All remaining live performances in the 2019–20 season at The Met have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is a recording from 10 May 2014.
La Cenerentola at The Met Photo: Ken Howard/ Met Opera
Sunday 19 April 2020 at 6pm on RNZ Concert
Metropolitan Opera Season: La Cenerentola
ROSSINI: La Cenerentola
Cast:
Tara Erraught (Angelina/Cenerentola/Cinderella), Javier Camarena (Don Ramiro), So Young Park (Clorinda), Maya Lahyani (Tisbe), Davide Luciano (Dandini), Maurizio Muraro (Don Magnifico), Christian Van Horn (Alidoro), Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan
Rossini’s effervescent take on the Cinderella story returns, with rising star mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught in the title role and tenor sensation Javier Camarena as her Prince Charming. James Gaffigan conducts the lively action, which also features bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as the bumbling Don Magnifico, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the benevolent Alidoro, and baritone Vito Priante as the wily servant Dandini.
The story is simple: A young woman is denigrated by her own family but ultimately exalted by a prince who sees her true value. Rossini’s operatic version of the Cinderella tale (“Cenerentola” in Italian) is charming, beautiful, touching in parts, transcending its roots as a children’s fairytale and making the title heroine’s transformation one of character rather than stereotype.
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) was the world’s foremost opera composer in his day. Over the course of just two decades, he created more than 30 works, both comic and tragic, before inexplicably stopping opera composition in 1829, at the age of 37. Jacopo Ferretti (1784–1852), a poet who also supplied libretti for Donizetti and other composers, provided the text for 'La Cenerentola', adapting the classic fairy tale by author Charles Perrault (1628–1703).
Unlike most other versions, the opera places the story in a real locale, with the prince not a generic Prince Charming, but the prince of Salerno, an ancient seaside town in southern Italy. The score of 'La Cenerentola' seethes with the elegant buoyancy that is the hallmark of Rossini’s style. The solo parts require astounding vocal abilities, though the pyrotechnics always serve a larger dramatic purpose. Great comedy, an area in which the composer stands supreme, also runs throughout the score.
