Sondra Radvanovsky.(On the Beat)

SONDRA RADVANOVSKY returns to the Met this month in an all-too-rare revival of I Vespri Siciliani, and she isn't afraid to admit that it's a daunting assignment. "A lot of the Verdi girls that I sing, you come in and start off with an aria. The second and third acts, you don't do much, but the fourth act! Think about Trovatore, when you do it uncut, and Traviata, and Vespri. You have the aria, the cabaletta, the duet. You start with a punch and end with a bang, and you hope you pace yourself in between. That's what Verdi is all about--learning not to blow it all."

Radvanovsky finds that the soprano d'agilita is a vocal type that has gone unnoticed for some time. The roles once sung by the likes of MONTSERRAT CABALLE and JOAN SUTHERLAND have "been taken over by the lighter sopranos. I think they were all the same voice that sang all of them. Back in those days, people were schooled to have the flexibility up and down, the coloratura. Nowadays, the orchestras get bigger, so you have to have more sound as a singer. But when you go to Europe and see the 400- or 800-seat opera houses.... NATALIE DESSAY can sing any number of things in a smaller house--Luisa Miller, even. But when you put it in a larger house, like La Scala or the Met, you have to be a super-soprano."

Since making her debut as Countess Ceprano in 1996, Radvanovsky has sung a wide range of roles at the Met, including Musetta, Micaela, Trovatore's Leonora, Donna Anna, Freia and Luisa Miller. Her first experience with the company didn't augur well: it was her National Council audition, which she appraises as "terrible. I sang 'Ritorna, vincitor!' at the ...