Anna Netrebko’s “Ferociously Exciting” American Role Debut as Lady Macbeth Launches Met’s Live in HD Season This Saturday (Oct 11)
Anna Netrebko’s American role debut as Lady Macbeth took New York by storm this fall, when – headlining the Metropolitan Opera’s all-star Macbeth opposite Zeljko Lucić in the title role, Joseph Calleja as Macduff, and René Pape as Banquo, and under the baton of Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi – she “pulled off one of the greatest triumphs in recent Met history” (Bloomberg). Now, this Saturday, October 11, her knockout performance in Adrian Noble’s chilling production comes live to cinema audiences around the world, launching the 2014-15 season of the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD broadcasts. The Russian-born soprano is all but synonymous with the series, having graced at least one Live in HD transmission each season since the program’s inception.
As the New York Times reports, Netrebko’s Lady Macbeth “is causing a sensation at the Metropolitan Opera, winning roars from audiences…and rave reviews.”
“You knew the role was hers,” wrote Anthony Tommasini in the same journal:
“This was incisive, exacting Verdi singing, with gleaming top notes. She is a soprano with star power in the best sense, a charismatic expressivity that pervades every element of her performance.”
“It was all about Anna,” agreed the New York Classical Review. “She grabbed the role by the throat and did not let it go.”
Pronouncing her “a riveting presence,” the Financial Times observed: “The [resonant] beauty of Netrebko’s voice, which has filled out impressively and darkened, is no liability and makes her music glow.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, “The smoky, covered timbre, expanded to full-throttle volume, and the piercing, steel-edged top were perfect for this single-minded character, driven by an ambition that stops at nothing,” and the Huffington Post declared: “It is the blind drive for power at all costs that Netrebko so chillingly captures and that makes the Met’s Macbeth such a success.”
As New York magazine recognized, “The whole cast is strong, but it’s Netrebko’s show.” The review continued:
“Maybe she was just born to sing this role. … Her performance is an explosion of graceful filigree, scalding arias, and vocal intensity – the kind of astronomical phenomenon that in a different decade would have earned her a halo of pop-culture glitz.”
The New York Observer praised her “ferociously exciting star turn as Lady Macbeth,” writing:
“In her 13 seasons at the Met the Russian soprano has gained a devoted public with her luscious voice and glamorous stage presence. But in this role—which she has sung only once before—she delivered what opera buffs call a “demented” performance, one so exciting it propels both artist and audience figuratively to the brink of madness.”
Anna Netrebko continues as Lady Macbeth at the Met until October 18; meanwhile, a taste of her searing portrayal – her account of “Vieni, t’affretta” at the dress rehearsal – may be viewed here.
Netrebko returns to the Met in the New Year for another American role debut, when she headlines a new staging of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta that will be broadcast Live in HD on Valentine’s Day. And, as she told the New York Times in a new feature article titled “A Prima Donna Stretches in More Daring Roles,” the coming seasons will find her back at the New York venue in exciting new roles. Next season she will bring her acclaimed portrayal of Leonora in Il trovatore to the house, and the following season she sings the title role in Manon Lescaut, a role that she will sing only for the second time this fall in a new production at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera opposite Jonas Kaufmann. She stars in a new production of Bellini’s Norma to open the Met’s 2017-18 season and returns the following year for Verdi’s Aida.
Anna Netrebko: 2014-15 engagements
Oct 8, 11*, 15, 18
New York, NY
Metropolitan Opera
Verdi: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth)
* Oct 11 performance will be broadcast worldwide in Met’s Live in HD series
Oct 12
New York, NY
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
Richard Tucker Gala
Nov 15, 19, 24, 27, 30; Dec 4, 7
Munich, Germany
Bavarian State Opera
Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Manon)
Dec 17
Barcelona, Spain
Palau de la Música Catalana
Concert: Verdi and verismo arias
Dec 20 & 22
Rome, Italy
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Sir Antonio Pappano
Verdi: Macbeth (excerpts in concert)
Jan 26, 29; Feb 3, 7, 10, 14*, 18, 21
New York, NY
Metropolitan Opera
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Iolanta)
* Feb 14 performance will be broadcast worldwide in Met’s Live in HD series
Feb 5
Beaver Creek, CO
Vilar Performing Arts Center
Recital
March 20, 24, 29; April 2
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Opera
Donizetti: Anna Bolena (Anna Bolena)
April 10, 13, 17, 20
Vienna, Austria
Vienna State Opera
Donizetti: Anna Bolena (Anna Bolena)
May 10
Paris, France
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Orchestre National de France / Daniele Gatti
- Strauss: Four Last Songs
May 25
Salzburg, Austria
Whitsun Festival Salzburg
Gala Concert (with Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano; Juan Diego Flórez, tenor; Christopher Maltman, baritone; Camerata Salzburg; Salzburger Bachchor / Louis Langrée)
May 23, 27, 30; June 2, 5, 8, 10*
London, UK
Royal Opera House
Puccini: La bohème (Mimì)
* June 10 performance will be broadcast worldwide in ROH’s Live Cinema Season series
June 15
Lucerne, Switzerland
Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Iolanta; concert performance)
June 18
Copenhagen, Denmark
DR Koncerthuset
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Iolanta; concert performance)
June 21
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Grimaldi Forum
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Iolanta; concert performance)
June 24
London, UK
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Emmanuel Villaume
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Iolanta; concert performance)
June 27
Munich, Germany
Königsplatz
Outdoor concert (with Jonas Kaufmann, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Elena Zhidkova)
July 28 & 31
Munich, Germany
Bavarian State Opera
Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Manon)
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© 21C Media Group, October 2014
