Simon Boccanegra at the Metropolitan Opera

 

 

A star of the evening was soprano Lianna Haroutounian, as Amelia. The character has some of the most impressive music in the opera, starting with her Act I aria “Come in quest’ora” and continuing through a series of duets and trios with Adorno and Boccanegra.

Haroutounian began with a simple and attractive luminosity and then, throughout the performance, added increasing levels of musical and emotional depth—she guided the dramatic direction of the performance as much as Domingo. Her high notes, sung with as rich, rounded, and clear tone as everything else, were prominent, but the way she shaped her lines, building to the climaxes, was scintillating.