And while “Akhnaten” may be one of Glass’s tributes to great men who changed the world - through science, politics and faith - Thursday’s performance of it made a persuasive argument for where the real power lies: with the women.įor example, the mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, the cast’s newcomer, as Nefertiti, Akhnaten’s wife. Phelim McDermott’s production, now more lived-in, unfolded with elegant inevitability rather than effort the score was executed with a clarity and drive absent on the often slack album. There were, though, some crucial differences from 2019. While a break from the Met’s standard programming, “Akhnaten” - the final installment, from 1984, in Glass’s trilogy of “portrait” operas, after the pathbreaking “Einstein on the Beach” and “Satyagraha,” a meditation on Gandhi’s nonviolent movement - may be a surer bet than, say, “Tosca.” When “Akhnaten” belatedly arrived there a few years ago, it was a critical and box office success, one that attracted a visibly younger audience. By June, “Rigoletto” will stand alone as a holdout of the core repertory. On Thursday, Philip Glass’s “Akhnaten” returned for the first time since its Met debut, in 2019, joining the American premiere last week of Brett Dean’s “Hamlet.” Next to open, on May 30, is a revival of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress,” in a staging by Jonathan Miller that is older but more stylish than many at the house. It wasn’t so long ago this season - just January - that the Metropolitan Opera’s programming was about as classic as it gets: tried-and-true works by Verdi, Puccini and Mozart.īut scan the coming weeks, and you’ll find what looks like a better, more adventurous company.
0 kommentar(er)
