Met Opera: Joyce DiDonato in La Cenerentola

One of the operas I've most anticipated seeing at the Met this season has been La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini.  The composer is currently experiencing something of a renaissance at the opera house.  Though he wrote a total of 39 operas during his abbreviated career, he was until recently represented primarily only by Il barbieri di Siviglia (which was actually the first opera ever to have been performed in America) and occasionally by L'italiana in Algeri.  This seeming neglect of Rossini's other works was not due so much to a lack of appreciation as it was to a dearth of qualified singers.

It was really the emergence in the past few years of qualified vocalists that changed the situation almost overnight and once again made Rossini's works a staple of the repertoire.  Chief among these talented newcomers has been Joyce DiDonato who only made her Met debut in 2006 as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro.  She has breathed new life into the 1997 production of La Cenerentola and made it one of the most enjoyable comic experiences in the repertory.  Ms. DiDonato was in perfect form last evening as she sang the title role, and she had excellent assistance from a gifted supporting cast, most notably the tenor Javier Camarena (who starred earlier this season as Elvino in La Sonnambula) in the role of Don Ramiro.

One of the more interesting features of La Cenerentola is that the libretto by Jacopo Ferretti largely eschews the magic trappings found in Perrault's children's tale.  There is no fairy godmother here, only the devoted tutor Alidoro doing his best to rescue Angelina from the abuse she suffers at her unhappy home.  At times, the story veers perilously close to naturalism as the audience sees the heroine mistreated by her family and reduced to the status of a lowly servant.  This change in approach only makes the final happy ending all the more rewarding.

Cesare Lievi's production was not overwhelming or lavish, but it was pleasant to look at and provided a solid backdrop for the ensemble to work against.  Conductor Fabio Luisi, whose presence has been somewhat eclipsed this season by the return of James Levine, did his usual excellent work at the podium.

The Met has already scheduled its premiere of Paul Curran's production of La Donna del Lago for next season.  Ms. DiDonato will once again appear onstage to sing the title role.  It's to be hoped that this will be followed by even more productions of Rossini's works.