The return of the maestro: James Levine and the MET Orchestra

By David Allen, 21 May 2013

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Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 19 May 2013

Wagner, Lohengrin: prelude to Act 1

Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 4 in G major, Op.58

Schubert, Symphony no. 9 in C major, "The Great", D.944

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Evgeny Kissin, Piano

James Levine, Conductor

Tristan und Isolde at the Met: staging gets in the way of the music

No’a L. bat Miri, 9th March

Michael Spyres shines in his debut as Tristan alongside powerhouse soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Yuval Sharon's new, beguiling production at the Metropolitan Opera.

***11

Met Orchestra brings a long neglected symphony back to life

Susan Stempleski, 4th February

William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, overlooked for decades, heads an all-American program of 20th-century works in New York.

****1

Ailyn Pérez is the perfect Butterfly in the Met’s revival

Robert Levine, 13th January

Good Butterflys are not that difficult to come by but great ones are very very rare. Ailyn Pérez fits the bill in this revival of Anthony Minghella’s classic staging.

*****

Vocal thrills in Met’s traditional staging of Bellini’s I puritani

Susan Stempleski, 31st December

Marco Armiliato conducts a finely balanced rendition of Bellini's final masterpiece with a stellar cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

*****

Porgy and Bess returns stronger than ever at the Met

Robert Levine, 7th December

Back to Catfish Row for another revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and James Robinson’s show continue to wow our writer.

*****

Singers bring passion and excitement to Met’s Andrea Chénier revival

Susan Stempleski, 24th November

The Metropolitan Opera kicks off this season’s revival of Umberto Giordano’s tempestuous melodrama with standout performances from a resplendent cast.

****1

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David Allen

David is a PhD student at Columbia University, where he studies international history. A lapsed pianist and organist, he writes on concerts on both sides of the Atlantic, and blogs at Unpredictable Inevitability.