[Met Performance] CID:224890



La Bohème
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, March 19, 1971

Debut : Adriana Maliponte




La Bohème (715)
Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa
Mimì
Adriana Maliponte [Debut]

Rodolfo
Luciano Pavarotti

Musetta
Colette Boky

Marcello
Mario Sereni

Schaunard
Raymond Gibbs

Colline
Giorgio Tozzi

Benoit
Andrij Dobriansky

Alcindoro
Andrea Velis

Parpignol
Erbert Aldridge

Sergeant
Edward Ghazal

Officer
John Trehy


Conductor
Fausto Cleva







Review 1:

Review of Robert Sherman in The New York Times

The Metropolitan Opera hit the jackpot again Friday night. Nine days after Luciano Pavarotti's stunning return as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Bohème," the New York debut of Adriana Maliponte gave him a Mimi to remember.

The Italian soprano is no newcomer to the operatic world. She has performed at La Scala, Glyndebourne, Chicago's Lyric Opera and other international centers since her 1957 debut (also as Mimi), and the experience showed in the easy, graceful assurance of her stage manner as well as her secure vocal artistry.

Miss Maliponte has the power to make dramatic climaxes ring true, the sensitivity to make them musical and the flexibility to sound equally convincing in the most delicate passages. The phrase "Addio, senza rancor" in her third-act farewell, to single out a small, yet not insignificant detail, was sung with such tenderness as to give the whole aria an overwhelming aura of poignancy. Her voice itself is velvety rich, pure and clean at the top, smoky and sensuous in the lower register.

The Met's Bohème production is sometimes cluttered and frequently stodgy, but with Miss Maliponte's beautifully touching Mimi, with Mr. Pavarotti and Mario Sereni repeating their brilliant performances as Rodolfo and Marcello, Giorgio Tozzi in fine voice for his first Colline of the season, and Fausto Cleva again providing firm conductorial support, it was a splendid evening.



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