At 36, the soprano Lisette Oropesa is in the midst of what should be a star-making season at the Metropolitan Opera. This fall she won rave reviews and ardent ovations in the title role of Massenet’s “Manon.” And on Wednesday, she sang her first performance with the company as Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata.”
It can be hard for a soprano to stand out among the enormous horde of singers who have taken on this touchstone role. And Ms. Oropesa is following Aleksandra Kurzak’s riveting account at the Met last month, when Michael Mayer’s 2018 production returned.
But combining exquisite singing, youthful allure, affecting vulnerability and, by the end, bleak intensity, Ms. Oropesa emerged on Wednesday as a major Violetta.
In Act I, when Violetta, a charming courtesan, is throwing a lavish party, a soprano must summon flights of coloratura brilliance and coquettish sparkle. Ms. Oropesa breezily dispatched runs and embellishments as she mingled with her guests and met Alfredo, the smitten young man from a bourgeois family who has been pining for her from afar.
Yet you could detect a trace of forced vivacity in Ms. Oropesa’s interpretation, an intentional touch of tremulous fervor in her sound, even as she let bright-voiced, ebullient phrases soar. Here was a young woman determined to prove that she was undaunted and would remain, as she later sings, “sempre libera”: always free.
Her Alfredo was the tenor Piero Pretti, who took on the role after the star tenor Vittorio Grigolo was fired in December following allegations of inappropriate behavior. Mr. Pretti, who has a warm, mellow voice, came across as an earnest young man, in awe of the glamorous Violetta, and a bit clueless.
That could have made for a weak Alfredo. But paired with Ms. Oropesa’s larger-than-life Violetta, his demeanor worked. And you understood why this nice-guy type would appeal to her. In Act II, when she and Alfredo have fled Paris to enjoy their love in the country, it made sense that Alfredo was truly shocked to learn that Violetta was selling her possessions to support their life.
During the long scene with Germont, Alfredo’s disapproving father, Ms. Oropesa’s singing was wonderful, and exquisitely sad in the aching “Dite alla giovine,” in which Violetta agrees to give up Alfredo so that his sister’s marriage plans will not be derailed by the scandal of the family’s new connection to a courtesan. And in Violetta’s great aria in the final act, “Addio del passato,” Ms. Oropesa poignantly balanced bleak expressivity with arching lyricism.
The baritone Luca Salsi brought a robust, if somewhat blunt, voice to Germont; some passages of blustery excess marred his essentially honorable singing. Maria Zifchak (as Annina, Violetta’s maid) and Kevin Short (as the devoted Dr. Grenvil) gave touching performances of short but crucial roles. The conductor Bertrand de Billy drew a stylish, vibrant and sensitive performance from the Met Orchestra.
He certainly had an inspiring Violetta to work with.
La Traviata
Through March 19 at the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center; 212-362-6000, metopera.org.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
