Opera orchestras are often unsung heroes, tucked out of sight while the more glamorous singers snaffle the applause. Not at this concert. It had been two decades since the Met Orchestra, the pit band of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, last visited the UK, and while they may lack the individuality of the Boston Symphony or the Cleveland Orchestra, on this showing they are up there with America’s finest.
But it wasn’t just the orchestra, this was the complete package – with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium and a pair of reigning house divas in tow. The fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet got off to a shaky start, but once a few coordination issues were out of the way, the Met players shone. Dramatic storytelling is this orchestra’s happy place, and Tchaikovsky found them on swashbuckling form. Nézet-Séguin, a conductor who always has original things to say, went full-Bernstein here, gesticulating to the heavens as he wrung every drop of emotion from the score.
