I have much to say about I Puritani (what a surprise!), but I must start with my key takeaway: if Bellini wanted us to root for the tenor who gets the girl, he should not have given such a fabulous aria to the baritone in Act I.
The TL;DR of the story is a love triangle set against the backdrop of the English Civil War: Riccardo (played by baritone Artur Ruciński) wants Elvira (Lisette Oropesa), who wants Arturo (Lawrence Brownlee). Elvira goes mad when Arturo leaves to save the queen, but eventually Arturo comes back.
Artur Ruciński was incredible in his role. New York is not a city that gives standing ovations during the show, but his Act I aria was so fantastic that the audience overcame that shyness. The direction was clearly to make him unlikeable, but his singing was so good that I couldn’t go along with it. He is my new singer to watch. To be fair, the full cast was incredible: Lisette Oropesa sang her heart out and convincingly played a woman going insane. Lawrence Brownlee was lovely as always; in fact, I saw him step in at the last minute for the other Bellini opera I saw this season, La Sonnambula.
Similar to La Sonnambula, director Charles Edwards chose to modify the ending to make it less clearly positive. I’m not sure I loved it, but, as usual, I’m always glad when people try new things with old operas. Edwards was also the set designer, and he deserves a shout-out for how the set seemed to fall apart as time passed, act over act.
The entire production and cast were great, but it will be Artur Ruciński’s performance that sticks with me.
Opera: I Puritani
Composer: Vincenzo Bellini
Venue: Metropolitan Opera
Date: January 15, 2026
Link: https://www.metopera.org/season/2025-26-season/i-puritani/
Opera Nerd 
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