Sir David McVicar's Goya-inspired 2009 production of Verdi’s Il trovatore is back at the Met for its fifth revival with an impressive cast of young singers. Last seen in 2018, the grimly realistic production moves the action from 15th-century Spain to the early 19th century, during the Peninsular War. Charles Edwards’ tall, rotating set efficiently accommodates the numerous scene changes, conjuring up a palace courtyard, a convent cloister, a gypsy encampment and other locations. Revival stage director Paula Williams keeps the cast and voluminous chorus organized and moving.
With its convoluted plot centering on love, death and vengeance, Verdi’s popular melodrama is short on dramatic continuity and character development but features a rhythmically compelling score replete with arias and ensembles of thrilling intensity. The four principal roles demand a wide variety of vocal skills: graceful lyricism, heroic power, bel canto agility, soaring line and Italianate sound. In this revival, those principals were all making Met role debuts, and while it took some time for the performance to truly gel, they all sang beautifully. As the evening progressed, the performance became increasingly exciting, delivering many highly dramatic moments.
Leading the cast was tenor Michael Fabiano as Manrico, the troubadour of the title and leader of the rebel forces. A program insert said that the singer had injured his ankle, “limiting his mobility on stage”, but that seemed insignificant in what was an undeniably good night for him. His opening off-stage “Deserto sulla terra”, sung with élan and apparent ease, was less than ideally intense, but as the evening went on his singing and acting became more impassioned, with his Act 3 “Di quella pira” battle cry marvelously robust. In “Ah, si, ben mio” and his duets with his beloved Leonora, he displayed elegant lyricism, but his singing was most tender and moving in “Riposa, o madre” his Act 4 duet with Jamie Barton’s Azucena.
Baritone Igor Golovatenko made an uncommonly virile Conte di Luna, stalwart commander of the Royalist Aragon troops and – unknown to either him or Manrico – the troubadour’s elder brother. With ample bravura, he cogently conveyed his character’s mood swings from hostility to apprehension. Superb in all his solo moments, he delivered the soaring lines of “Il balen del suo sorriso” – in which he reveals his unrequited love for Leonora – with gorgeous articulation and beautifully burnished tone.
As Leonora, the lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Aragon who is in love with Manrico but persistently pursued by di Luna, soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen convincingly portrayed her character’s transformation from love-struck victim to the catalyst who determines the fate of the long lost brothers. Despite her attractive legato and rich tone, she seemed less than completely comfortable with the coloratura in her opening “Di tale amor”. However, her singing steadily improved over the evening and she was at her very best in her Act 3 paean of triumph, “Vivra! contende il giubilo”.
The most spectacular performance – both vocally and dramatically – came from the sensational mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Azucena, the gypsy who raised Manrico as her son but whose life is consumed by the memory of her mother, long ago burnt at the stake as a witch. The demanding role requires bel canto skills which Barton managed effortlessly, delivering thrilling high notes and fluttering trills with alluring agility and clear, resonant tone. But even more awe-inspiring was her low register, its deep, biting sounds suggesting the gypsy’s dark revenge, the lynchpin of the plot. Her nuanced portrayal unveiled all the emotional volatility of the conflicted character – torn between love for her adopted son and a desire to avenge her dead mother.
Another faultless portrayal came from Ryan Speedo Green in the supporting role of Ferrando, a veteran officer in di Luna’s army. His commanding presence and resounding bass-baritone brought solid sound and a fine sense of character to the drama. His expository aria at the opening of the opera was remarkably vivid and engaging.
Conductor Daniele Callegari elicited a vigorous, colorful account of Verdi’s frequently shifting score, constantly attuned to the ever-changing needs of the singers, and the magnificent Met Chorus under its new director, Tilman Michael, was in excellent form, singing with highly polished sound and offering a particularly rousing rendition of the well-known Anvil Chorus.
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