Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 26 October 2024
Giuseppe Verdi: Il trovatore
Enrico Caruso once famously said that a successful performance of Il trovatore would require the four best singers in the world. The second opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s so-called “popular trilogy” dazzles with music that delivers hit after hit for each of the four main roles, even if its plot is notoriously complex. Finding an agile spinto tenor, a dramatic soprano with excellent coloratura, a dramatic mezzo-soprano with a strong low register and a true Verdi baritone is a formidable challenge. Did the Met succeed in meeting Caruso’s high standards? Not quite, but there were some interesting highlights in this performance.
American tenor Michael Fabiano, making his role debut as Manrico, led the cast in this opening night of the Metropolitan Opera’s Il trovatore with commendable skill. Although I had some initial reservations, it was clear from the first note that his voice has matured enough to convincingly portray these more dramatically demanding tenor roles. Although he struggled with the unwritten high note in Act III’s ‘Di quella pira’, his performance was effective both vocally and in character portrayal. One detail I can’t help mentioning, as not many people noticed, is that Mr. Fabiano injured his ankle leaving the stage in the third act. In a remarkable act of resilience and dedication to his craft, he completed the performance without missing a note – despite being visibly in pain and struggling to walk.
Leonora was performed by American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, who sang the role with great precision. She mastered all the technical challenges of the role with ease and delivered her part effectively. However, her interpretation was somewhat cold and unconvincing. Although Leonora isn’t as demanding from an acting point of view as roles like Tosca or Salome, a deeper interpretation of the character is essential, otherwise it can come across, as it did at times, as an outdated ‘park and bark’ performance, which is less than optimal for today’s opera audiences.
As the gypsy Azucena, Jamie Barton, despite having a good instrument, showed that her voice wasn’t quite ready for roles like this. Her lower notes struggled to project above the orchestra, and the difference in volume between her and her colleagues, especially Michael Fabiano, was quite obvious.
The best voice of the evening was the Russian baritone Igor Golovatenko, who specialises in Verdi roles. His portrayal of Count Di Luna was excellent; you could feel jealousy in every note directed at Manrico, pain in every breath delivered to Leonora and hatred in every word uttered to Azucena. His performance of ‘Il balen del suo sorriso’ was undoubtedly a highlight of the evening.
As Ferrando, Ryan Speedo Green gave an effective performance, although he struggled a little with the trills in ‘Abbietta zingara’ at the beginning of the opera. In the supporting role of Inés, Leonora’s maid, Briana Hunter surprised me with a promising voice that I hope to see in larger roles in the future.
On the podium, Italian maestro Daniele Callegari led the performance with a somewhat superficial approach. This opera benefits greatly from careful input from the pit, but this was not provided in this performance, resulting in a very mundane Trovatore. Moreover, most of the cabalettas were inappropriately halved and, worst of all, the conductor allowed the unfortunate tradition of having the tenor nonsensically join Leonora in her climactic phrase at the end of Act II: ‘Sei tu dal ciel disceso, o in ciel son io con te’. Callegari’s colleague and fellow countryman, Pier Giorgio Morandi, is now also conducting a run of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Met, and his meticulous approach – not cutting any parts of the opera and infusing his personality throughout the work – stands in stark contrast to this Trovatore.
The Met’s current production, directed by the Scottish director David McVicar, is universally popular with audiences, but I have always had a few problems with it. For example, Manrico has no lute or other instrument to mark him out as a troubadour, Ferrando appears younger than Count di Luna (he should be much older, having served the previous count) and the reinforcements in the soldier chorus are not reinforcements at all but prostitutes.
