by Paul J. Pelkonen
Javier Cammarena in La Fille du Régiment, Photo © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.
It's a winter warmer! Pretty Yende and Javier Cammarena are the leads in this lovely bel canto comedy by Donizetti.What is La Fille du Régiment?
A featherweight French comedy, this was one of the finest and most successful products of the Italian Donizetti's Paris period. with a real heart and enough vocal firepower that the story doesn't really matter too much.
What's the story?
La Fille is best known for Tonio's Act I aria "Ah, mes amis", which features a staggering nine high C's in a row, a feat that brought Luciano Pavarotti to worldwide fame and has also helped the career of bel canto tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Lawrence Brownlee. Here, Javier Cammerena accepts the challenge.
What's the music like?
The title character is a bel canto heroine with astonishingly difficult, high-lying music to sing. But La Fille is best known for Tonio's Act I aria "Ah, mes amis", which features a staggering nine high C's in a row, a feat that brought Luciano Pavarotti to worldwide fame and has also helped the career of bel canto tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Lawrence Brownlee. Here, Javier Cammerena accepts the challenge.
Who's in it?
In addition to Pretty Yende and Mr. Cammarena, this production stars Stephanie Blythe as the meddling Marquise of Berkenfield and comic buffo basses Alessandro Corbelli and Mairizio Muraro splitting the role of Sulpice. Nobody knows who will play the Duchess of Krakenthorp, but even if we found out at this early press date we wouldn't tell you.
How's the production?
This serviceable staging by Laurent Pelly puts the military hijinks of this opera in the years before the First World War, when being in the military was still a profession that might nit actually get you killed.
When does La Fille du Régiment open?
The opera returns for just five performances starting February 7, 2019.
Is there a Live in HD broadcast planned?
Not this season.
Where do I get tickets?
Tickets are available through MetOpera.Org or by calling the box office at (212) 362-6000. You can save some money on service fees by going to the box office in person at the Met itself, located at 30 Lincoln Center Plaza.
Box office hours are: Monday to Saturday: 10am-8pm, Sunday: 12pm-6pm.
Which recordings do you recommend?
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden cond. Richard Bonynge
Marie: Joan Sutherland
Tonio: Luciano Pavarotti
The second teaming (ever) of Sutherland and Pavarotti makes this 1967 recording remains the best reading of the bel canto classic. As always, Richard Bonynge conducts his wife. Excellent if you want to hear the early Pavarotti, and understand what all the fuss was about. And yes, the young, virile Pavarotti hits the nine high C's straight out of the park.
