After over a century out of the Met’s repertoire, audiences were thrilled to discover just what a sensational evening in the theater Thomas’s Hamlet can be. Simon Keenlyside’s riveting performance as the tortured Prince of Denmark in Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s starkly brooding production had critics raving that Keenlyside’s superb singing, coupled with his deftly delineated three-dimensional Hamlet, was one of the greatest examples of operatic drama of our time. The cast includes Marlis Petersen as the long suffering Ophélie, who brilliantly shows why her mad scene is so justly famous, along with Jennifer Larmore and James Morris as Gertrude and Claudius.
![Simon Boccanegra [The Metropolitan Opera]](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wG8lsDbBYqpj7j3rmge1aBIKDEk.jpg)
When this sumptuous production by Giancarlo del Monaco opened in 1995, legendary tenor Plácido Domingo gave a riveting performance as the fiery revolutionary Gabriele Adorno, a tenor part. In the 2010 revival, he made history by taking on the baritone title role, one of Verdi’s most fascinating characters, and thrilling audiences with his multifaceted and gripping portrayal. Boccanegra is beset on all sides, juggling political adversaries bent on murder with his love for his long-lost daughter Amelia (Adrianne Pieczonka). James Levine’s conducting brings out all the color and surging emotion of Verdi’s magnificent score.
James Morris leads an all-star cast including Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Thomas Allen and René Pape, in this production of Wagner's comic opera, recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2001. James Levine conducts.
John Dexter’s brilliant production of Britten’s searing opera stars Dwayne Croft in the title role of the handsome young sailor whose kindness and innocence cause his downfall. The great James Morris is Claggart, master-at-arms on the 18th-century warship Indomitable, who falsely accuses Billy of inciting a mutiny. Philip Langridge sings Captain Vere, the honest commander who knows that Billy is innocent but finds himself unable to save him. Steuart Bedford, Britten’s close collaborator during the last years of the composer’s life, is on the podium.
This tribute to James Levine, first shown on PBS, was only part of that glorious evening. Here we have the whole performance, up to three hours. I could not stop watching these discs. Let me say this much; Levine has done for the Met, making it the premier opera house in the world, what Karajan did with the Berlin, making it one of the finest orchestras ever. So sit back and enjoy.
Verdi’s monumental score is fully the equal of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy—and both demand great actors. This is one performance where both playwright and composer are well served. Plácido Domingo’s Otello is one of the glories of the operatic world, beautifully sung and so commandingly acted that audiences are devastated by the end. Renée Fleming’s ravishingly beautiful Desdemona is deeply moving, and as Iago, James Morris is as beguiling as he is menacing. Under James Levine’s conducting the Met orchestra and chorus are vital characters in the drama.
Otto Schenk’s brilliant production captures both the dark romanticism of the story as well as its fairy-tale magic. It is a superb setting for Neil Shicoff’s vivid portrayal of the tortured poet Hoffmann, as he recounts the loves of his life and the way he has been foiled by his nemesis—a marvelous James Morris in a tour-de-force performance of the opera’s four villains. Gwendolyn Bradley is the doll Olympia, Tatiana Troyanos sings the courtesan Giulietta, and Roberta Alexander portrays the innocent Antonia.
James Peppler Morris (born 10 January 1947) is a leading American bass-baritone opera singer. He is known for his interpretation of the role of Wotan in Richard Wagner's operatic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The Metropolitan Opera video recording of the complete cycle with Morris as Wotan has been described as an "exceptional issue on every count." It was broadcast on PBS in 1990, to the largest viewing audience of the Ring Cycle in human history. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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