Elina Garanca Sanson y Dalila C Sant Saens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VDsBjf6O24
Samson et Dalila: “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxY3gYX6mVs
Opera Review: ‘Samson et Dalila’ at The Metropolitan Opera
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opera-review-samson-et-dalila-at-the-metropolitan-opera_2674478.html
NEW YORK—In 2010, The Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Bizet’s “Carmen” starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna, and the pair created a sensation as the tempestuous couple. For the first production of the 2018–2019 season, they are reunited in “Samson et Dalila,” another French opera about a lovelorn military man falling for a deceitful seductress.
Directed by Darko Tresnjak (who is best known for the Broadway musical “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder”), with orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder, Saint-Saëns’s opera is not on the same level as Bizet’s, but the two leads still smolder on stage and the kitschy production is quite entertaining.
Saint-Saëns originally planned “Samson et Dalila” as an oratorio, and the first act certainly seems like one. The emergence of the hero and the ensuing revolt are accomplished with very little onstage action. The enslaved chorus does a lot of the singing, and the company is up to its usual high standards.
Roberto Alagna and Elīna Garanča on Samson et Dalila
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n25NrC_qB30
The two leads are an attractive pair; they are pasted on billboards all over the city and broadcast on television. Of course, they are both powerful singers. Garanca has a plush mezzo-soprano voice, and all of its beauty and her smooth technique are in evidence in her seductive “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” (“My heart at thy sweet voice”). It is understandable that Samson’s resolve evaporates right afterward. This is the most famous aria in the opera, and her rendition brought the house down.
Alagna looks and sounds remarkably young for a 55-year-old. He was quite moving in his third act aria, “Vois ma misère, hélas!” (“See my misery, alas!”) when he is blinded and in chains. Unfortunately, his voice cracked on the last high note in the opera, but the rest of the performance did him credit.
Bass-baritone Laurent Naouri is excellent as the high priest; his Act 2 scene with Dalila is exciting.
Sir Mark Elder led a graceful performance. Alexander Dodge’s set evokes Moorish architecture, while Linda Cho’s costumes suggest that it was more fun (or at least more colorful) to be a Philistine than an Israelite. Then again, it makes sense for the captors to have better clothes than those they vanquish.
Austin McCormick’s choreography seems a mix of Hollywood and Las Vegas. It’s well performed but a bit out of place even in an opera that lends itself to kitsch.
Tresnjak’s direction does not solve the dramatic problems of this opera, but apparently no one else has either. The charismatic leads, one gorgeous aria, and a spectacular ending are the main attractions.
Curtain Call in Samson et Dalila @ MET with Roberto Alagna and Elina Garancha. 9.28.18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXFPsLzxe9k
On March 13, 2019, the cast will change with Anita Rachvelishvili playing Dalila and Aleksandrs Antonenko playing Samson.