By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
November 14, 2016
After the bitterness of the soprano Kathleen Battle’s rift with the Metropolitan Opera in 1994, it looked as if she would never return to the company’s stage. That year, Joseph Volpe, then the Met’s general manager, in an extraordinarily blunt statement, dismissed her from a production of Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” for “unprofessional actions” during rehearsals that were “profoundly detrimental” to artistic collaborations among cast members. She was dropped from the Met’s roster for good, it seemed.
But on Sunday, at the invitation of the current general manager, Peter Gelb, Ms. Battle was back, not for an opera production (soon after that 1994 incident she turned her attention to recitals) but for a special concert program she has been presenting in various cities in recent years, titled “Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad — A Spiritual Journey.” The house was sold out. Audience members who had waited 22 years to hear her at the Met had to wait a little longer on Sunday, because the concert started 40 minutes late. It was worth the delay.
Performing with an impressive choir called Voices of the Underground Railroad, two fine pianists and some special quests (including Wynton Marsalis), Ms. Battle, 68, sang with remarkable freshness and beauty. Even at the height of her operatic career, her voice was a light lyric soprano, ideal for roles like Strauss’s Sophie and Mozart’s Susanna. Yet during those years she sang with such focus and bloom that her sound had penetrating richness and radiant presence.
My Notes: If you would like to hear some of her performances, type her name in the search box above.
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