NEW YORK – Javier Camarena was at his home in Zurich singing an aria from Bellini’s “Il Pirata” when the screen for the video feed split, and he was joined by Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Montreal and general manager Peter Gelb in New York. “Just a second,” the tenor from Mexico said, raising an index finger.
He had just finished the slow-moving first section. An associate director an ocean away didn’t realize he also planned to perform the cabaletta, the faster-moving second part.
Restored to a full screen, Camarena continued. With the entertainment world shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, the Met staged an At-Home Gala on Saturday that would have been inconceivable to the Vanderbilts and Morgans who helped