Opera with a capital "Oh!!!!" Preliminary thoughts on Il Trovatore

I was thrilled to hear the live audio streaming online as the Sir David McVicar production of Mr. Verdi's Il Trovatore opened for this season on Monday night. Il Trovatore is one of those operas. You know the ones--a story that seems laughable, every conceivable human emotion set to ridiculously singable tunes, but incredibly gripping when done well and we are paying attention. It is perhaps unfortunate that Il Trovatore is know as the "Oops! Wrong baby [in the fire]!" opera, for it has so much more to offer!

One of this season's surprises at the Metropolitan Opera was the announcement that dear Jennifer Rowley would sing Leonora in all performances of Il Trovatore, replacing the originally scheduled artist. Stepping in late in the game has become a common occurrence for Miss Rowley. Her triumph last season as Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Met occurred in just this way. If I'm not mistaken, she was hired for her first Verdi Requiem just two weeks before the performance. And she was thrust into the international spotlight with a spine-tingling performance of Maria in Mr. Donizetti's Maria di Rohan at Caramoor in 2010, replacing the scheduled artist.

Caruso is said to have quipped that all you need for a successful Trovatore production is the four greatest singers in the world. Call this production successful! Although I recently raved about Miss Rowley's Tosca, I found on Monday night her Leonora was even better vocally than her beautiful Tosca. Everything Leonora needs--warm sound throughout, a broad palate of vocal colors and the ability to use them intelligently, great musical instincts, and chutzpah--Miss Rowley has in abundance.

Anita Rachvelishvili was a marvel as Azucena. The same qualities I praise in Miss Rowley--vocal color, intelligent and artistic musical instincts, chutzpah--were quite abundant in Miss Rachvelishvili's performance. (I wanted to hand the Met's radio announcer a tissue every time she said Rachvelishvili!) I wasn't familiar with her before, but I hope to hear much more from her.

I praised Quinn Kelsey's 2011 Rigoletto highly, and I've since seen and heard him give equally impressive performances. As Count di Luna, Mr. Kelsey displayed the same qualities that impressed as Rigoletto--singing that was beautiful and expressive, and vocal acting that was impressive. I have heard Yonghoon Lee grow as an artist over the years, and I found last night's Manrico quite thrilling vocally. When he was younger, I found his singing occasionally yell-y, but there was none of that in last night's performance.

To Marco Armiliato I give great credit for the overall high level of artistry and expressiveness in last night's performance. There was ample evidence that Mr. Armiliato is a singer's conductor, while he kept pacing and shape to the performance tightly reigned. And of course, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus performed at the superb level we expect of them.