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Met Opera: La Fanciulla del West w/ Kaufmann

WilliamM

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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In October. Surprised there are so many seats unsold.

How true. You can get decent seats at every performance.

I'm afraid that Mr. Kaufmann (still my favorite singer right now!) and his recent history of canceling performances at the MET may be to blame for good ticket availability. Some opera-goers who planned itineraries and flew to NYC specifically to see him in the new production of Manon Lescaut a few seasons ago, or his one Saturday matinée of Carmen two years ago, or his run of Werther, all of which he canceled, have most likely decided that it was just not worth going to the expense of taking a chance that he would show.

 

He commented after some of those cancellations that he wanted to stay closer to home to be near his children, his new wife, etc. and preferred to stay in Europe for most of his operatic engagements. He may be more comfortable traveling now. I've a feeling that opera lovers who may live far from NYC just may not want to take the chance though, much as certain escorts who have developed a reputation for no-shows discourage clients from trying to hire them!

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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From the Metropolitan Opera FB page:

(October 8, 2018)

 

Jonas Kaufmann stopped by our Costume Shop today! Beginning Oct 17, Kaufmann sings the role

of Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) for four performances only!

Don’t miss the tenor’s heralded return to the Met in this romantic epic of the Wild West: bit.ly/2OmPNLE

 

Photo by Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera

 

43242490_10161122808405533_2940717610255253504_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&oh=a832bee41a80e75a67c328b1029d11f4&oe=5C47FAB1

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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WilliamM Grand Master

+ WilliamM

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Review: Jonas Kaufmann, Back at the Met, Is Good, Not Great

Image19jonas-opera-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

After four and a half years, the tenor Jonas Kaufmann has returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.”CreditCreditKen Howard/Metropolitan Opera

La Fanciulla del West

 

 

NYT Critic's Pick

By Anthony Tommasini

 

  • Oct. 18, 2018

You could feel trepidation at the Metropolitan Opera on Wednesday as the audience took its seats for Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.” The superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann was finally returning after an absence of four and a half years, including withdrawals from two new productions conceived with him in mind. Would he actually show?

 

[Read our interview with Mr. Kaufmann about his return to the Met.]

 

He did, for the first of four performances through Oct. 27. He came, he sang, he — well, if he didn’t entirely conquer, Mr. Kaufmann certainly reminded us why he’s been missed. “Fanciulla,” a tale of hardscrabble miners during the California Gold Rush, is, I’m more convinced at each encounter, one of Puccini’s finest operas. But you need persuasive singers to plumb the depths of the music and the subtleties of the characters.

 

returned earlier this month.)

 

testing the waters of Wagner’s Tristan — his singing seemed a little underpowered. He summoned some full-voiced, exciting high notes during the opera’s only real aria, when Johnson, who thinks he’s about to be hanged, begs the men to tell Minnie that he has been set free to lead a better life. Yet at times his voice seemed curiously restrained.

 

For a while, Mr. Kaufmann was hands down the most exciting tenor in opera. Now he has some younger competition, including at the Met, where the thrilling tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who stepped in when Mr. Kaufmann withdrew from a new production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” has become a house favorite.

 

It is, however, without a doubt great to have the compelling Mr. Kaufmann back with the company.

 

 

 

La Fanciulla del West

Continues through Oct.

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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The Met: Live in HD:

La Fanciulla del West

 

As stated in the OperaWire review above, for those opera lovers or Kaufmann fans such as myself who are not near NYC, there will be a "Live from the MET in HD" performance of La Fanciulla del West in select movie theatres on Saturday, October 27, 2018, and an encore performance on October 31, 2018 with Kaufmann, Westbroek and Lucic. Check your local cinema listings for dates and times: https://www.fathomevents.com/events/met1819-la-fanciulla-del-west

 

http://parterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/jonas-kaufmann-seated-518x350.jpg

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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I am extremely happy I was able to see the Live in HD transmission from the Metropolitan Opera of La Fanciulla del West with Jonas Kaufmann on Saturday. I hope @WilliamM was able to be there in person. This was a stronger performance all around than the Sirius broadcast I heard on Tuesday evening. Finally, Mme. Westbroek was on pitch for that fiendishly difficult high C that Puccini wrote which seems to come out of nowhere in her first act aria. Every other broadcast (including the two earlier with Eyvazov singing Dick Johnson) she seemed unable to stop herself from singing the C painfully (to my ear) too sharp.

 

44865305_516405605494928_1556879821793918976_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=83ad5a510ed242edf141c2c01c1fb166&oe=5C7DB48D

 

Although Herr Kaufmann sounded excellent on Tuesday (Peter Gelb announced prior to that performance that though Kaufmann was suffering from a cold he would be singing), he outdid himself in the HD performance (no announcement of a cold!!!) with some gorgeous pianissimi and legato phrasing, nuancing so much of his singing in such intelligent ways and with impressively powerful clarion squillo on his BIG high climaxes! Lucic as Sheriff Rance was in fine voice, impressive especially since he had just sung Scarpia in the Sirius broadcast of Tosca on Thursday evening, and sung it quite well.

 

With everyone in such good voice, this is a performance I look forward to owning on Blu-Ray in the future!

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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g56whiz Grand Master

+ g56whiz

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An excellent review @TruHart1 with which I fully agree.

 

I’m not a big Puccini fan and Fanciulla is far from my favorite Puccini opera (which is probably Tritico) yet both Kaufmann and Westbroek went on and on about how great Fanciulla is. With this performance I began to understand why they think so. I too am looking forward to experiencing this particular performance again and again.

 

Similarly Lucic is not my favorite baritone. Unaware of his other Met duties currently I kept thinking I’d like to see his Scarpia. In fact I thought these three principals could head a spectacular Tosca cast. But I wonder why it is that the Met can’t seem to attract Italian singers of comparable quality for these roles.

 

Finally watching this Fanciulla in deep south Texas, I was amused each time a singer had to maneuver in Italian names like Monterrey, Sonora, Sacramento, or Maud.

 

I might even hit the rebroadcast this Wednesday.

 

Thanks again @TruHart1.

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Kenny Grand Master

Kenny

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Review: Jonas Kaufmann, Back at the Met, Is Good, Not Great

Image19jonas-opera-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

After four and a half years, the tenor Jonas Kaufmann has returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.”CreditCreditKen Howard/Metropolitan Opera

La Fanciulla del West

 

 

NYT Critic's Pick

By Anthony Tommasini

 

  • Oct. 18, 2018

You could feel trepidation at the Metropolitan Opera on Wednesday as the audience took its seats for Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.” The superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann was finally returning after an absence of four and a half years, including withdrawals from two new productions conceived with him in mind. Would he actually show?

 

[Read our interview with Mr. Kaufmann about his return to the Met.]

 

He did, for the first of four performances through Oct. 27. He came, he sang, he — well, if he didn’t entirely conquer, Mr. Kaufmann certainly reminded us why he’s been missed. “Fanciulla,” a tale of hardscrabble miners during the California Gold Rush, is, I’m more convinced at each encounter, one of Puccini’s finest operas. But you need persuasive singers to plumb the depths of the music and the subtleties of the characters.

 

returned earlier this month.)

 

testing the waters of Wagner’s Tristan — his singing seemed a little underpowered. He summoned some full-voiced, exciting high notes during the opera’s only real aria, when Johnson, who thinks he’s about to be hanged, begs the men to tell Minnie that he has been set free to lead a better life. Yet at times his voice seemed curiously restrained.

 

For a while, Mr. Kaufmann was hands down the most exciting tenor in opera. Now he has some younger competition, including at the Met, where the thrilling tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who stepped in when Mr. Kaufmann withdrew from a new production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” has become a house favorite.

 

It is, however, without a doubt great to have the compelling Mr. Kaufmann back with the company.

 

 

 

La Fanciulla del West

Continues through Oct.

I love how Tommasini ever-so-gently stokes the competitive fires between Kaufman and Vittorio Grigolo. Well done.

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WilliamM Grand Master

+ WilliamM

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I enjoyed seeing the opera at the Met yesterday, especially Act Two and Act Three. Westbrook was wonderful.

 

The intermissions we're unusually long for a Saturday broadcast, I agreed with the people sitting near me that the opera is under rated. There were mixed opinions about Kaufmann's singing.

I agree.

 

Sorry that Eva-MarieWestbroek. Auto spell check.

Edited by WilliamM
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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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I enjoyed seeing the opera at the Met yesterday, especially Act Two and Act Three. Westbrook was wonderful.

 

The intermissions we're unusually long for a Saturday broadcast, I agreed with the people sitting near me that the opera is under rated. There were mixed opinions about Kaufmann's singing.

I agree.

 

Sorry that Eva-MarieWestbroek. Auto spell check.

In movie theatres during the Live in HD transmissions, we got to see the actual set changes backstage and how very complicated getting each act's set unit on (and off) stage is. This has got to be one of the most complicated stagings the MET has in its repertoire. No wonder the intermissions are so long.

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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I love how Tommasini ever-so-gently stokes the competitive fires between Kaufman and Vittorio Grigolo. Well done.

Well, being Italian, Grigolo may indeed feel competitive with Kaufmann, I do not know, but as for Jonas, I doubt he "competes" with other world class tenors in any way, since his success is already part of operatic history. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy both Grigolo and Kaufmann tremendously but comparing the voices and temperaments of the two as tenors is really like comparing apples and oranges. So Tommasini's mention of Grigolo "stepping in" when Kaufmann canceled his participation in the new production of Tosca at the MET last year only points out that there are many fine tenors around at this point in time, which is wonderful for opera enthusiasts like me! :):):)

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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TruHart1 Grand Master

TruHart1

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An excellent review @TruHart1 with which I fully agree.

 

I’m not a big Puccini fan and Fanciulla is far from my favorite Puccini opera (which is probably Tritico) yet both Kaufmann and Westbroek went on and on about how great Fanciulla is. With this performance I began to understand why they think so. I too am looking forward to experiencing this particular performance again and again.

 

Similarly Lucic is not my favorite baritone. Unaware of his other Met duties currently I kept thinking I’d like to see his Scarpia. In fact I thought these three principals could head a spectacular Tosca cast. But I wonder why it is that the Met can’t seem to attract Italian singers of comparable quality for these roles.

 

Finally watching this Fanciulla in deep south Texas, I was amused each time a singer had to maneuver in Italian names like Monterrey, Sonora, Sacramento, or Maud.

 

I might even hit the rebroadcast this Wednesday.

 

Thanks again @TruHart1.

When I first heard Fanciulla, on LP (the 1958 recording with Tebaldi, del Monaco and MacNeil) I was also amused by the Italianized pronunciation of the various "Hello's," California place names (and Maud!) Still, what the libretto has Minnie sing as she and Johnson are settling down to sleep in the second act, "Per sempre Dick." has become a phrase I continue to use and love as a gay man!!! LOL! :eek:o_O;)

 

TruHart1 :cool:

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WilliamM Grand Master

+ WilliamM

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In movie theatres during the Live in HD transmissions, we got to see the actual set changes backstage and how very complicated getting each act's set unit on (and off) stage is. This has got to be one of the most complicated stagings the MET has in its repertoire. No wonder the intermissions are so long.

 

TruHart1 :cool:

 

In the Met's War and Peace the snow looks so real that a French soldier fell off the stage a few years ago. The snow yesterday in the Puccini opera was almost as convincing.

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Kenny Grand Master

Kenny

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Well, being Italian, Grigolo may indeed feel competitive with Kaufmann, I do not know, but as for Jonas, I doubt he "competes" with other world class tenors in any way, since his success is already part of operatic history

Competition is a feature of audiences—also known as fans (or fanatics)—as much as it is of performers.

 

Especially at the opera.

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