UN BALLO IN MASCHERA GIUSEPPE VERDI. MET OPERA HOUSE

 

Verdi’s kaleidoscopic drama appears for the first time since 2015, with tenor Charles Castronovo making his Met role debut as the Swedish king whose love for his friend’s wife spells his undoing. 

Carlo Rizzi conducts an all-star ensemble that features soprano Angela Meade as Amelia, the object of Gustavo’s affections, and reigning Verdi baritone Quinn Kelsey as her husband, Count Anckarström. David Alden’s striking production also includes mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova as the fortune teller Ulrica and soprano Liv Redpath in her Met debut as the precocious page Oscar.

World premiere: Teatro Apollo, Rome, 1859

Composed in the middle of Giuseppe Verdi’s prolific career, Un Ballo in Maschera is replete with the kind of passionate vocal outpourings that make his earlier works so compelling but also shows signs of the composer’s musical evolution—which would reach its fruition in the later masterpieces Otello and Falstaff. 

The opera’s story came from history—Sweden’s King Gustav III was assassinated by a political enemy during a masked ball at the Stockholm Opera House in 1792. But in Verdi’s hands, the tale transcends mere historical reenactment: As he did in many of his most celebrated creations, the composer uses it as an opportunity to explore the intersection of the public and private lives of those in power.