September 2019
Eric Owens Expands His Horizons
By Fred Cohn
Eric Owens's Hagen was unlike any I had ever seen or heard. At his role debut in the Met's Gotterdammerung revival this past spring, he made the character deeply human, while never stinting on malevolence.
This Month, Owens Portrays a more conventionally sympathetic character when he stars in the title role of the Met's new production of Porgy and Bess. He first played Porgy in 2009, at San Francisco Opera. He is a natural for the role, as revealed in a DVD of that Francesca Zambella production - the personification of the work's aching pathos. He makes the double aria at the work's close the emotional highlight of the piece; the depth and futility of the beggar's passion register with devastating impact.
Angel Blue Lives Her Dream
By Louise T. Guinther
Onstage, Angel Blue Has The Stunning Looks and radiant self-possession of a beauty queen - which she was, briefly, as a way of earning tuition money in her student days. Offstage, the California-born soprano is earnest, open and unpretentious, revealing a vulnerability one might not expect from a diva whose star turn in the title role of the Met's opening-night Porgy and Bess puts her on top of the opera world. "The honor of opening the Met is so extravagant and so exciting to me," she says, her voice wavering with emotion. "I'm humbled by it. I just hope and pray that on that night, everybody is filed to the brim with excitement and joy, and whatever problem or adversity anybody is going through is just completely gone out of their mind." Blue's appreciation for the milestone is broader than her own participation in it. "This is the United States of America's opera. It's not just for black people, it's not just for white people - it's for everybody, and I think everybody should be proud of that."
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