Dalila

Michieletto’s “Samson et Dalila” staging was scheduled for New York in 2018 but was scrapped when Met general manager Peter Gelb concluded it was “somewhat unrelieved in its bleakness.”

In the other group-play finale, Argentina beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 on goals from Dalila Ippolito, Celeste dos Santos and Maricel Pereyra, keeping alive its chances to advance to the quarterfinals as a third-place team.

In fact, Gelb has already hired her for future seasons to sing Rosina in Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” and Dalila in Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila.”

And early in fall 2022, she was able to creditably sing the generally low Dalila in Saint-Saëns’s “Samson et Dalila” in Naples, though her high notes were still problematic.

“I was doing a high note in Dalila’s second aria,” she said, “and he stopped me: ‘I see the fear in your eyes.