Traviata Review: MET Opera in the Parks, 8/22/06
Cast
Hei-Kyung Hong - Violetta
Wookyung Kim - Alfredo
Charles Taylor - Giorgio Germont.
Derrick Inouye - conductor
Our wonderful colleage JP got us VIP seating in the front section of the Great Lawn. Kudos to JP. However, thank God the MET opera in the parks is free. I would have hated to have payed $120 for an orchestra seat. Hei-Kyung Hong was quite disappointing. I understand this was her debut in the role but her voice was unstable. She cracked about 5 times, her voice waivered on high notes, and she has a wobble in her middle from trying to push her voice up to the fach required. She pulled back into her flute register on her high notes and did not take the Eb (not required) in Sempre Libera, and sang her high notes like christmas trees: the higher she went up the smaller the sound got. Thank the Lord for the mics. We all crossed our fingers. JP screamed out explotives to the cast as we received angry stares from other listeners. She did deliver in Addio del Passato, alas, it was not enough to save face. I saw her Liu last year with Andrea Gruber as Turandot and she was fabulous and I will remember her for that. Wookyung Kim as Alfredo was strong and did not disappoint. Charles Taylor as Germont had a big resonant baritone voice but lacked legato. In his big Act 2 aria, he took breaths after every two measures chopping up the phrases. Derrick Inouye as conductor, did not breathe with the singers and conducted like he was driving a train -just plowing through everything. The orchestra saved this performance.