Act IV, Scene 1 Verdi's MacBeth / Metropolitan Opera
Photo Louis Melancon
Posted on 10/02/2026 8:07:51 PM PDT by Miami Rebel
The Metropolitan Opera opened its new season with Verdi’s Macbeth — not the most obvious choice for a gala evening, except that it stars Lise Davidsen, currently the company’s hottest ticket.
Having premiered Macbeth in Florence in 1847 while in his thirties, Verdi revised the opera extensively for an 1865 Paris production. Writing to his Parisian publisher, he insisted that it has but three main roles: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the chorus of witches. The latter are tricky, however, for while their music may have sounded macabre in Verdi’s day, it can sound trite and cartoonish in ours. Happily, director Louisa Proske — in her Met debut — gave them their due — and then some. “The witches dominate the drama,” Verdi said, and here they actually did. Proske has them onstage for much of the action, watching from the sidelines as their malevolent plan unfolds. The women of the Met Chorus sang brilliantly, and their shrieks and cackles, though not in Verdi’s score, were hair-raisingly effective.
Quinn Kelsey was gripping as Macbeth. One of the great Verdi baritones of our day, Kelsey not only has a handsomely resonant tone and the ability to pour out long lines of liquid legato, he is also keenly sensitive to small details — leaning on little melodic aches and stabs, for instance — that deepen his characterisations. He projected Macbeth’s journey from ambitious pride to rueful desperation in a single, beautifully drawn dramatic arc.
Verdi was adamant that he did not want a pretty-sounding Lady Macbeth; he wanted her hollow-toned and for her to declaim more than sing — not that any leading soprano is actually going to take that route. Davidsen tried, at times, to be steely, and when going full throttle her voice could be thrilling. When singing softly, and especially in her lower register, though, she sounded strangely underpowered. And this matched her conception of Lady Macbeth in general, which came across as more sad and imperious than poisonous. Anna Netrebko, who sang the role at the Met in 2014, may have exaggerated the conniving and malevolence, but at least she held up her side of Verdi’s triangular dramatic design.
And yet, despite this slight imbalance, the Met’s new production is a considerable success. Ryan Speedo Green made an eloquent Banquo, Freddie De Tommaso sang Macduff with great gusto, and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin elicited precise, richly textured and aptly dark playing from the Met Orchestra.
New York opera aficionados already know Proske’s imaginative work from Heartbeat Opera, a small, scrappy company that she co-founded in 2014. Here, on the big stage, she took a fairly traditional approach, and one that worked because its dramatic focus remained sharp from beginning to end. She was aided by Montana Levi Blanco, whose costumes were recognisably Shakespearean, and by Jon Bausor’s sets (realised on a rotating turntable) which suggested an atmosphere of deteriorating solidity (indeed, we view the action through what seems like a giant hole blown through a wall of reinforced concrete). The choreography by Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, also deserves mention, as its frantic energy helped to amp up the drama, while Ran Arthur Braun’s action direction had a stylised, spirited elegance that might have made Bruce Lee smile.
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Act IV, Scene 1 Verdi's MacBeth / Metropolitan Opera
Photo Louis Melancon
Last week PBS13 in NY showed the Tristan und Isolde that debuted back in March of this year. Another production that received raves.
Did I watch the entire opera....no. But I did watch the last act so could hear Liebestod, which was amazing.
Must you make light of their craft?
Liebsestod is amazing.
Seeing the words “Met Opera” makes me think of beautiful Helen Hagnes-Mintiks, gone now 46 years.
I was recently at a birthday party of a 90 year-old, and one of the party games was “tell us something about yourselves that your friends and family would find surprising.” I responded, “Classical Music and Opera.” Then someone asked about preference in more modern music, I responded, “The Who — They wrote rock operas that are now classics.”
I forgot to add, Lise Davidsen’s Isolde was epic so despite what this reviewer says I can’t imagine her Lady MacBeth won’t be thrilling.
My wife saw her in Tristan, but I’ve yet to see her live. I so look forward to it.
Those creepy (and bearded!) witches dressing Lady M! Great touch.
Here’s another preview I love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI9AOvQJZlY&list=RDqI9AOvQJZlY&start_radio=1
I'll be seeing Aida at the Met, but would much rather see Macbeth. Aida can be fun, but it's not one of my favorites.
The Scottish Play
One of my most unforgettable experiences is seeing it with my wife at Beyreuth back in the 1970s: Birgitt Nielson and Wolfgang Windgassen in his farewell performance. The curtain calls lasted an hour and a half. The stage was covered with flowers. The audience went wild!
Back in highschool, on dates, my wife and I listened to her father's extensive collection of recorded music on his top-of-the-line sound system. He particularly loved Wagner. We sat on the sofa together and following the music, reading the libretto.
My wife was an accomplished musician even then, a prodigy. She played the leitmotiefs to the Wagner music dramas on the piano and familiarized us with them. This, of course, added astounding dimensions to the music.
When I was in the Army, stationed in Europe, we regularly attended the Beyreuth productions.
The Ring is fun.
Die Walküre is my favorite, along with Tristan. The second act, when the Valkyrie appears to the exhausted Siegmund, sleeping protectively beside his profoundly traumatized and broken sister, and tells him what the future will bring, that he will die in battle, but the Valkyries will take him to Valhalla, and that his sister will give birth a great hero, Siegfried, is unsurpassed as drama. And the third act is unsurpassed in utter musical beauty. A beloved friend of mine, friend since childhood, will be seeing Die Walküre with his wife in Buenos Aires next month. I'm envious.
But nothing can surpass Tristan und Isolde for its intensity, drama, and astonishing psychological depths, and sheer genius.
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