There was a rumor about four or five years ago that Washington's new downtown arena, the MCI Center, would open with a concert by world's most famous trio. It didn't happen then when the Arena opened in 1997, but on Sunday night, May 7th, José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti finally made it to Washington, DC and it was definitely a case of better late than never.

While no Three Tenors concert has, in my opinion, ever matched the magic of the first one in Rome, this one was significantly better than the one that I'd previously attended at Giants Stadium in New Jersey in 1996.

The program for the evening listed:

1. Berlioz's 'Roman Carnival Overture' (James Levine & orchestra)
2. Io conosco un giardino' from Maristella (Carreras)
3. O Souverain' from Le Cid (Domingo)
4. Recondita armonia' from Tosca (Pavarotti)
5. Musica Probita' (Carreras)
6. No Puerda ser' from La Tabernera Del Puerto (Domingo)
7. Granada' (Pavarotti)
8. Mélange de Roman-including 'Tu, ca nun chiagne!', 'Manha de Carnaval', and 'Ti voglio tanto bene' -arranged by Lalo Schifrin (Carreras, Domingo & Pavarotti)
9. Core' n grato' (Carreras)
10. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz' from Das Land Des Lächelns (Domingo)
11. Caruso' (Pavarotti)
12. Bacchanale' from Samson And Delilah (James Levine & orchestra)
13. Lamento di Federico' from L'arlesiana (Carreras)
14. E lucevan le stelle' from Tosca (Domingo)
15. Nessun Dorma' from Turandot (Pavarotti)
16. American Medley-including 'Maria', 'Tonight', 'My Way', 'Moon River', 'Because' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone'- arranged by Lalo Schifrin (Carreras, Domingo & Pavarotti)

The encores included 'La donna e mobile', 'Amapolla' and 'O solo mio' - complete with the now famous dueling trills.

All three of the tenors were in excellent voice this evening and appeared to be enjoying the evening. Carreras was at his best in 'Core n'grato' and 'Lamento di Federico', Domingo in 'No Puede ser'; and Pavarotti in 'Recondita armonia' and 'Nessun Dorma'. James Levine conducted a pick-up orchestra of local, Washington area musicians with great enthusiasm. In fact, the orchestra sounded so good that it wasn't until the intermission that I realized that it wasn't his own Metropolitan Opera Orchestra!

The acoustics and sound system at the MCI Center was surprisingly good, especially in comparison with the Jersey Meadowlands. The audience was warm and enthusiastic, however the 20,000-seat arena was far from full, due to the high ticket prices.

One of my few criticisms of the evening was the outrageously expensive ticket prices. The cheapest seats were $53 dollars and they were behind the stage with a view of the tenors' backs! A $100 ticket entitled the ticket holder to a seat up in the rafters of the MCI Center, almost a city block away from the stage, where even with binoculars it was impossible to see the faces of the tenors. There were also no TV screens. At the beginning of the concert there were large blocks of the more expensive seats empty. These seats filled up in the second half, in part with late arrivals and in part with concert-goers drifting down from the Himalayan heights of the $100 sections.

I think the concert organizers need to give serious thought to their pricing methodology. One of the long touted benefits of these concerts is that they "bring music to the masses." A noble idea, but not at these prices-where a good seat costs almost as much as my season subscription to the Washington Opera!

By comparison, my criticisms of the tenors' performances are minor. Domingo's performance seemed to oddly lack charisma. For example, his last minute substitution of 'Ch'ella mi creda' from Fanciulla del West, for 'O Souverain', slipped right past me, even though I had seen (and thoroughly enjoyed) his Washington Opera Le Cid last November. He also displayed his tendency to sing much too loudly when it isn't necessary. Case in point, during the first medley, Carreras had started Manha de Carnaval off just perfectly-it really sounded like a Brazilian bossa nova song-but then Domingo came blasting in, sounding more like an heldentenor than a Latin lover.

I'm not sure why Carreras chose to start off with 'Io conosco un giardino'. It's lovely and he sang it beautifully, but it was a bit too obscure for the crowd. Also, he never sang any of the many Spanish pieces in his repertoire like 'Aranjuez'-which would have been just perfect for this setting.

As for Pavarotti, 'Caruso' just rambles on and on and on-it's not unpleasant, but it's not inspiring either. And why does he keep insisting on singing 'Granada' ? He just doesn't have the facility with Spanish that his Spanish colleagues have with Italian.

The encores were all too few-no 'Brindisi' and no collective 'Nessun Dorma'..

These criticisms, however, are fairly minor. On the whole, they really were in great vocal form. For me, the most special moment in the evening's concert was hearing Carreras sing 'Lamento di Federico'. The first time I recall hearing Carreras sing, was when he sang 'Lamento di Federico' in Rome in 1990. To hear him sing that "live" tonight was indeed very special. And it is always a dream come true to hear Pavarotti singing 'Nessun Dorma - live. Pavarotti's 'Nessun Dorma' was vintage Pavarotti - ending with the trademark Pavarotti smile.

While not the most memorable evening of music, it was a fun evening and sadly, it was over too soon.