Verdi: Falstaff
Michael Volle in the title role of the last Verdi opera - the great German singer as the corpulent knight: this is the exciting encounter promised at first glance by the return of Robert Carsen's grandly full-blooded production to the Met Live in HD programme. Surrounding the formidable Falstaff will be a cast capable of perfect teamwork, including such splendid singers as Marie-Nicole Lemieux in the rewarding role of Mistress Quickly and Ailyn Pérez and Christopher Maltman as the Fords.
"Tutto declina”, meaning "everything is in decline”, is the complaint Falstaff delivers in the elderly Verdi's comic opera as he wriggles his way out of the Thames, and this pessimistic line is often quoted in agreement by both amateur and professional critics of the opera world alike. And yet it is iconic productions of Falstaff themselves that regularly refute this sad opinion. This staging by Robert Carsen is particularly special, as it is the result of a completely new type of wide-ranging international collaboration between, along with the Met, La Scala, Covent Garden, Amsterdam's Dutch National Opera and the Toronto Opera Company. It can also without a doubt be considered a refutation of the state of decline that this performance being broadcast to the world will be conducted by Daniele Rustioni, who, still short of his 40th birthday, is perhaps the most promising Verdi conductor of the new generation. Of course, it is not only in the orchestra pit that there will be young, emerging talent: we will also find it on the stage in the form of South Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park, who has been chosen to play Nannetta, and Ukrainian-born Russian tenor Bogdan Volkov, who will sing Fenton. In any case, it would be foolish to miss out on this Falstaff on April Fools' Day.
The 'Metropolitan Opera Live in HD' transmissions have been made possible through the cooperation of our partner, liveincinema.eu s.r.o.
Conductor: Daniele Rustioni
Performers:
Nannetta: Hera Hyesang Park
Alice Ford: Ailyn Pérez
Mistress Quickly: Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Meg Page: Jennifer Johnson Cano
Fenton: Bogdan Volkov
Falstaff: Michael Volle
Ford: Christopher Maltman
Featuring: The Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Creators:
Set design: Paul Steinberg
Costumes: Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting: Robert Carsen, Peter van Praet
Director: Robert Carsen
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
