Norma - Teatro La Fenice

Francesco Cavalli, a natural successor to Monteverdi, was the most famous and influential Italian opera composer during the mid-17th century. Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister to the king, commissioned Cavalli to create a Parisian spectacle to celebrate the wedding of the ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV and the Infanta of Spain. Ercole amante (‘Hercules in Love’) was the flattering subject chosen for this regal extravaganza combining larger-than-life characters with mythology, and genuine human emotions with natural and cosmic phenomena. The result is a sumptuous Baroque spectacle, conceived on a vast scale in this lavish production by directors Valerie Lesort and Christian Hecq.

George Frideric Handel was one of those rare composers who excelled in both sacred, secular, instrumental and operatic music, leaving us extraordinary masterpieces in every field. Already renowned in Italy, Handel introduced himself to the city of London with his opera Rinaldo in 1711, which was such a success that he decided to remain in England for good. It is still regarded as one of his greatest operas. Set during the Crusades, Rinaldo is a lavish spectacle that tells a story of love, magic, struggles for power and ultimate reconciliation. Pier Luigi Pizzi’s acclaimed production brings us into a ‘dreamlike, unreal … world of spells and incantations’ (Epoca). Cast:- Armida: Carmela Remigio, Goffredo: Leonardo Cortellazzi, Almirena: Francesca Aspromonte, Rinaldo: Raffaele Pe, Argante: Andrea Patucelli

The first of the triumvirate of Mozart’s last three superlative operas – Cosi fan Tutte (1790) and Die Zauberflöte (1791) being the others – Don Giovanni (1787) tells the tale of this legendary womanizer, already a cautionary tale of considerable merit, with the added power and weight of a brilliant musical setting by one of mankind’s greatest musical geniuses and a stunningly effective libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. This tragicomedy of the highest order cries out for the finest musical forces, voices and staging to be truly overwhelming and meaningful. The cast for this production includes Ildebrando D´Arcangelo and Carmela Remigio. With direction from Riccardo Frizza and one of Italy’s finest stage and set designers on hand in veteran Pier Luigi Pizzi, the course is set for a staggering night at the opera.

A stand-up comedy set by the Dutch comedian Stefan Pop, recorded live in Toomler in January 2010.

This is one of the most enjoyable opera produced. The playful production by Paul Curran (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari [Sardinia]) has a wealth of clever touches, and the sets and costumes are lovely, whimsical, imaginative, and wonderfully captured. T The libretto for "Cherubin" (1905), an homage to Beaumarchais and da Ponte, takes up the story of the character Cherubino from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" and shows him suffering his first great disappointment in love, his rejection by the courtesan/dancer Ensoleillad. All ends happily, however, as Cherubin finds his real destiny in Nina, a girl his own age. The story is tightly constructed, the text full of wit and humor in lighter moments and rapturous poetry in the love scenes, and the DVD's subtitles are expertly handled.

From the Rai Auditorium in Turin, a concert featuring music by Gioachino Rossini. Conductor Tiziano Severini, choir director Bruno Casoni, soprano Mariella Devia, contralto Bernadette Manca Di Nissa, tenor Rockwell Blake, baritone Roberto Servile. Rai Turin Symphony Orchestra.

At death’s door, a beloved king is doomed unless someone takes his place. So then his wife resolves to sacrifice herself to save him. Christoph Willibald Gluck composed his reform opera Alceste not once, but twice. In La Fenice’s production of the lesser-known original Italian version, director Pier Luigi Pizzi strips the action down to the bare emotional drama of Alceste’s sacrifice.

From the Donizetti Theater, an opera inspired by Raffaella Carrà. Music by Lamberto Curtoni, libretto by Renata Ciaravino and Alberto Mattioli, based on an idea by Francesco Micheli, director. Conductor Carlo Boccadoro.

Live performance at Teatro La Fenice in 2017.

Under the baton of the excellent conductor Guillaume Tourniaire, Gluck’s most original tragedy comes to Venice’s most celebrated theater in a production by Pier Luigi Pizzi. After successive triumphs in the Viennese scene of the 1760s, over the course of the 1770s Gluck met with a new series of successes in France. Aiming to establish himself in the French musical scene as a genius of musical storytelling, he took the challenge head on, appropriating selected Lullian librettos from the previous century to his own dramatic ends. He did just this with Alceste, one of Quinault’s most acclaimed texts, setting it to his own music. This production of the tragic three-act opera stars Marlin Miller (Admeto) and Carmela Remigio (Alceste) in the roles of the self-sacrificing royal couple.

Antonio Florio, conducting the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro Regio, tackles Claudio Monteverdi's rich score. The cast includes Roberta Invernizzi, Mauro Borgioni, Francesca Boncompagni, Monica Bacelli, Luigi De Donato, and Luca Tittoto, internationally renowned soloists and recognized experts in the field of Baroque opera.

Medea lives with Jason and her children in Corinth and becomes increasingly aware of her husband's betrayal of love. When she is certain that Jason is to marry the king's daughter Creusa and that she herself will be banished for doing so, she swears to take bitter revenge

Registration of the second theatre program by the Dutch comedian Stefan Pop.

Mariella Devia, one of the greatest bel canto singers of 20th century, chooses Venice’s La Fenice as the stage for her last Norma.

Michele Mariotti conducts Gioachino Rossini’s *Tancredi* for the first time. Carlo Vistoli takes on the title role. Joining him on stage are Martina Russomanno, Antonino Siragusa, and Luca Tittoto. Directed by Emma Dante, with set design by Carmine Maringola. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Dutch conductor Ton Koopman, one of the leading experts in the early music repertoire, will lead the Choir and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K. 427, and Symphony No. 41, K. 551, “Jupiter.” The soloists include sopranos Maria Grazia Schiavo and Roberta Mameli, tenor Tilman Lichdi, and bass Luca Tittoto.

2012 production

Gaetano Donizetti's comedic opera about a woman in Napoleon's army is performed here in French by the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scalla.

World-renowned Genoese conductor Fabio Luisi conducts the ORT for the first time. The concert opens with Vivaldi's Sinfonia Al Santo Sepolcro, a liturgical composition on the Passion of Christ. This is followed by Mahler's Fourth Symphony in a chamber version with soprano Carmela Remigio.

The hero of this admirably complete August 2013 Guillaume Tell from Pesaro is homegrown maestro Michele Mariotti. The inimitable overture is (mercifully) unstaged and terrifically played, with splendid cello and flute solos: the fine standard never flags. Rossini’s extraordinary 1829 score audibly presages Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Glinka, Verdi and Wagner, among many others. Graham Vick’s direction privileges class conflict, with a clenched fist on the red-and-white forecurtain. The Edwardian costumes place Austrians in white evening garb; the black-clad Swiss polish the floor while the rulers savor a filming (much of that to follow) — the fisherman Ruodi, in a boat with a blonde and fake scenery, with Tell and his family providing tech support. Vick deploys geographical and historical kitsch liberally but not (always) pointlessly. Ron Howell’s pretentious, mannered choreography, however, beggars belief.

Recorded during the 2018 Donizetti Festival, Il castello di Kenilworth was first staged at Naples’s San Carlo in 1829. Based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott and adapted by librettist Leone Tottola, this rare opera has long been unjustly neglected. The recording features the original version of the score, with the role of Warney entrusted to a tenor (the composer changed the voice to baritone in his 1836 revision). Il castello di Kenilworth was followed by several other successful works that Donizetti similarly based on British history (Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Emilia di Liverpool, Lucia di Lammermoor); it presents the character of Queen Elizabeth I, torn by the inner struggle between a monarch’s duty and a woman’s feelings. The fundamental pivot of the drama is the antagonism between the two female characters who both dwell and suffer in loneliness in a male-dominated world.

A penniless poet, a young seamstress, and a lost key: Puccinis passionate opera tells the story of a captivating romance set against the background of 19th-century Paris. The luscious score, with its soaring melodies and rich orchestration, brings to life the relationships between Rodolfo, Mimì and their friends, the painter Marcello and fiery Musetta. Acclaimed director Richard Jones stages a fresh and intelligent new production of one of the worlds most popular operas, conducted by The Royal Operas Music Director, Antonio Pappano.

Puccini’s passionate opera is conducted by Antonio Pappano and stars a superb young cast including Nicole Car, Michael Fabiano and Mariusz Kwiecień, in a new production by Richard Jones.

Rare production of the opera which immediately preceded Lucia di Lammermoor in Donizetti’s oeuvre. This performance was taped live at the Teatro Regio di Parma, January 5, 2002.

Two queens on one island. A recipe for disaster. Especially as both have a legitimate claim to the other's throne. They are, after all, related... So the power politics are the name of the game. And, for reasons of state, one of the heads that wears a crown has to roll. Maria Stuarda was laid to rest for more than a hundred years, finally being revived in 1958 in Bergamo under conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis. However the real breakthrough for the opera finally came with Giorgio de Lullo's Florentine production for the Maggio Musicale in 1967 (with set design and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi, director, set designer and costume designer at La Scala in 2008). As the two queens, Leyla Gencer and Shirley Verrett, set the vocal standards. Since then, the triumph of Maria Stuarda has been unstoppable.

Live from La Scala Wednesday 13 May 1992

In the last and most dramatic aria in Roberto Devereux , one of the four Tudor period operas composed by Donizetti in 1837 (along with Anna Bolena , Maria Stuarda and Il Castello di Kenilworth), the protagonist, Queen Elizabeth I of England, exclaims: "I do not reign, I do not live". This statement encapsulates great operatic themes, and it is the culmination of an opera that reveals the passions of characters who live among palace intrigues. Written in the mature period of the leader of Italian romanticism, the opera displays a great vocal virtuosity, and is an example of Donizetti prizing the voice above all in the genre. The staging, by South African director Alessandro Talevi, who has been very successful in great opera houses as well as with more experimental theatre, places the play in an undetermined period, focusing on the chiaroscuro. Bruno Campanella conducts.

Poor Madame Butterfly! The 15-year-old geisha, who has renounced her family and Japanese traditions for the love of an American naval officer, finds herself abandoned in favour of a Western wife.