Synopsis

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky completes her season-long exploration of Donizetti’s three Tudor queen operas, starring as Elizabeth I in this final installment. David McVicar’s atmospheric Met premiere production frames the dramatic and heart-rending love story of the queen and the Earl of Essex as a play within a play unfolding before the members of the royal court. Radvanovsky’s portrayal of the aging monarch is a tour de force, laying bare the conflict between her public duties as ruler of England and her private feelings as a woman. Matthew Polenzani is the Earl of Essex, Roberto Devereux, the object of her affections who is torn between two women. Elīna Garanča as Sarah and Mariusz Kwiecien as her husband, the Duke of Nottingham, complete the quartet of principals. Maurizio Benini conducts.