Vizin, who was born in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét and lives in Chicago, was congratulated by the Met's management for a fine performance, and the full house also showed their appreciation.
Vizin said she arrived in New York from Chicago on Tuesday, a day after Borodin lost her voice because of a cold. She quickly learned the choreography of the production, but it was especially difficult having never performed with the singers in the cast. The conductor had also never heard her voice and did not know her tempo.
But these obstacles were overcome and Vizin's colleagues praised her performance.
"The deputy-director of the opera house praised [the performance] and the musical director gave me a big hug," Vizin said
The critic Mike Silverman, writing for the Associated Press, said Vizin "gave a lively performance as the spitfire gypsy, a role she has made a specialty in houses around the world....She looks and acts the part of the fatal temptress persuasively, and can flash more than a bit of thigh without embarrassment, as she is required to do in this sizzling Richard Eyre staging."
Vizin debuted at the Met last season as Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto.
Vizin will next sing in Hungary in March, performing at Shakespeare evenings in Budapest on the 13th and in Kecskemét on the 16th.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: wagnersocietyofamerica.org
