[…] It was Monday’s Liù, though, who won the audience’s most ecstatically proclaimed affections. This is the second Puccini role for Anita Hartig at the Met, and she was even more impressive here than she had been in her debut as Mimì two seasons ago. From her very first moments, it was clear that she had crafted a complete vocal and dramatic character, communicating the urgency of her tormented love through ravishing singing. Hers is a voice of color and body, essentially light-lyric. A silken tone, shimmering vibrato, and considerable vocal power were all clear in her pleading first aria, “Signore, ascolta.” This truly is a voice capable of soaring gloriously through the Met’s cavernous auditorium, as it did in her arresting death scene. […]
Photos by Marty Sohl/Met Opera
Eric C. Simpson – New York Classical Review
12.01.2016
