The final B-flat in Georges Bizet's "Flower Song," from Carmen, was delivered with an extraordinary messa di voce, a vocal technique that displays a gradual crescendo and decrescendo on a single extended note. He was in spectacular voice, offering his signature burnished, baritonal timbre mixed with honeyed high notes sung in mezza voce (half voice). Kaufmann, a leading tenor worldwide, sang a herculean program, spanning a dozen of opera's biggest, lung-busting favorites, accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch. It was a viewer-friendly fundraiser, but it was also grand opera with its hair down. In April, the company presented its At-Home Gala, a live stream of some 40 opera luminaries belting out arias from their living rooms and kitchens. Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, needn't look far for a decent enough example on how to tailor the optics. Since opera's social status has long ranked with the moneyed classes (cue the minute-long Rolex commercial at the top of the show), you'd think the Met would try to play that side down a bit, at a time when people are protesting in the streets, keenly aware of the country's widening wealth gap.
Future venues will find Roberto Alagna at a chateau overlooking the French Riviera and Anna Netrebko ensconced in an Austrian palace.
Two weeks earlier, tenor Jonas Kaufmann kicked off the project from a gilded former abbey in Bavaria. (The concerts are available for another 12 days on demand.) On Saturday, soprano Renée Fleming sang at a storied mansion in Washington, D.C. ET, for a $20 ticket price, features top singers in recital at highfalutin locales. The series, which streams live every other Saturday at 1 p.m. The company's new streaming series, Met Stars Live in Concert, while a valiant endeavor, can't seem to shake off opera's fusty, aristocratic trappings.
New York's Metropolitan Opera, armed with technology, today's top singers and a captive, home-bound audience is, in spite of them, struggling to make opera relevant. The performance was part of the Metropolitan Opera's new live streaming series. Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, with pianist Helmut Deutsch, in recital at a Baroque abbey in Bavaria.
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