[Met Performance] CID:330042



Ariadne auf Naxos
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, October 6, 1997




Ariadne auf Naxos (67)
Richard Strauss | Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne
Deborah Voigt

Bacchus
Thomas Moser

Zerbinetta
Natalie Dessay

The Composer
Susanne Mentzer

Music Master
Wolfgang Brendel

Harlekin
Mark Oswald

Scaramuccio
Philip Creech

Truffaldin
Eric Halfvarson

Brighella
Gregory Turay

Najade
Joyce Guyer

Dryade
Jane Bunnell

Echo
Korliss Uecker

Major-domo
Nico Castel

Officer
Thomas Studebaker

Dancing Master
Heinz Zednik

Wigmaker
John Fiorito

Lackey
James Courtney


Conductor
James Levine







Review 1:

Review of Martin Mayer in Opera

Equally attractive was the revival of "Ariadne auf Naxos," with Deborah Voigt as the afflicted lady, Natalie Dessay as the happy lady, Susanne Mentzer as the Composer, Thomas Moser as Bacchus and Wolfgang Brendel as the Music Master, James Levine conducting. I cannot imagine a better cast. After an earlier performance, people had noted signs of strain in Moser, but on October 6 he was in full flood. Dessay was an extraordinary Zerbinetta, both vocally and dramatically, and her seduction of the Composer in the Prologue - nicely restaged by Laurie Feldman of the Met's directing staff - was in every way a work of art. The Music Master lies smack in the middle of the most beautiful part of Brendel's voice. And Voigt is a nonpareil Ariadne, with floods of effortless tone.

The Moshinsky staging successfully enlarges what is after all a chamber piece to fill a huge stage. Levine's treatment of the score has matured year on year, and is now subtle and gracious, though the orchestra overblew a little to make up for its small size in the big hall.



Search by season: 1997-98

Search by title: Ariadne auf Naxos,



Met careers