[Met Concert or Gala] CID:350005



World Trade Center Benefit
A Celebration of Giuseppe Verdi
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, September 22, 2001




World Trade Center Benefit


A Celebration of Giuseppe Verdi



Metropolitan Opera House
September 22, 2001 Plazacast
World Trade Center Benefit

A Celebration of Giuseppe Verdi

GALA PERFORMANCE

The Star Spangled Banner

Remarks:
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
Joseph Volpe

Nabucco: Va Pensiero
Metropolitan Opera Chorus


UN BALLO IN MASCHERA: Act I

Amelia..................Deborah Voigt
Riccardo................Neil Shicoff
Renato..................Frederick Burchinal
Ulrica..................Larissa Diadkova
Oscar...................Youngok Shin
Samuel..................Paul Plishka
Tom.....................Jeffrey Wells
Silvano.................Mark Oswald
Judge...................Bernard Fitch
Servant.................Tony Stevenson

Conductor...............James Levine

Designer................Piero Faggioni
Lighting Designer.......Piero Faggioni
Stage Director..........Gina Lapinski


OTELLO: Act III

Otello..................Plácido Domingo
Desdemona...............Veronica Villarroel
Iago....................Nikolai Putilin
Emilia..................Jane Bunnell
Cassio..................Paul Charles Clarke
Lodovico................Robert Lloyd
Roderigo................Bernard Fitch
Herald..................Rodion Pogossov [First appearance]

Conductor...............James Levine

Production..............Elijah Moshinsky
Set Designer............Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer........Peter J. Hall
Lighting Designer.......Duane Schuler
Stage Director..........David Kneuss


RIGOLETTO: Act III

Rigoletto...............Franz Grundheber
Gilda...................Youngok Shin
Duke of Mantua..........Roberto Aronica
Maddalena...............Daniela Barcellona [First appearance]
Sparafucile.............Sergei Koptchak

Conductor...............James Levine

Production..............Otto Schenk
Set and Costumes........Zack Brown
Lighting Designer.......Gil Wechsler
Stage Director..........Sharon Thomas

TV Director.............Brian Large

The Star Spangled Banner was performed by The Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Joseph Volpe, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the audience.

The performance was projected onto a screen on the facade of the Opera House and the sound relayed to an audience in Lincoln Center Plaza.








Review 1:

Review and Account of Ralph Blumenthal in The New York Times

Neighborliness at the Met With Sadness in the Wings

May Winston looked out her apartment window on the West Side of Manhattan on Saturday night to see a huge commotion in Lincoln Center Plaza. Things being what they were, she feared the worst. But, she said, "When I saw there were no sirens or fire trucks I came right over." She and perhaps 3,000 others were drawn by the first live simulcast of a Metropolitan Opera production in the plaza. The event was a sold out preseason benefit that raised more than $2.5 million for victims of the World Trade Center disaster.

Inside, a wildly cheered Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined Joseph Volpe, general manager of the Met, and a sold-out house of 4,000 in a special preview of the season beginning gala next Monday night, a tribute to Verdi on the centenary of his death,.

Outside, dogs snoozed next to their rapt owners; families picnicked on pizza, and parents rocked babies to sleep in strollers draped in American flags. All 1,600 metal chairs were filled and hundreds of others sat on beach chairs or on the hard granite, staring up at the facade of the opera house where a 20-by-30-foot screen under a huge flag pulsed with James Levine, Deborah Voigt, Plácido Domingo, Veronica Villarroel and other stars in a medley of acts from "Un Ballo in Maschera," "Otello" and "Rigoletto," operas coincidentally replete with monstrous evil.

The singers and orchestra, along with about 1,000 other staff members at the Met, had donated their services for the night, augmenting big gifts from Deutsche Bank and Texaco. The outdoor screening was free, with appeals to send in contributions to the Met's World Trade Center relief fund, although Ms. Winston said, "1 wish they were passing around baskets."

Security was tighter than usual. Patrons were made to check shoulder bags or packages in the lobby. But a festive spirit prevailed, "The first thing we did was close everything," said Gordon Davis, the president of Lincoln Center. "But the next day the constituents said, "Open everything."

Many said, they had come to commune with neighbors, and in the metal seats strangers were introducing themselves to one another. "At some point you just can't read or watch or see anymore and you've just got to go out and be with other people who feel the same way you do," said Susan Mills, and actress from Manhattan.

Dr. Geraldine Velasquez and her husband had driven in from Monmouth County, New Jersey to see a Broadway show but, surprisingly for all the talk about empty seats, there were no tickets to be had, she said, and so they headed up to Lincoln Center. "You see the news and think everything has stopped, but look at this," she said, "It's so heartening."

Kathleen Isaac had a special reason to attend. "My son is performing tonight, and I am so proud of him," she said of her 10- year-old son, Evio, who sings in the Met's children's chorus.??????

"We asked him if he wanted to donate his earnings, and he didn't hesitate. It made him feel like he could give something and that makes tonight very special for me."

Onstage before the performance, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined singers onstage at the Met, where a special preview of open*ing night was held.

??????

Giuliani and Mr. Volpe joined the Met chorus and audience in an unusually on-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," followed by the chorus singing the hymn of hope, "Va, pensiero," from Verdi's "Nabucco."

"This is a place of beauty and wonder where the human spirit soars," said Mr. Giuliani, adding, "we have seen the face of violence and insanity." Unable to quiet the crowd hailing him, he finally said, "If you don't stop applauding. I will start singing." Mr. Volpe deplored talk of America rising "We are not bowed and we are not down," he said.??????

The bravos for the mayor resumed when at the first intermission he made an unannounced foray into the crowd. No one noticed him at first and he talked quietly with Mr. Volpe.

"I didn't realize there were so many people out here; it's terrific," Mr. Giuliani said. "What a great idea, who thought of it?"

??????

"Me, of course," Mr. Volpe said.

??????

Then they spotted him. One person yelled "Rudy!" and everyone stood up to see. People on the balconies clapped and whistled; women rushed him. Two had their pictures snapped hugging him.

The program, heavy with operatic violence, seemed particularly apt, although it had been selected long before the terrorist attacks of Sept, 11. In the evening's final scene, Rigoletto vows vengeance against the Duke who dishonored his murdered daughter. "He is crime," Rigoletto sings. "I am punishment."



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