Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna

LA BOHEME - PUCCINI - NEW YORK

Opera

 
 
opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini 
libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa,
based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger.
 
The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini
 
 
 

Performances

New York Metropolitan Opera
January 9th 2020
January 12th 2020
January 17th 2020
January 21th 2020
January 25th 2020
jeudi 9 janvier 2020
 

 

 

Cast

Mimi : Maria Agresta
Musette : Susanna Phillips
Rodolfo : Roberto Alagna
Marcello : Artur Rucinsky
Schaunard : Elliot Madore
Colline : Christian Van Horn 

 

Press Review

 

Operawire - Logan Martell 

 
❝A GRAND RETURN. Strong, poignant vocals, great warmth, powerful spinto, ardent quality, deeply moving feelings' rendition❞ .
 
 
EXCERPT: “ A Grand Return. In the role of Rodolfo, Roberto Alagna brought a wealth of dramatic understanding which supported his strong, yet poignant vocals. His Act one aria, “Che gelida manina,” was delivered with great warmth as his humble introduction melted away, building towards a powerful, spinto conclusion.
 
This ardent quality returned in Act 3for Rodolfo’s initial façade as he expressed his desire to break up with Mimì, before this was undone with a fearful diminish as he put his true feelings into words with touching phrasing. After Mimì emerged and the two softly resolve to break up, these feelings carried beautifully as Marcello and Musetta entered for their nuanced and well-executed quartet “Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina.” The differing sentiments between the pairs of lovers were clearly conveyed, and while Marcello and Musetta’s bickering raised a fair ruckus, Mimì and Rodolfo remained in a tender world of their own.
 
In Act 4, Alagna’s emotions reached a tragic peak as Mimì laid dying. When reminiscing with her on their first meeting, his rueful chuckle fell to a crying quality that was deeply moving. When she finally passed, we heard Alagna ask “What does this mean… Why are you looking at me like this?” with his voice choked by abundant sorrow that tinged his final cries of “Mimì!”
Returning to the role in which made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1996, Roberto Alagna powerfully showcased the fruits of his maturing since, making for an irresistible night of Puccini’s tragically-beautiful work."
 
 
 

The New York Times - Anthony Tommasini 

❝Vocal richness, stylish phrasing, impassioned delivery. Still the lyrical elegance and youthful exuberance the role demands. Rodolfo’s aria was beautifully sung and received an ovation❞
 
“Over the years, Roberto Alagna intentionally shifted his repertory from lyric tenor roles, like Rodolfo to vocally weightier, and riskier, fare. He has managed to remain a major tenor. […] [Since his debut as Rodolfo at the Met] he brashly made his own way over the next two decades, taking on heftier roles that require power and endurance, so it took some courage to return to Rodolfo. His performance showcased the qualities for which he was hailed: vocal richness, stylish phrasing, impassioned delivery. [...] In the aria “Che gelida manina,” which the smitten Rodolfo sings to the alluring Mimì soon after she knocks on his garret door, Mr. Alagna was aglow with poetic reverie and yearning. And he was at his best in the crucial third act, when Rodolfo confesses to his friend Marcello that it’s not Mimì’s supposed flirtatiousness but her terrifying illness that he’s fleeing.” 
 
 

New York Classical review - Sean Piccoli

 
“The chance meeting of Rodolfo and Mimì leads to love at first sight and two of opera’s great arias: Rodolfo’s “Che gelida manina” and Mimì’s “Mi chiamano Mimì.” Roberto Alagna and Maria Agresta sang these early, soaring showpieces beautifully, and every arias received an ovation. In the roles of close friends living under one leaky roof, Alagna and Ruciński were a congenial pair. Whether abiding scarcity with good humor, carousing with their buddies, or commiserating over breakups back in the attic where they started, the two sang and performed with a chemistry and rapport that are essential to the story and helped carry it to its heartbreaking close.” Sean Piccoli, New York Classical Review
 
 
 
 

Prof. Joaquín Gómez Gómez

 
 
❝ He is the Rodolfo that Puccini wanted and that he has found in Roberto Alagna, the Prince of Tenors of the 21st century ❞ Check out an extract from the text by Prof. Joaquín Gómez Gómez written after his last performance as #Rodolfo, in the production that just ended in New York at The Metropolitan Opera. 
 
EXCERPT [Translated from Spanish] ❝ Puccini obtained his greatest theatrical success with the premiere of Manon Lescaut, his best known opera is Tosca, Turandot the most desired, but the most felt and passionate is La Bohème. It is not necessary to see him, just by listening to it, this music and this singing lead you through all the paths of first loves [...] and fill the hearts with an ardent lyricism full of sincerity. This is the complete art, where certain illustrious singers exhibit their notes with an immeasurable brilliance, which gives them an air of eternity. To find a tenor who fits the tone of the score, its inflections, its pauses, its expressiveness in full bloom and other arpeggios, is not easy, since almost all tenors lower the famous aria "Che gelida manina". Only Aragall at his debuts and Pavarotti in 1971, both at Liceo in Barcelona, fulfilled what is written. The first with his beautiful lyric voice but without accents and the second with his bright top range and this golden "squillo" among the most brilliant in the recent history of opera. However, a few years later, the two no longer sang it in the original key. [...].
 
So when "La Bohème" was announced featuring Roberto Alagna as Rodolfo, in my subconscious, a hopeful light with supreme strength emerged. Why? Because the mere presence of Alagna on stage ignites our enthusiasm and illuminates the lyrical firmament, causing, by the sublime emotion that he conveys to us, that "the clocks stop". His singing, supported by his perfect technique, gives his interpretations a luminous, brilliant and clear vocal expression, which makes us revive those magical and glorious moments. Those moments after which, once reached, we can die crying with joy, for we have touched a piece of heaven, we have felt the glory, the glory of eternity.
 
This is what Alagna made us feel with his Rodolfo on January 25, 2020 at the Metropolitan in New York. The whole evening was an authentic master's lesson of vocal singing and expressiveness, full of sincere love feeling and contained passion. From the start, his voice shone with golden enamel, a majestic voice, highlighting the placement and projection of the vowel "i", in his maxillary resonance chamber, which made us dream of flying high, very high. In his "raconto", sung in a lively tone, his sentence "Talor dal mio forziere", delivered with confidence and "naturalness", was as we expected in this supreme moment of "la esperanza", full of hope. It was really something, unique, to reach the "High C", with an incandescent, prodigious clarity, prolonged on the vowel "e" and without portamento. It was really something magical, for the records of the opera history. It is the climax of a prodigious night, where he demonstrates once again that his technique follows the footsteps of the masters [of past centuries].
 
He completes the first act with an outstanding duet "O soave fanciulla", and again in unison with the soprano, they go up to the High C, letting it fall gently and concluding the Act under the bravos and the great cheers of the audience. In the third Act, her passionate pain was expressed with a beautiful line of singing, without mannerism and full of sincerity and authenticity. He did not use the falsetto, so used by many tenors to rest their voice.
 
For the end, he stands out with an exemplary vocal demonstration in the famous duo "in un coupe". His "O Mimì, tu più non torni", was full of sweetness, with a legendary "i", angelic, full of impact and following a vowel "e" placed at the same place as the "i", reminiscent of Kraus’s technique. His last "Mimì, Mimì" was an apotheosis, catapulting "Mimì" to the highest of the belcantist lyric podium. This is the supreme art brought to its paroxysm, he is the Rodolfo that Puccini wanted and that, as a magic dream, he has found in Roberto Alagna, the Prince of Tenors of the 21st century. ❞
 
 
 
 

Gallery 

 

 
 


21/09/2020