Metropolitan Opera Archives

When Tatiana Troyanos made her much admired Metropolitan Opera debut last March it was in a role tailor-made for her, Octavian in Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier." On Monday night, she appeared in her second role with the company, one of a completely different nature, Amneris in Verdi's "Aida." It was a part that she had learned only recently and had sung only once before.

None of this was apparent in her Met performance. The New York-born mezzo-soprano is, above all, a remarkably secure and intelligent artist. Hers was a freshly conceived character, sure in its details and a pleasure to watch. With her slim figure and elegantly modeled face, she looked regally Egyptian. On her the elaborate costumes made sense. In the last act she changed radically from the imperious princess to the distraught woman, torn between love, jealousy and vindictiveness. Here there was some silent-film posturing, suitable, however, to grand opera's theatrics.

Miss Troyanos's voice may not have the ideal weight and solidity for Amneris, but it has a concentrated tone that is effective enough in the music. In the beginning of the second act, once she had gotten past the first phrase (a problem for all Amnerises) she outdid the Aida (Ljiljana Molnar-Talajic) in the seductiveness of her singing, and the last act was sung with fine dramatic intensity, without resorting to unwieldy chest tones.

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