Juan Diego Flórez and Natalie Dessay both sang brilliantly in last night's La Fille du Régiment at the Met, the local debut of Laurent Pelly's richly amusing production. Flórez, after a slightly breathless start, securely zapped his nine high C's in the cabaletta of "Ah! mes amis," and then proceeded to zap them all again, audibly more at ease — the first time a singer has delivered an encore at the Met since Pavarotti in 1994. I personally feel that Marco Armiliato could have waited a little longer before giving the downbeat for the encore, but it was fun to witness. Audio of the feat accompanies Bernard Holland's review in the New York Times. There's also a YouTube video of the aria from Vienna (same production). La Fille is on the Met's HD simulcast this Saturday. All remaining performances are sold out.
