A run of Werther, the Massenet opera, was scheduled to begin at the Met on March 16. But the first performances were canceled—not all, but most. So a star of the show, Joyce DiDonato, did something neat: she invited another star of the show, Piotr Beczała, into her home for some livestreaming. The two performed excerpts from Werther, accompanied by a piano and a harp.
Soon, livestreaming from home became the norm, all across the arts world. The Metropolitan Opera itself presented an “at-home gala” on April 25. It involved more than forty performers, appearing from various far-flung spots.
I write about this event in my new chronicle for the magazine. I would like to write a little more about it now. First, though, an excerpt:
Accompanied by the Met violists, Joyce DiDonato, the mezzo from Kansas, sang “Ombra mai fu” (from Handel’s Xerxes). Violists? Why them? This was a tribute to Vincent Lionti, from the Met’s viola section, who died of the coronavirus on April 4. He was beloved of his colleagues.
DiDonato and the violists were put together electronically—technologically—somehow. Each was in his own home, I believe. There was simplicity but also wizardry behind this gala.
Piotr Beczała, too, took part. He informed the audience that he was “in fernem Land,” i.e., in a far-off land. Indeed, he sang those notes. They come from Wagner’s Lohengrin. But Beczała did not sing that aria. He sang an aria by Puccini, from Tosca: “Recondita armonia.”
His far-off location? A Polish forest, as I understood it. Impressively, the Wi-Fi held true.
One charming appearance was by Diana Damrau, the German soprano, who is unfailingly charming. She was not alone, though. She was “sheltering in place” with her husband, the French bass-baritone Nicolas Testé. They were in Orange, France, and they sang “Là ci darem la mano,” from Don Giovanni (Mozart).
The pièce de résistance was at the end: when their adorable children appeared.
Have you ever heard of Niceville, Florida? Great place-name. You had better not be mean or grumpy there. From Niceville, Lawrence Brownlee sang “A te, o cara,” from Bellini’s opera I puritani. As he can be relied on to do, Brownlee gave a clinic in high-flying tenorial bel canto smoothness.
Nadine Sierra, another American, a soprano, was in Valencia, Spain. She sang “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì,” from La bohème (Puccini). She was correct, which is good. She was also stylish, which is very good. It is hard to bring this aria off well, and Sierra brought it off very well indeed.
Günther Groissböck, the Austrian bass, was in Lugano, Switzerland. Behind him was a sculpture of Wagner—who was wearing a mask. Groissböck did not sing Wagner, however. He sang Strauss, Richard Strauss: the closing monologue from Die schweigsame Frau (“Wie schön ist doch die Musik”). He accompanied himself on the piano, first saying, “I’ll try to do my best.” A talented and likable fellow, Groissböck.
In Moscow, Ildar Abdrazakov, the bass, sang a Rachmaninoff song: the one we sometimes know in English as “Spring Torrents.” What a songwriter, Rachmaninoff—he was not all piano concertos, you know—and Abdrazakov has an affinity for him.
So does Anna Netrebko, the starry soprano. From Vienna, she sang another Rachmaninoff song, “Oh, Never Sing to Me Again!” (No one would address such a statement to Netrebko.) She was sovereign in this song.
Let me close this little post the way I do my chronicle: “An opera gala can be a motley, strange, moving thing. This one was.”