Counting Baritones

Received from the Met:

Etienne Dupuis will sing the Count in the February 5, 8, and 11 performances of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, replacing Mariusz Kwiecień. Mariusz Kwiecień sings the performances on February 14, 19 and 22mat as previously announced.

 Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis made his Met debut last season as Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème and will sing with the company as Albert in Massenet’s Werther later this season. He has appeared in various roles for Deutsche Oper Berlin, including Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Zurga in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Renato in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, Silvio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Other recent performances include the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and Oreste in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride at Paris Opera; Figaro at Bavarian State Opera; Marcello at Teatro Real in Madrid, Pink in the world premiere of Roger Waters’s Another Brick in the Wall for Opéra de Montréal; and Claudio in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict for La Monnaie. This season, he also sings Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo in Paris and Athanaël in Massenet’s Thaïs in Berlin.

The cast for these performances of Le Nozze di Figaro also includes soprano Anita Hartig as the Countess, soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller as Susanna, mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa as Cherubino, mezzo-soprano MaryAnn McCormick as Marcellina, bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Figaro, and bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro as Dr. Bartolo. Cornelius Meister conducts.

Interesting that Kwiecień is withdrawing from half the run more than two months in advance. I'm sure he's a terrific Count, given his looks and air of danger (as needed). He was a very memorable Don Giovanni in SF 12 years ago. 

Cornelius Meister conducting would get me in the door. His Abduction from the Seraglio was possibly the best-conducted Mozart opera performance I've ever heard.