# Cosi MET Matinee - 3/7/20



## Belle Raggio (Mar 15, 2020)

Last Saturday I attended the broadcast performance of Cosi, the last before the MET was shuttered.
The house was woefully empty as the first picture shows. This was just before curtain up. A good time at the opera was missed by those not filling the vacant seats.

I've seen some starry "Cosi's" in my time but none was so tight as this in terms of ensemble and chemistry between the 6 main cast members. I think Ben Bliss is the current reigning Mozart tenor, elegance, agility, liquid phrasing, and of course a seductive timbre. This Ferrando coming after the Ottavio I heard this past December in Chicago makes him the "go to" for these roles. Would love to hear his Belmonte. Luca Pisaroni was his perfect foil with of course biting Italian for the recitative. Completing the trio of "boys" was Gerald Finely's all knowing, suave of voice, and lithe of limb Alfonso. These three could hardly be bettered for this opera at this time.

The girls were delightful, if not quite as vocally memorable as the guys. Nicole Car has a somewhat occluded sound that broke through as the performance progressed. By the time she hit "Per Pieta" everything was working beautifully and she deserved the enthusiastic ovation. Serena Malfi caught all the fun inherent in Dorabella and was an effective spark for her more reserved sister. Heidi Storber as Despina was a rather harsh, superannuated soubrette and was the weakest link in an otherwise near ideal ensemble. She produced acid while the others were making honey.

Harry BIcket kept everything at a vigorous high boil, just as he would that same evening for "Agrippina." It is easy to see why the MET uses him so extensively in this repertory.

As to the Coney Island production - I loved it. It created a believable, but still fairy tale atmosphere where the absurdities of the plot could play out, yet still realize the basic humanity of the characters as developed in Mozart's sublime music. This is the first time I wanted the girls to chose their "faux" suitors rather than going back to their original beaux - so right was the chemistry between Fiordiligi / Ferrando and Dorabella / Gugliemo


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Belle Raggio said:


> Last Saturday I attended the broadcast performance of Cosi, the last before the MET was shuttered.
> The house was woefully empty as the first picture shows. This was just before curtain up. A good time at the opera was missed by those not filling the vacant seats.
> 
> I've seen some starry "Cosi's" in my time but none was so tight as this in terms of ensemble and chemistry between the 6 main cast members. I think Ben Bliss is the current reigning Mozart tenor, elegance, agility, liquid phrasing, and of course a seductive timbre. This Ferrando coming after the Ottavio I heard this past December in Chicago makes him the "go to" for these roles. Would love to hear his Belmonte. Luca Pisaroni was his perfect foil with of course biting Italian for the recitative. Completing the trio of "boys" was Gerald Finely's all knowing, suave of voice, and lithe of limb Alfonso. These three could hardly be bettered for this opera at this time.
> ...


Saw this at the cinema last year. Most enjoyable except for the fact that we missed part of the transmission and subtitles didn't work. But we did get free tickets for another show


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

O.P see:

The Metropolitan Opera Broadcast listeners thread..................


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