We have already admired Gabrielle Philiponet, who has played Mimi on many occasions,
after having sung Musetta (Metz, 2017). Given the condition she is suffering from this
evening, the low notes are more resonant and we perceive how the high notes
(sometimes avoided) of the first act do not have their usual radiance. But our Mimi will
give her all to her audience and quickly make them forget her physiological worries to
reach the highest level. Gabrielle Philiponet's singing and acting find on this occasion a precision, a truth that fully participates in our emotion. The voice is full, warm, sure and
classy, and she ideally translates her love as well as her distress, modest and ardent, always dignified. If "Mi chiamano Mimi" bears some stigmata of laryngitis, these have disappeared afterwards ("Rodolfo m'ama", "D'onde lieta usci") with ensembles more admirable and sensitive than the others. The "Sono andati?" of his final duet is pathetic,
poignant. One of the greatest Mimi listened to in recent years.