Caitlin Oldham
Regardless that three of the 4 initially introduced principals had been lacking in motion, some robust substitutions and efficient Verdi from Maestro b made this an pleasing night nonetheless.
Since Luisa Miller’s revival in the midst of the 20th century, this speedy precursor to Verdi’s massive center interval hits has steadily hung round the usual rep, showing on the Met as lately as 2018 with Yoncheva, Beczala and pre-cancellation baritone-era Domingo within the leads. Whereas the musical commonalities between Luisa and people works are clear, its central heroine is a distinct prospect.
Tailored from a Schiller play by Salvatore Cammarano, Luisa has little company within the libretto’s squalid story of a easy nation woman who falls in love with a nobleman on the down low and turns into a pawn within the scheming of the Tyrolean petty the Aristocracy. Even poor Gilda will get to make her alternative ultimately, however Luisa is caught within the jaws of the plot the entire night.
In the direction of the tip she meekly tries to exit the soprano dying carousel, providing to scrap suicide plans and simply stroll away together with her father. However the plot is relentless, and her lover’s excessive gullibility and hasty determination to poison them each will get her ultimately. In a method the title character’s powerlessness makes Luisa Miller a a lot rawer tragedy than its extra well-known neighbors, however it doesn’t fairly provide the satisfaction of the entire dramatic arcs of these different marquee feminine roles.
Caitlin Oldham
American soprano Amanda Woodbury, a 2014 Met Council Audition finalist, took over for the scheduled Angel Blue right here, bringing a satisfying depth of sound to Luisa’s music. Silvery excessive notes simply as pure because the character’s unblemished soul had been a serious characteristic, whether or not killer floated B’s in direction of the tip of Act II lament “Tu puniscimi, O Signore”, or hovering out of the male-dominated ensembles. Elegant articulation and a positive hand enlivened the sunshine coloratura materials, like her first act “Lo vidi e’l primo palpito.”
Woodbury leaned into Luisa’s supreme naïveté and bewilderment, a dramatically legitimate take that in all probability makes the ending really feel much more merciless and mindless, however is also a bit inert at instances. The live performance format and her late addition to the forged had been definitely components right here too, however sneaking in a bit extra red-blooded drama, particularly within the Act II strain cooker sequence, could also be essential to make this an entire assumption.
Kang Wang, a spotlight of Washington Nationwide Opera’s fall manufacturing of Macbeth, impressed once more right here as Rodolfo with an ardent, throwback type and massive notes that opened up with a scrumptious ping. Wang confirmed restraint with all that firepower, nevertheless, reserving some thrilling surprises for the viewers as he revealed further gears in Act I’s climax and the ultimate depths of despair in Act III. He additionally earned the most important applause of the evening for his dealing with of the present’s breakout quantity, “Quando le sere al placido,” utilizing refined gradations between mezza voce and full voice results to create an irresistible sense stress and launch. Wang’s skill to generate actual pathos with arguably one of many dumbest tenor characters within the Verdi library (c’mon dude, she didn’t depart you on your dad’s henchman “Wurm”) was no small feat.
Caitlin Oldham
Baritone Ricardo José Rivera, in for George Gagnidze, took on Miller, certainly one of Verdi’s signature girldad creations. The sound is simply huge but very constant, in a position to preserve a way of core and presence whereas effortlessly increasing within the cavernous Lisner auditorium. Rivera had a little bit of a gradual begin in corralling that spectacular uncooked materials right into a deeper efficiency, with a sameness creeping into his Act I “Sacra la scelta è d’un consorte” that appeared to additionally counsel a few of the limitations in youthful singers tackling these authority determine roles. But Rivera discovered way more to unearth with Miller’s return in Act III, delivering energy and a devastating readability in a remaining scene with Woodbury that featured a few of the tightest two hander passages of the night.
Bass Oren Gradus, an abiding presence on the Met, joined the forged instead of Morris Robinson, as Rodolfo’s scheming father. Gradus was headed in the suitable path together with his portrayal of Walter’s hole greedy for energy, however a pervasive wooliness within the sound prevented him from realizing the Rely as a reputable risk. Already difficult exposition dumps, like a laborious Act I scene with Wurm, got here off as a chore, and Gradus wasn’t in a position to benefit from his alternative to painting further complexity in Act II’s massive solo assertion, “I mio sangue la vita darei.”
Mezzo Kate Jackman’s imposing chest voice was the most important vocal takeaway from her Duchess Federica, particularly in a bracing Act I scene with Rodolfo, although at instances she appeared a bit of too snug within the depths and couldn’t join easily to the remainder of her sound. Her haughty stage presence did a lot to lift the stakes throughout Luisa’s fateful Act II interrogation. Rounding out the supporting forged had been bass-baritone Samuel Weiser, who introduced a surprisingly seductive sound and gleeful sadism to Wurm and Erin Ridge’s heat soprano within the position of sympathetic buddy Laura.
Maestro Antony Walker’s skill to pluck alternative moments out of a rating and add some further precision or depth to make them memorable did a lot for this Luisa. An infectious oompah vitality and positive wind solos elevated the considerably routine potboiler overture, whereas Walker’s dealing with of Act I’s finale was a grasp class within the results Verdi makes use of to extend stress in climactic ensembles.
There’s little room for leisure in that Act III finale, and Walker didn’t shrink back from the awful flip, introducing the ultimate duet with savage figures within the strings and doggedly rising the tempo as the whole lot falls aside. (The parterre field podcast Chris’s Cache lately supplied 5 variations of Act III on your comparability pleasure.) The WCO refrain supplied detailed help all through, significantly in stretches just like the sensitively articulated opening ensemble of Act II.
In thrilling information for 2025-2026, WCO introduced that it’s going to once more provide an expanded season of three operas, doing its half to make up the D.C. opera deficit as slimmer seasons at WNO proceed (which might after all get even slimmer if the Kennedy Middle Opera Home must host an prolonged Cats residency). Like this season as nicely, the emphasis is much less on rarities and extra on recognized if not ubiquitous works: Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, and Mozart’s Idomeneo. Highlights from the introduced personnel thus far embrace Ben Bliss within the title position of Idomeneo, Will Liverman and Duke Kim because the Pearl Fisher guys, and Kate Lindsey as Iphigénie.
