There was physical energy in his singing but little characterization, the music not adding up to anything deep about Cavaradossi’s thoughts. Each note was correct, but their quality sounded not much distant from reading the part in a rehearsal. His voice was strong and clear from his first notes, but his performance was on the plain and stiff side. Jagde was a mismatch, at least on stage, as Tosca’s lover, the painter Cavaradossi. When she was not, the experience quickly turned lackluster. When she was on stage, everything was vivid and vital. Flanked by tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and bass-baritone George Gagnidze as Scarpia-and with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leading the orchestra-it was Radvanovsky who was almost entirely responsible for the successes of the evening’s performance. The evening was all about Radvanovsky, even beyond the role she played. Thursday night’s opening in the Metropolitan Open House proved a showcase for the first of these, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. The Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Tosca will run in segments for the next few months, featuring three different singers in the title role.

Sondra Radvanovsky and Brian Jagde star in Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera.

Tosca opera met