Corinne Winters shines in Met’s closing “Bohème” cast
With 15 performances of La Bohème down, and three Mimis—Ailyn Pérez, Eleonora Buratto, and Kristina Mkhitaryan—the Metropolitan Opera presented the fourth and last of the season, Corinne Winters, on Sunday afternoon. It was the soprano’s first appearances at the Met since her debut as the Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto in 2011. With her finely crafted, sensitively sung, captivating Mimi, she gave a star-making performance.
Mimi’s fragility was instantly evident when Winters alarmingly collapsed to the floor upon entering Rodolfo’s garret apartment. It carried over into her simple, carefully sculpted “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì,” which bloomed only when she sang of springtime. Winters’ voice soared in “O soave fanciulla”, easily riding over waves of orchestral sound and the afternoon’s Rodolfo Dmytro Popov’s stalwart singing.
In Act III, Winters’ voice ached with pain as she pleaded with Marcello for help. She sang “Donde lieta uscì’ with simplicity and fervor, displaying the full beauty of her voice as Mimi asked Rodolfo that they part as friends. The emotional impact of Mimi’s final moments was heightened by Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s sensitivity to dynamics and rubato, permitting Winters to be at her most expressive.
Popov, who has sung more Rodolfos than anyone else this season, was uncharacteristically one-dimensional vocally and dramatically in the first two acts. While he never bellowed, Popov was often little more than loud. In the third act, the tenor began to hit his stride, floating some shimmering high notes as he lovingly bid farewell to Mimi outside the tavern at the Barrière d’Enfer. Only in the final act did Popov relax, eagerly joining in the frolicking and singing with his usual finesse as Rodolfo and Mimi recalled their first meeting.
Anthony Clark Evans, in his role debut as Marcello, was similarly stolid, but his imposing baritone made a more vivid impression. The baritone was at his best when inflamed with jealousy or rage in verbal jousts with Gabriella Reyes’ spitfire of a Musetta. Also new to the cast, Reyes lit up the stage when singing “Quando me’n vo’. The warmth of Reyes’ voice added immeasurably to the heartbreak of the final scene.
Alexander Köpeczi made his Met debut as Colline with this performance. The Romanian bass, currently linked romantically to Anna Netrebko, was a thoughtful, serious philosopher. He eagerly engaged in the hijinks of the final act, but was appropriately preoccupied and aloof. His singing in “Vecchia zimarra,” in which Colline bids farewell to his treasured overcoat, was a model of vocal beauty, careful attention to line, and sincerity.
Sean Michael Plumb’s rather subdued Schaunard drove home that this was not the liveliest bunch of Bohemians. Generally, the baritone chews up the stage with his exuberance, but Plumb kept that in check until Act IV, although his voice was as impressive as always. Donald Maxwell worked his usual magic with the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who had conducted two performances in January, returned to the podium for just this one. As drop-in performances go, the conductor was in top form. His attention to color and balance was exemplary, and he paid careful attention to the needs of the singers.
Franco Zeffirelli’s monumental, opulent production remains as popular as ever, drawing a full house even on a sunny Sunday afternoon over Memorial Day weekend. An outburst of applause greeted the parting of the curtain to reveal the Latin Quarter on Christmas Eve. When they opened to reveal the snow gently falling at the Barrière d’Enfer, there was an audible sense of awe from the audience.
La Bohème runs through June 6 with Giacomo Sagripanti conducting. metopera.org
Posted May 30, 2025 at 9:10 am by John Kelly
Thanks for this excellent and detailed review. I went yesterday and all was much as you described. Winters was the standout singer and as good as Mimi as I have heard.
The one difference was Sagripanti conducting. I had high hopes after his superb Barber of Seville. However while tempi were excellent the orchestra was almost always too loud in the the Curtis amd he drowned the singers a lot of the time. Not once did I see any attempt to lower dynamics in the pit as the horns and trumpets prayed away in climaxes. This is the problem of dropping in.