United States Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Refrain and Orchestra / Keri-Lynn Wilson (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 23.5.2025. (RP)
The late Elijah Moshinsky’s manufacturing of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, which was first introduced on the Metropolitan Opera in 1995, has returned for 5 performances to shut the season. Primarily based on a brief story by Pushkin, the opera delves into the themes of obsession and self-destruction towards the grandeur of Imperial Russia within the time of Catherine the Nice. It’s a darkish story, pushed by the sweep and keenness of Tchaikovsky’s genius for melody and drama.
The opera tells of Lisa, granddaughter of the aged Countess who’s rumored to carry the key of successful at playing cards. Though engaged to Prince Yeletsky, Lisa falls below Hermann’s spell. Intent on discovering the Countess’s secret, Hermann surprises the previous lady when she is asleep, first pleading together with her after which threatening her with a pistol. The Countess dies of fright with out revealing the key, however her ghost seems to him in a dream, divulging it to Hermann so he can marry and save Lisa.
Unhinged with insanity, Hermann involves Lisa, and she or he realizes that he was extra within the Countess’s secret than in her. Believing that every one is misplaced, Lisa commits suicide (a very awkward little bit of Moshinsky’s staging). Becoming a member of a card recreation together with his fellow officers, Hermann bets wildly, successful the primary two arms however shedding the third. As an alternative of the ace, which the Countess instructed him was the third successful card, he holds the queen of spades. Because the Countess’s ghost laughs in vengeful triumph, he shoots himself.
Moshinsky heightened the drama and rigidity by setting the motion inside an image body surrounding the proscenium of the Met stage. His colour scheme is primarily black and white, relieved by the glint of jewels and splashes of purple and blue. Huge Corinthian columns and the robes on the ladies epitomize opulence on the masked ball. The Countess’s robes are magnificent, as is the portrait of her because the ‘Muscovite Venus’ that hangs within the room the place she dies.
Securing a tenor to sing Hermann posed a problem for the Met, and it was introduced just some days earlier than the primary efficiency that Armenian tenor Arsen Soghomonyan would play the position. Brian Jagde and Brandon Jovanovich had beforehand withdrawn from the manufacturing. Soghomonyan has sung Hermann on the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, the Armenian Nationwide Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. He’s additionally scheduled to sing it with the State Opera Varna in Bulgaria this summer time with Sonya Yoncheva as Lisa, who was singing the position for the primary time right here on the Met.
Soghomonyan’s Hermann was unmoored psychologically from the beginning, and there was little question this story would finish badly. There was little bloom in Soghomonyan’s voice or suppleness to his singing within the opening scene’s extra reflective passages, however the tenor’s prime notes blazed when expressing Hermann’s obsessive, self-destructive nature. He was at his greatest within the opera’s most dramatic scenes confronting the Countess, and within the ultimate, frenzied card recreation. Along with his Met debut behind him, Soghomonyan’s portrayal will undoubtedly achieve nuance because the run progresses.
Yoncheva introduced an attractive mixture of voluptuous sound, tempered with metal, to Lisa. With out ever straining the basically lyrical nature of her voice, Yoncheva expressed Lisa’s torrents of emotion in arcing waves of sound that crested simply over the orchestra. Her characterization was equally refined and touching. Yoncheva is an outstanding Lisa in all methods, and undoubtedly the position shall be her subsequent calling card in opera homes worldwide.
Up to now, the Met usually solid the Countess with nice singers on the finish of their careers, with nostalgia and very good appearing trumping voices dimmed by time. Violeta Urmana’s Countess shouldn’t be reduce from that fabric: she is as riveting dramatically as she is in whole command of the position vocally. Urmana was glamorous and imperious in addition to deliciously malicious, as she taunted after which triumphed over Soghomonyan’s Hermann.
Prince Yeletsky shouldn’t be a lot of a task, however he will get one nice aria, which Igor Golovatenko sang with all of the ardor, lyricism and richness of his luxurious baritone that he may muster. Maria Barakova brightened the stage together with her successful look and full-voiced singing as Lisa’s pal Paulina.
Alexey Markov reduce a dashing determine as Depend Tomsky, vividly telling the story of the Countess’s secret in his equally commanding voice. Within the cameo position of the Governess, Jill Grove was a delight, emitting depraved growls in her deep contralto as she scolds the women for doing something so gauche as folks dancing.
There was nice singing from the principals, however the refrain was their equal. Their singing within the opening scene was magnificent, and simply as spectacular within the ballroom scene. The Dance of Shepherds and Shepherdesses, which entertained the Countess and different company on the masked ball, was elegant and refined.
Keri-Lynn Wilson carried out a efficiency with all the eagerness inherent in Tchaikovsky’s rating, but gave cautious consideration to paint, element, texture and construction; with the Met Orchestra responding by imbuing the music in variety. Wilson led a memorable efficiency wherein the grandeur and depth of Tchaikovsky’s opera was revealed in all of its magnificence and anguish.
Rick Perdian
Manufacturing:
Manufacturing – Elijah Moshinsky
Revival Stage Director – Paula Williams
Units and Costumes – Mark Thompson
Lighting – Paul Pyant
Choreographer – John Meehan
Refrain director – Tilman Michael
Solid:
Tchekalinsky – Chad Shelton
Sourin – Raymond Aceto
Depend Tomsky / Plutus – Alexey Markov
Hermann – Arsen Soghomonyan
Prince Yeletsky – Igor Golovatenko
Lisa – Sonya Yoncheva
Countess – Violeta Urmana
Pauline / Daphnis – Maria Barakova
Governess – Jill Grove
Masha – Edyta Kulczak
Grasp of Ceremonies – Daniel O’Hearn
Chloë – Ann-Kathrin Niemczyk
Tchaplitsky – Scott Scully
Naroumov – Christopher Job
Catherine the Nice – Snezhana Chernova
Piano solo – Ksenia Leletkina
