New York City Opera, which cancelled the rest of its season and collapsed after presenting this opera last fall at BAM. But what a way to go. This opera, courtesy of the Royal Opera, is a scintillating medley of musical styles (Steven Sloane conducted) and images that never failed to engage and stimulate this viewer. Sarah Joy Miller was sensational, if slightly underpowered vocally, as the notorious title character, this opera’s unlikely tragic heroine.

2. Die Frau Ohne Schatten

The Met scored big with this thrilling revival of it stunning production (Herbert Wernicke, director) of Richard Strauss’s monumental “Die Frau Ohne Schatten”. It’s been 10 years since the New York saw a full production of “Frau”, and the wait was worth it. Anne Schwanewilms and Christine Goerke were powerhouses at the performance I attended. Indeed, Ms. Goerke in particular was exciting, and I can’t wait to see what she does with Brunnhilde at the Met a few years down the line. The Met orchestra sounded better than ever under conductor Vladimir Jurowski.

3. La Traviata

The Met has brought back Willy Decker’s striking modern production of “Traviata” with various casts.  The one I saw was outstanding. Diana Damrau made her Met debut as Violetta and was riveting and ferocious throughout. The cast also included Placido Domingo, who was, well, Placido Domingo.  Yannick Nezet-Segin coerced an intense, colorful account of this Verdi favorite from the awesome Met orchestra.

4. Le Nozze di Figaro

As part of Lincoln Center’s 2013 Mostly Mozart Festival, Budapest Festival Orchestra’s luminous semi-staged concert version of Mozart’s “Figaro” was brought to the Rose Theater.  The orchestra and and singers responded magnificently to maestro Ivan Fischer’s enthusiastic conducting (he even partook in the onstage fun!). Apart from Chicago Opera Theater’s rendition of the opera a few years back, I have never seen this most human of operas presented with as much warmth and feeling as it was here.

5. Parsifal

There is no experience in all of opera like Wagner’s “Parsifal”, which is more akin to attending a sacred ritual than music theater. The Met’s new production largely succeeded in supporting the ritualistic vision of opera with a balanced staging that did not resort to gimmickry or banality, thanks to director Francois Girard.  Musically, this production was ravishing, with the Met orchestra sounding ethereal under conductor Daniele Gatti’s baton. The cast, headed by the fittingly boyish Jonas Kaufmann, was similarly exemplary.