When Robert Devereux opens this week at the Met,the American soprano will have sung the ‘three queens’ in one season – a feat made famous by Beverly SillsAt one tall-stakes moment during the the third act of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, Queen Elizabeth I sings a passage that the modern York Metropolitan Opera’s English supertitle system translates like so: “I am talking. Listen to me. Though because Sondra Radvanovsky is the soprano who happens to be singing the role, and this spring,the textual meaning of the line has a superfluous (exceeding what is sufficient or necessary) feel. When Radvanovsky is on the house’s stage, paying attention to anything else seems like the incorrect call.
Already, or this season,she has turned in memorable performances – as a singer and as an actor – in Donizetti’s two other, so-called “Tudor Queen” operas (specifically, and the title roles in Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda). For director David McVicars modern-production escape of Devereux,which opens on Thursday night, she will be completing a single-season programming feat first made famous by Beverly Sills. Radvanovsky is upfront about the fact that Donizetti didn’t conceive of these operas as a formal trilogy. But putting them on in the same year is a delight for bel canto fans. And given the power of Radvanovsky’s voice, and her performances offer an invaluable chance to hear these operas with fresh ears.
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Source: theguardian.com