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[Met Performance] CID:352170



Norma
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, November 12, 2007
Broadcast

Debut : Julianna Di Giacomo







Broadcast live on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio
Norma received eight performances this season
Production photos of Norma by Beatriz Schiller.

Review 1:

Review of Fred Cohn in the February 2008 issue of OPERA NEWS

Through most of its history, the Met has reserved the title role of Norma for its most imposing divas - Ponselle, Milanov, Callas, Sutherland, Caballé. For the [beginning] performances of this year's revival, the company took a different tack, assigning Bellini's priestess to Hasmik Papian - an able singer and an experienced Norma in other North American theaters, but one whose previous Met appearances, as Aida in three seasons' worth of that opera's revivals, have incited no particular cult following.

At the season premiere on November 12, Papian started uncertainly. She was audibly nervous during "Casta diva," her tone insufficiently supported, with the phrases rushed and their endings blunted. Once that hurdle was past - and her game effort rewarded with a generous ovation - she was able to settle down and show her stuff. The freshness of her soprano was a definite asset, and the role's upper reaches were easily available to her.

The voice is brighter than one expects in this role, an attribute that affected her characterization. This was a sanguine Norma, less grand in manner than one expects. She was more convincing joining hands in friendship with Adalgisa in "Ah! Sì, fa core e abbracciami" than when she exploded in rage at Pollione a moment later. At that juncture, the crucial passage "Tremi tu?" failed to sound: Papian just didn't have the requisite force in the lower part of her range to realize it. Throughout the performance, difficult passagework was simplified or smudged. One appreciated Papian's efforts to seek her own approach rather than emulating her celebrated predecessors, but this was not the titanic portrayal that the epic role

demands.

From a vocal standpoint, the heroine of the evening was the Adalgisa, Dolora Zajick, in lustrous voice. One wouldn't necessarily consider this eminent Verdian a natural bel cantist, but here the voice was agile and scaled down to suit the dimensions of the assignment. If anything, at times Zajick's efforts to hold back the torrents of power at her disposal seemed "too" successful. The cadenza leading into "Mira, o Norma," for instance, was sung in a careful "piano," and here one might have wished for just a bit more oomph - although not necessarily at the level of Amneris denouncing the priests.

Franco Farina is by no means a bel canto singer, and a pinched quality to his tenor keeps the tone from being entirely pleasing, but as Pollione, his firmness of attack counted for a lot. Vitalij Kowaljow's resonant, craggy bass suggested both Oroveso's zealotry and his underlying humanity. Maurizio Benini quite rightly approached the opera as an integrated work of art, rather than a prima donna vehicle, bringing an almost symphonic coherence to his shaping. He restored a good deal of "Norma's" classical proportions by [restoring] some (but unfortunately not all) of the standard cuts. The 2001 John Copley production, played out in John Conklin's spare, chilly sets, cuts the work off from the natural world and drains it of much of its humanity.

Review 2:

Jay Nordlinger in the Sun
A Norma Comes Into Her Own

So far, this has been a good season for bel canto at the Metropolitan Opera. The company opened with Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," in a new production by Mary Zimmerman — and it was pretty well sung. On Monday night, the Met revived Bellini's "Norma," in John Copley's production from 2001. And it was pretty well sung — sometimes very well sung.

In "Norma," you need, above all, a Norma — and this role was filled by Hasmik Papian, a soprano from Armenia. She did not have a good beginning. She was raspy, unfocused, impure — flat. But an interesting thing happened: Her voice got more beautiful and more secure as it went higher. And she did some admirable things in "Casta diva" — for example, a lovely diminuendo at the end. In the cabaletta, she was not hurling and slashing enough; and her high Cs were quite flat. But she got through all this, and showed a basic musical intelligence.

By Act II, she was improved — still flat, as in "Mira, o Norma," but improved. And in the final scenes, she really came into her own. In fact, she was almost a new woman, with more technical control, more beauty of sound, and more musicality. She gave an excellent demonstration of bel canto singing. And she ended the opera with a superb high B. Better to begin poorly and end well, of course, than vice versa.

Norma is a very hard role, and we should be patient with, and appreciative of, all those who assume it. Ms. Papian acquitted herself with honor. In addition to which — for those who value this kind of thing — she looked beautiful.

Assuming Adalgisa was one of the outstanding mezzos of our time, Dolora Zajick. As usual, she exhibited confidence and control — control over her material, control over herself. Like Ms. Papian, she suffered from some fiats. But she did not suffer grievously. And Ms. Zajick's power — vocal power — can be shocking. Every once in a while, she reminds you, "Oh, yeah: This is Dolora Zajick." And yet she husbands that power, does not use it indiscriminately. In the course of this show, Ms. Zajick sang a glorious, fantastic, soft high C. At that moment, there seemed nothing too "mezzo" about this soprano.

The principal tenor of the evening was Franco Farina, in the role of Pollione. At his best, he sounded like the "heroic lyric" Pollione must be. And he was never less than adequate. His sound could be pinched, and his pitch could be off. But Pollione, too, is no cakewalk. And, like Ms. Papian, Mr. Farina came into his own in the final scenes. For instance, his duet with Ms. Papian was assured and affecting.

And, all through the opera, he wore his cape, sword, and armor with dignity.

Our bass — singing Oroveso — was Vitalij Kowaljow (born in Ukraine). He was rich and authoritative. And, gratifyingly, he was lyrical, not a blunderbuss. Taking the small role of Clotilde was Julianne Di Giacomo, a soprano making her Met debut. She was solid, glowing — very impressive. How good it will be to hear her in leading roles.

As for the Met's chorus — those druids — it did its job. The men, singing by themselves, were distinguished, and the chorus as a whole was tightly savage in its vengeance music.

Conducting this performance was Maurizio Benini, for whom the Met is a frequent pit stop. He was often blunt, but usually correct. He did not always have control over his forces: The orchestra could be sloppy — in its chords, for example — and the stage and pit were sometimes a degree or two apart. Moreover, you could argue with several of his interpretive choices. For me, "Casta diva" was far too slow and soupy. (Was that Mr. Benini's choice, or the soprano's?) And the thrilling duet "Si, fino all'ore estreme" the cabaletta of "Mira, o Norma" — was sluggish, without thrill.

But, like his singers, the conductor acquitted himself with honor.

And some members of the orchestra shone. Act I, Scene 2, featured some seriously good cello playing, and the beginning of Act II gave us a very good clarinet.

At John Copley's production, you could nitpick — for instance, I'm not crazy about what looks like a little trampoline in the [first] scene. But this is a smart, tasteful, and effective production. It combines spareness and grandeur, somehow, and gives off a beautiful, inviting primitivism. "Where are Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Home?" some people cry. For that matter, where are Callas and Stignani? But "Norma" goes on, and bel canto goes on. The Met's current "Norma" is very much worth seeing, and appreciating. Besides which: what a great opera, even for those who aren't bel canto-ites. Wagner called Bellini "that sweet Sicilian." Sweet, yes, but — certainly in this work — great, too.

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Met careers

• Maurizio Benini [Conductor]
• Hasmik Papian [Norma]
• Franco Farina [Pollione]
• Dolora Zajick [Adalgisa]
• Vitalij Kowaljow [Oroveso]
• Eduardo Valdes [Flavio]
• Julianna Di Giacomo [Clotilde]
• John Copley [Production]
• John Conklin [Designer]
• Duane Schuler [Lighting Designer]
• Laurie Feldman [Stage Director]