by Paul J. Pelkonen
A wanderer no more: Marcello Giordani has announced he will cancel the four remaining Troyens
appearances and remove the role of Enée from his repertory.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.
According to a report published by our friends at parterre box (and sourced from the Met press office) Marcello Giordani has dropped out of the current revival of Les Troyens. The Italian tenor (whose other Berlioz operas at the Met have included the title roles in Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust will "retire" the role of Enée from his repertory.
The exciting news: Mr. Giordani's replacement in this five-hour Berlioz-a-thon is tenor Bryan Hymel, a promising American tenor who just finished a Covent Garden run in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable. The performances affected are Dec. 26 and 29, Jan. 1 and Jan. 5, which is the Live in HD broadcast of the opera.
Click here for a full review of of Les Troyens.
Given time, energy (and the right spot on the Met's Rush Line), your blogger will be going back to Troy (and Carthage)this week to render an opinion on Mr. Hymel, a singer who has drawn positive notices for past appearances as Pinkerton and Don Jose. (To be fair, I also want to hear Susan Graham sing Didon again!)
In other news,Nino Machaidze has announced that she will not be appearing as Countess Adèle in the company's revival of La Rondine, opening Jan. 11, 2013. The withdrawal is due to illness. Her replacement is the American soprano Pretty Yende in her company debut. The leading roles are still Kristine Opias and Giuseppe Filianoti in the rarely heard late Puccini drama.
Click here for a Superconductor preview of La Rondine.