Nézet-Séguin writes a love letter to the Met Orchestra

Angel Blue, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra

By David Wolfson, 19 June 2025

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“the low string sound was so warm I wanted them to read me a story and tuck me into bed”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 18 June 2025

Ortiz, Antrópolis

Bernstein, Symphony no. 1, "Jeremiah"

Blanchard, Fire Shut Up in My Bones: Suite (New York premiere)

Dvořák, Symphony no. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op.95

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Director, Conductor

Angel Blue, Soprano

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

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.

*****

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David Wolfson

David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.

Nézet-Séguin writes a love letter to the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall