The Met's? Really?

This week the Met premiered a "new production" of La Traviata, directed by Willy Decker. The exact same production was actually premiered over five years ago at the Salzburg Festival, staring the romantic duo Anna Netrebko and Ronaldo Villazon. It was a smash hit that year, in 2005, and was considered to have given Traviata a strap-on. Netrebko and Villazon sounded amazing and looked sexy.

Last week the production was imported, with different singers, as the Met's dramatic replacement for the stale Zeffirelli Traviata, that dominated the house for over a decade. Peter Gelb (the Met artistic director) obviously intended to make a stark contrast between then and now, but the fact remains that this is not new art and certainly does not belong to the Met, (contrary to Anthony Thommasini saying in the New York Times that "this is an involving and theatrically daring production that belongs to the Met"). They paid to import a production that had already proven to be an artistic success elsewhere. For an institution that is considered by many as the leading opera house in the world, imported art is lame. Come on. This production is radical, sensual, and minimal, but get your own.

I have included a picture of Anna Netrebko in the NEW production of La Traviata at the 2005 Salzburg Festival.

Metropolitan Opera- Elektra

Back in December I saw Elektra at the Met. At the time I didn’t really have strong opinions about the production, so I didn’t bother reviewing it. Lately though, I’ve been thinking about what draws me specifically to opera as opposed to orchestral, choral, chamber concerts, etc. Most obviously it is the drama. Composers naturally choose stories for adaptation whose morals have potential to be more poignant through music. These over-the-top plots lend readily to wide ranges of musical expression.

More telling, however, is the unmatched value of a new production. Since an overwhelming majority of operas staged today were composed by dead people, it is a thrill to see how modern artists bring these works back to life. Whether or not one agrees with the artistic/stylistic choices (visual or musical) made today, no one can deny that seeing a new production stimulates the senses and intellect, possibly more than any other classical music activity. At the start of this Met Opera season, a new Luc Bondy production of Tosca was greeted by massive ‘boos’ and horrible reviews, mostly by people who had grown to love the Franco Zeffirelli production. Nonetheless, as Alex Ross said in his review, opera made the evening news. The more times that opera penetrates through popular culture, the better its chances of survival are though the next generation.

Back to Electra. The reason this opera did not stick with me was because of its antiquated production, by Otto Schenk. The music is some of the most startling of 20^th Century music, and the performance was splendid, so that certainly was not it. As little money as I spent on the ticket, I would have rather saved it and listened to the Saturday afternoon radiobroadcast. The set looked like a replica of Troy, a once majestic city that had been neglected for a thousand years. There’s no more to say about the production because that’s all there was to it. I cannot stress how important updated productions are.

With the new Artistic Director, Peter Gelb finally in complete control of programming operas, the Met is on the right path. This season has been plenty exciting already, with two Met premiers still to come. Tomorrow is the Met premier of Verdi’s Attila, with sets by the architectural firm Herzog and de Meuron, and sets by Miuccia Prada. Some might see this as selling out to commercial society, but I see it as vital. For any opera lover, it is important to learn the traditions and experience the present equally, with an open mind. If not, you’re acting as old as today’s average audience looks. So get with it.