Christian Van Horn only ninth bass to get devilish at The Met

Christian van Horn as Mefistofele (courtesy of the Metroploitan Opera)

On November 8, 2018, Christian Van Horn will become just the ninth bass to sing the title role in Boito's Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera. He was preceded by some of the great singers of the last two centuries,  including Giovanni Mirabella who sang the role in 1883,  followed by Eduard de Reszke, Pol Plançcn, Fyodor Chaliapin, Adamo Didur, José Mardones, Dean Peterson and most famously Samuel Ramey.

Samuel Ramey sings "Ecco il monde" from Mefistofele:

The Robert Carsen production will feature an all-star cast that also includes tenor Michael Fabiano as Faust and soprano Angela Meade as Margherita. Mefistofele is the only completed opera by Arrigo Boito, who is best remembered for writing Verdi's librettos for Otello and Falstaff.  The composer was working on his opera Nerone when he died in 1918. The great conductor Arturo Toscanini led a three person team in completing the opera, which finally premiered posthumously in 1924.

Performances of Mefistofele will run through December 1st and tickets are available online.

This will be the opera's first performance at The Met since 2000. Of the 67 performances of Mefistofele, all but 13 came before 1927. Much of the recent interest in the opera is because of Samuel Ramey's devilishly sexy performances at the San Francisco Opera, which were captured on video.