'Maria Stuarda' At The Metropolitan, With Joyce DiDonato

Opera Gets Even MORE Dramatic
In this Dec. 24, 2012 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Elza van den Heever is Elisabetta in Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," during a dress rehearsal of Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)
In this Dec. 24, 2012 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Elza van den Heever is Elisabetta in Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," during a dress rehearsal of Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)

Not that long ago the Metropolitan Opera's default idea for a New Year's Eve gala was to dust off its production of Johann Strauss's frothy "Fledermaus," with guest stars singing a favorite Puccini aria or Cole Porter song during the party scene, and free Champagne for the audience in the lobby after the show.

But on Monday night the Met and its general manager, Peter Gelb, came up with a far more serious way to ring in the new year: a company premiere production of Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," the challenging bel canto tragedy that recounts the clash between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots) and ends with the anguished Mary heading to the executioner's block. Yet if you think of a gala as a meaningful celebration, then it was hard to imagine a better New Year's Eve gift to opera lovers than this musically splendid and intensely dramatic performance of "Maria Stuarda."

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