opera notebook
some operas I have seen on videoFrancesco Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur (1902)
libretto by Arturo Colautti
Metropolitan Opera, New York, 2019
- Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
- Director: David McVicar
- Set Designer: Charles Edwards
- Adriana: Anna Netrebko
- Maurizio: Piotr Beczała
- Michonnet: Ambrogio Maestri
- Princess: Anita Rachvelishvili
- Dangeville: Samantha Hankey
I enjoyed this production more on video than I did when I saw it in the Metropolitan Opera House. The direction for video is superb, and the acting – which I couldn't see very well from the very last row at the top of the house – compensates for the corny melodrama in the libretto and music alike. All the singers are in strong form, though I would single out Ambrogio Maestri for an affecting but not overwrought performance as the lovelorn Michonnet.