The Met: Live in HD presents Le Comte Ory at the Quick Center for the Arts

The Met: Live in HD presents Le Comte Ory at the Quick Center for the Arts


1 p.m. transmission nearly sold out on April 9

Image: Le Comte Ory The Met: Live in HD presents Bartlett Sher's new production of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" at Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, April 9 at 1 p.m. This live transmission is nearly sold out. The encore, broadcast on the same day at 6 p.m., still has tickets available. Tickets for reserved seating are $22, general, $20, seniors and $15, children and students. The Met: Live in HD is an Arts & Minds presentation.

New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini dubbed director Sher's new production of "Rossini's wittiest and most seamless and sophisticated work(s) ... lively, colorful and inventive" with a "terrific cast ... headed by the tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Ory." "Le Comte Ory" has never before been presented at the Metropolitan Opera and this reviewer praised the entire cast. "The soprano Diana Damrau brought her lustrous, agile coloratura soprano voice, and charisma galore, to Adèle. The superb mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sang Isolier, Ory's savvy page, who also yearns for Adèle's love (as does Ory) and winds up winning it, or so it seems at the end of this farcical yet emotionally multilayered opera."

These three singers also appeared in Sher's Met debut production of Rossini's "Barbiere di Siviglia" in the 2006-07 season to great acclaim. According to Tommasini, "Mr. Sher's work in 'Le Comte Ory' is more original and riskier."

Of the opening night performance, Tommasini wrote, "The most astonishing scene comes toward the end of Act II ... "... when Adèle and Isolier join together to teach Ory a lesson. The scene is an elaborate trio, subdued and sensual ... (with) the three singers in a big bed ... Rossini's insinuating music is hot, especially in this vocally haunting, physically uninhibited performance."

"The whole cast was strong, including Stéphane Degout as Ory's hearty friend Raimbaud; the bass Michele Pertusi as Ory's exasperated tutor; and Susanne Resmark, a warm, dark-hued Swedish soprano, in her Met debut as Ragonde, Adèle's attendant."

Tickets are available at fairfield.edu/quick or by calling the Box Office at (203) 254-4010. The toll free number is 1-877-ARTS-396. Special offers and discounts are available through the Quick Center's e-mail list. Join, by contacting boxoffice@quickcenter.com . Become a fan of the Quick Center for the Arts on Facebook and keep up-to-date with the latest performance news, plus special offers and discounts. Find the Quick Center at www.facebook.com/FairfieldQuickCenter.

Photo: Damrau, Flórez, DiDonato (credit: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)

Directions: Fairfield University is located off I-95, exit 22 at 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. Access to the Quick Center for the Arts is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Special note: From Oct. 4, 2010 through June 30, 2012, the southern end of North Benson Road (Rt. 135) will be closed to traffic on nights and weekends. Round Hill Road intersects with Barlow and provides access to the Quick Center for the Arts.

Posted On: 03-29-2011 11:03 AM

Volume: 43 Number: 256