Review: Jonathan Tetelman Arrives at the Met in ‘La Rondine’

The revival of Nicolas Joël’s Art Deco-inspired production of Puccini’s “La Rondine” at the Metropolitan Opera highlights a quality that Puccini is not necessarily known for: restraint.

In his headline-making debut, the Chilean-born American singer Jonathan Tetelman, who has a Deutsche Grammophon recording contract and the potential to become the house’s next major Italian-opera tenor, didn’t necessarily arrive with a splash.

His performance had the careful craft of an Olympic diver who breaks the water’s surface without generating ripples. His second assignment this month is another Puccini work, “Madama Butterfly,” and in a show of faith from the company, he will star in high-definition simulcasts of both operas (“La Rondine” on April 20 and “Madama Butterfly” on May 11).

Tall and willowy, Tetelman sang in a performance of “La Rondine” on Tuesday, his third show in the run, with a hyper-focused, brightly resonant voice that conveyed the sunny ping of an Italianate instrument. As Ruggero, he traced fastidious lines through the full length of Puccini’s lavish melodies, holding them taut before releasing them, and artfully negotiated his registers.

His approach yields beautiful results in recordings, balancing ardor and sensitivity in a voice of impressive size, but in a live setting, it feels overly controlled. There’s a lean quality to his timbre that renders climaxes loud rather than thrilling. His somewhat studied performance affirms the admirable seriousness with which he approaches operatic art, and it will be exciting to hear him once he figures out how to conceal the artifice required to make it.