Vladyslav Buialskyi stood center stage at the Metropolitan Opera, his hand on his heart, and sang the national anthem of his country, Ukraine.
That was on Feb. 28, when the house reopened after a month off from performing and the Russian invasion of Ukraine was just a few days old. The companyтАЩs chorus and orchestra joined Buialskyi, a member of the MetтАЩs young artists program, in a message of solidarity with him and his suffering people.
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Exactly two weeks later, on Monday, Buialskyi, a 24-year-old bass-baritone from the besieged port city of Berdyansk, stood center stage once more, his hand again on his heart, and sang the anthem with the orchestra and chorus.
This time it wasnтАЩt a prelude to VerdiтАЩs тАЬDon Carlos,тАЭ but the start of тАЬA Concert for Ukraine,тАЭ an event hastily organized by the Met to benefit relief efforts in that country and broadcast there and around the world.
Banners forming the Ukrainian flag stretched across the travertine exterior of the theater, bathed in blue and yellow floodlights. Another flag hung above the stage; a few in the audience brought their own to unfurl from the balconies. Seated in the guest of honor position in the center of the parterre, Sergiy Kyslytsya, UkraineтАЩs ambassador to the United Nations, responded to an ovation at the start by raising his arms and making resolute V-for-victory signs.
It has been a trying time for the Met, which broke with Anna Netrebko, its reigning diva, over her unwillingness to speak against the war and distance herself from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
But the conflict has also given the company тАФ still bruised by labor battles despite remarkable success staying open during the Omicron wave тАФ a sense of unity and moral purpose. Who would have predicted a few months ago that the MetтАЩs general manager, Peter Gelb, broadly reviled within the ranks for imposing a long unpaid furlough on many employees during the pandemic, would get applause from some in the orchestra as he declared from the stage that they were тАЬsoldiers of musicтАЭ?
His remarks had a martial tinge, saying that the MetтАЩs work could be тАЬweaponized against oppression.тАЭ But much of the concert, led by Yannick N├йzet-S├йguin, the companyтАЩs music director, was consoling, with favorites like BarberтАЩs Adagio for Strings, here fevered and unsentimental, and тАЬVa, pensieroтАЭ from VerdiтАЩs тАЬNabucco,тАЭ with its chorus of exiles longing for their homeland, тАЬso beautiful and lost.тАЭ Most powerful was Valentin SilvestrovтАЩs delicate, modest a cappella тАЬPrayer for the Ukraine,тАЭ written in 2014 amid the Maidan protests against Russian influence.
Richard StraussтАЩs тАЬFour Last SongsтАЭ wasnтАЩt quite on message, with its autumnal vision of accepting deathтАЩs imminence. But it provided a vehicle for the MetтАЩs prima donna of the moment: the young soprano Lise Davidsen, currently starring in StraussтАЩs тАЬAriadne auf Naxos.тАЭ
At opening night of тАЬAriadneтАЭ two weeks ago, Davidsen kept inundating the theater, seeming intent on proving just how much vibrating sound can flow out of her. It was thrilling, and a little much. At the performance of the opera on Saturday afternoon, she seemed consciously trying to restrain herself тАФ even a bit tentative, fumbling a phrase in her opening aria and only gradually building to a true compromise of power and nuance.
On Monday, Davidsen again seemed to be finding her way. Her high notes in the first of the тАЬFour Last Songs,тАЭ тАЬFr├╝hling,тАЭ had a steely edge rather than soaring freedom; in тАЬSeptember,тАЭ she sounded muted in lower registers; and in тАЬBeim Schlafengehen,тАЭ her phrasing was stiff. But she began тАЬIm AbendrotтАЭ with a soft cloud of tone and proceeded with unforced radiance to an ending that felt light and hopeful.
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Anna Netrebko. The superstar Russian soprano┬аwill no longer appear at the Metropolitan Opera┬аthis season or the next after failing to comply with the companyтАЩs demand that she distance herself from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.
The soloists in the final movement of BeethovenтАЩs Ninth Symphony, which closed the concert, were drawn from the MetтАЩs current roster: The soprano Elza van den Heever is singing the title role in HandelтАЩs тАЬRodelindaтАЭ; the mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, Eboli in тАЬDon CarlosтАЭ; the tenor Piotr Beczala, Lensky in a coming revival of TchaikovskyтАЩs тАЬEugene OneginтАЭ; the bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, a bit part in тАЬAriadne.тАЭ
N├йzet-S├йguinтАЩs conducting in this famous finale was neither grand nor patient; when the orchestra is onstage at the Met rather than in the pit, the balances are not ideal for rich unanimity, and the pacing was febrile, a bit scrappy. But it was moving to watch the face of Beczala, who is from Poland, shift from stony focus to grinning. And the тАЬOde to JoyтАЭ inevitably makes an impact, particularly with Green declaiming the opening lines with such memorable defiance.
The anthem of the European Union, тАЬOde to JoyтАЭ is music for every inspiring occasion, but especially for right now. (Perhaps it was the time to follow Leonard Bernstein, who, when leading the work just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, replaced the cries of тАЬFreude,тАЭ or тАЬjoy,тАЭ with тАЬFreiheitтАЭ тАФ тАЬfreedom.тАЭ)
ItтАЩs worth remembering, though, that while this anthem seemed so fitting on Monday, with the audience streaming out of the Met colored with the blue and yellow light shining on the theater, it doesnтАЩt always mean what a given listener wishes it did. When Wilhelm Furtw├дngler and the Berlin Philharmonic coruscated through the Ninth Symphony during World War II, the Germans thought Beethoven was writing for them. If the piece were played tonight in Moscow, the Russians might think the same.
However stirring, this music doesnтАЩt pick sides, and it doesnтАЩt change us. It makes us more of what we are.
A Concert for Ukraine
Performed on Monday at the Metropolitan Opera, Manhattan in Ukraine
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