Review Roundup: Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA at the Metropolitan Opera

Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA opened at the Metropolitan Opera on January 29th. The second chapter of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky's quest to sing all three Donizetti Tudor queen operas in the same season has her playing the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. Sir David McVicar's stunning production turns on the dramatic confrontation between Mary and her arch nemesis, Queen Elizabeth-compellingly portrayed by soprano Elza van den Heever. Riccardo Frizza conducts.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Richard Sasanow, BroadwayWorld.com: Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA is a chamber piece blown up to grand opera proportions.... That was the takeaway from the new production--that centers on a fictional battle royal between Elizabeth I (Elisabetta) and her cousin Mary (Maria) Stuart, better known as Mary, Queen of Scots--at Barcelona's historic opera house, the Liceu. It stars the sensational Maria of American mezzo Joyce DiDonato, the highly charged Elisabetta of Spanish mezzo Silvia Tro Santafé and Mexican tenor Javier Camarena's sonorous Roberto.

Justin Davidson, Vulture.com: If Donizetti used music to tilt the opera towards his fellow Catholic, director David McVicar and costume designer John Macfarlane gave it a visual shove, clothing Mary in a soft black gown and caging Elizabeth in a farthingale and scarlet skirts, like the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. Starched, stiff, limping and masculine, soprano Elza van den Heever nevertheless sang with fluid grace and unforced power, resisting director McVicar's attempts to turn Elizabeth into a caricature of authoritarianism.

Vivian Schweitzer, New York Times: Ms. Radvanovksy's voice sounded huge and radiant in the tender "O nube! Che lieve per l'aria," her reminiscence about France and freedom. She navigated the coloratura hurdles with ease throughout, her shading, dynamic control and expressive nuance rendering the confession scene particularly potent. Her graceful femininity was in stark contrast to the ungainly movements of Elza van den Heever's Elisabetta, a character portrayed in this production as an awkwardly masculine figure and whose emotive, jealous manipulations were brilliantly rendered by Ms. van den Heever.

Wilborn Hampton, Huffington Post: Apart from the rich, silvery tone of Radvanovsky's voice, her breath control is, in a word, breathtaking. and she can carry the most delicate pianissimo passages to the far corner of the Met house. Her phrasing and portamento evoke the full range of emotion, from joy to fear, from anger to remorse. Her opening aria "O nube" makes one's heart leap in delight, and her final act confessional "Quando di luce rosea" is heart-rending.

Eric C. Simpson, New York Classical Music Review: Radvanovsky's coloratura is solid, though not outstanding, but her voice has developed into a gorgeous, amber instrument with soft warmth in the middle range and a fierce blaze at the top. What's more, her voice is gigantic, carrying effortlessly into the house and preserving every nuance along the way.

David Patrick Stearns, David Patrick Stearns" target="_blank">Operavore: The most telling moments were DiDonato's beautifully phrased vocal cadenzas that took you deeper into the character's already well-established emotional state. The fact that the rest of the cast had many of the same virtues is a compliment to stage direction of David McVicar and conductor Maurizio Benini (who was everything he was not in the season-opening Elixir of Love). Against many odds, the opera actually meant something. Bel canto is truly back at the Met.

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