OperaMetro (OM) had the privilege of interviewing soprano Elza van den Heever (EvdH), who stars in this season’s Idomeneo as the Princess Elettra, to be telecast in HD live from the Met’s stage on Saturday, March 25. As is my custom here, the interview is formatted as if she and I were chatting while on a break from a brisk walk through Central Park on a warm March day, the sun streaming through the trees, just wonderful…but, actually, we did this by telephone separated by miles, subfreezing temperatures, snow and sleet blowing horizontally about by a fierce gale force wind.
OM: (warmly) Elza, it’s a pleasure to talk with you.
EvdH: (warmly also) My pleasure as well.
OM: I was one of those maniacs shouting Brava! Brava! Monday night. You brought the house down.
EvdH: The Met audiences are very kind. I feel quite welcome here actually.
OM: This is your third opera at the Met, correct?
EvdH: Yes, but my fourth season. Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda twice, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in between and now Elettra in Idomeneo.