ANDREA CHENIER – REVIEW OF 2025 LIVE FROM THE MET IN HD TRANSMISSION

 Reviewed by James Karas 

Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chenier gets a heroic production from New York’s Metropolitan opera which it shared with us by transmission Live in HD in a local cinema. It is a revival of Nicolas Joël’s 1996 production with star power and stunning production values.

The opera takes place during the French Revolution and it is based on a real person, the poet Andrea Chenier, but the rest is fictional. Librettist Luigi Illica provides a script with love, passion and unbelievable sacrifice. It starts in 1786, just before the revolution broke out to the bloodbath and the reign of terror in 1794. It is verismo opera at its best.

In the first scene we witness the aristocracy enjoying its wealth and treatment of the lower classes. The Met provides a scene of men and women in splendid, one would say, decadent attire who treat the servants with contempt. The poet Andrea Chenier (Piotr Beczala) arrives. He is a democrat who displays his contempt for the greedy clergy and the corrupt aristocrats.

But we also meet the beautiful aristocrat Maddalena (Sonya Yoncheva) who does not like pretentious clothes. We also meet the servant Gerard (Igor Golovatenko), a revolutionary firebrand who is secretly in love with Maddalena. The real love story is between her and Chenier as Giordano mixes the political with the personal in tandem. The act finishes with Gerard leading the ordinary people and on with the revolution and down with the aristocrat.   

Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Beczała and Igor Golovatenko (far right) in
 "Andrea Chénier." Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

Three years later, the revolution is in full swing and Maddalena and Chenier are in Paris,  a city full of informers, spies and terror. On the positive side, they declare their love. But Chenier is arrested and in the next act he is before a Revolutionary Tribunal which has the right to sentence him to death which of course it does. In the meantime, we learn that Gerard is in love with Maddalena and is a leader in the revolution. The slave of the aristocrats has become the slave of passion. The climactic scene arrives and Chenier is about to be executed but Maddalena loves him so much that she decides to take the place of another convict and accompany him to the guillotine. The is truly dramatic.

This is an outstanding production. Beczala handles the midrange vocals superbly and soars to his upper register with ease and beauty. He sings  “Un dì, all'azzurro spazio” about the beauty and his love of nature with splendor and power as he also trashes the cleric who mistreated the poor. He is heroic in his rendering of the idealistic poet.  She sings beautifully and the two have the perfect chemistry for outstanding performances. She renders the haunting “La mamma morta” with serene beauty as she recounts the killing of her mother and the vision she has of love giving solace and rescuing her from despair.

Golovatenko makes an effective, angry Gerard. Gerard goes from servant to rebel leader, from a brute to a man disillusioned with his unrequited love for Maddalena and life. He sings with splendid resonance throughout. In his grand aria “Nemico della patria” he gives a mirthless laugh as he takes stock of his life.

Under the baton of Daniele Rustioni, the Met Opera Orchestra and Chorus do superb work with Giordano’s score. Andrea Chenier gets mixed reviews as an opera but it maintains its position in the repertoire. This production provides  the reason for its continuing popularity.
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Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano was transmitted Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera on December 13, 2025 at the Cineplex VIP Shops at Don Mills, 12 Marie Labatte Road, Toronto Ontario and other theatres. Encores will be shown on February 7, 2026 at various theatres. For more information: www.cineplex.com/events

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press, Toronto