Falstaff

Music by

Giuseppe Verdi

Metropolitan Opera

New York, US

2013

Friday
December
06
20:00
Monday
December
09
19:30
Saturday
December
14
13:00
Wednesday
December
18
19:30
Saturday
December
21
12:30
Friday
December
27
19:30
Monday
December
30
19:30
Friday
January
03
19:30
Monday
January
06
19:30
Saturday
January
11
20:00

Cast

Sir John Falstaff  Ambrogio Maestri
Nannetta  Lisette Oropesa
Alice Ford  Angela Meade
Mrs. Quickly  Stephanie Blythe
Meg Page  Jennifer Johnson Cano
Fenton  Paolo Fanale
Ford  Franco Vassallo

Conductor

James Levine

Director

Robert Carsen

Set Designer

Paul Steinberg

Costumes

Brigitte Reiffenstuel

Lighting

Peter van Praet

About

Verdi’s brilliant final masterpiece Falstaff has its first new Met production in nearly 50 years, conducted by James Levine and directed by Robert Carsen. Ambrogio Maestri sings the iconic basso buffo role of Sir John Falstaff, the boorish, blustery character originally seen in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Merry Wives of Windsor. Angela Meade is Alice Ford, one of many objects of Falstaff’s affection, and Stephanie Blythe is the sharp-tongued Mistress Quickly in a cast that also includes Lisette Oropesa as Nannetta, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Meg Page, Paolo Fanale in his Met debut as Fenton, and Franco Vassallo as Ford. The International Herald Tribune praised Carsen’s staging, first seen at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, as a “production of eye-catching ingenuity.”

Media

James Levine Rehearses Falstaff (Met Opera)

Falstaff Preview

Ms. Oropesa modeling a mask for her role in the Met’s “Falstaff.” Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times

What Becomes a Diva Most?

Ms. Oropesa fluffed the veil with her hands and allowed the diaphanous material to settle like a mist around her face.

 Article  

Reviews

In Carsen’s ‘Falstaff’ at the Met, Verdi Through a Postwar Lens

Nannetta, the winning soprano Lisette Oropesa, sings with effortless grace and lyrical bloom.

—  Anthony Tommasini  •  New York Times

I’ll tickle your catastrophe

Nanetta’s music is a gift to any light soprano, and the Met has fortunately cast Lisette Oropesa, possibly the best singer they have in this Fach. She sang “Sul fil d'un soffio etesio” with beautifully light, clear, crystalline tone, and her high notes hang in the air forever.

—  Micaela  •  Likely Impossibilities

A fine ensemble cast boosts the Met’s delightful Fifties-era “Falstaff”

...the wonderfully silky, bell-like soprano of Lisette Oropesa, whose Nanetta charmed without cloying. Her sustained high notes during “Sul fil d’un soffio” were as magical as one could hope for.

—  Eric Myers  •  New York Classical Review

Review - Falstaff: A Massive Achievement Worthy of Its Larger-Than-Life Title Character

By the end of their scene in the first act, she delivered an ethereal sustained high A-flat that was sung almost pianissimo and emphasized the purity of Nannetta's love for Fenton. She sang with utmost delicacy throughout the "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio," her voice reaching a breathtaking climax on a sustained high-A on the phrase "Carmi e malie" that included the most subtle of swells in the middle of the note.

—  David Salazar  •  Latinos Post

he is big

Lisette Oropesa played Nannetta as an adorable young teenybopper, comfortable at home in pedal pushers, while poised and pert in public, and spinning sustained high notes with gossamer beauty.

—  Lee B. Ahmo  •  Parterre

'Falstaff' opens at the Metropolitan Opera led by music director James Levine

Lisette Oropesa, who plays Nannetta, sings with a breathtaking sustained high float.

—  Ronni Reich  •  NJ.com

Score Desk for FALSTAFF @ The Met

The vocal highlight of the evening was - as expected - Lisette Oropesa's spun-moonlight rendering of Nannetta's enchanting aria "Sul fin d'un soffio etesio" where the soprano was lovingly supported by the conductor.

—  Oberon  •  Oberon's Grove

A New ‘Falstaff’ at the Met

As Nannetta, Lisette Oropesa, looking like the young Debbie Reynolds in a ponytail, is a charmer. Her rendition of “Sul fil d’un soffio” was one of the evening’s highlights.

—  Barry Bassis  •  Epoch Times

Performance History

Lisette has given 25 performances as Nannetta.