The New Yorker

Massenet: Werther, Metropolitan Opera, 18. Februar 2014

The Met: “Werther”

When the superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann was last featured in the French repertory here, it was in Des McAnuff’s uninspired “Faust.” But his baritonal sound and noble stage presence in the title role are ideal for Richard Eyre’s new staging of “Werther,” which has a mellow, sostenuto quality appropriate for the most warmly lyrical of Massenet’s operas. The French mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch, as Charlotte, and the Serbian bass-baritone David Bižić, as Albert, make respectable Met débuts, but the house favorite Lisette Oropesa lights up the stage as Sophie; Alain Altinoglu draws out the ebb and flow of the score with exquisite subtlety, and the orchestra seems grateful for his expertise.