From Wagner to Strauss: Unitel opens the Richard Strauss year 2014 with the first ever video recording of Strauss’ early one act opera Feuersnot, the master’s answer to Richard Wagner’s idea of “redemption through love”. The new production from the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, one of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe, is led by Italian conductor Gabriele Ferro.
Verdi, Un Ballo in Maschera
The 2014 Festival of the Arena di Verona is opened by the new stage design of the Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera by one of Italy’s great directors, Pier Luigi Pizzi, and conducted by Andrea Battistoni, a rising young talent in the intenational classical music scene.
Aureliano in Palmira
Since 1980 Pesaro, the Italian town at the Adriatic Sea, is celebrating its most famous son: Gioachino Rossini. Besides the well known and famous works of the master, in the intimate setting of the Teatro Rossini also the creations which fell into oblivion were performed. In 2014 “Aureliano in Palmira” was for the very first time part of the festival’s repertoire: a great work about love, war jealousy, loyalty and magnanimity.
Faust
By placing a giant black ring centre-stage that casts an ominous shadow over the singers and dominates the action, director, set and costume designer Stefano Poda has moved the storyline of the restless searcher Faust, to an abstract, seemingly futuristic hall, thereby ensuring that the most fascinating stage moments are not due only to sophisticated lighting. Thanks to the excellent and enthusiastic cast, Poda deftly guides the opera to triumph. Charles Castronovo in the title role is especially convincing, with his brilliant acting and mellifluous singing. Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov – a regular in all major opera houses around the world – stars as the demonic Méphistophélès. As the innocent young girl Marguerite we see Moldovan soprano Irina Lungu, who demonstrates her ability with crystal-clear timbre.
La gazzetta
The event that takes place annually in Rossini’s birthplace, praised by press and public for its witty stagings even of Rossini’s less well known works, has landed on its feet: with La gazzetta, the Rossini Opera Festival has triumphed once again! The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna responded splendidly to the young Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola: as “one of the most gifted artists of his generation, he is not only a faithful interpreter of the score, he sends the orchestra of the Teatro di Bologna – and his
audience too – into a veritable Rossini delirium” (Deutschlandfunk). Director Marco Carniti stages his colourful production in the Paris of the 1950s, in a well-judged distillation of Rossini’s ironic social criticism: “the direction of Marco Carniti has intelligently focused on the ironic dimension of a somewhat confused libretto” (Huffington Post). Nicola
Alaimo embodies the nouveau-riche Don Pomponio Storione in every muscle: “he has confirmed his admirable dramatic qualities, with evidence of an unsuspected physical agility” (Huffington Post). Pesaro debutante Hasmik Torosyan stands out as Lisetta (Deutschlandfunk).
Ciro in Babilonia
Gioachino Rossini was only 20 years old when he wrote his fifth opera, Ciro in Babilonia, for the Teatro Comunale Ferrara in 1812. In this production from the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro (Italy), stage director Davide Livermore sets the action in the 1920s, with period black-and-white film inserts, lavish costumes in the Art Nouveau style, and decors highlighted by “Babylonian” elements. The production was a wildly cheered hit with the audience.
Matilde Di Shabran
“There truly is a Rossini miracle!” (Deutschlandradio). Acclaiming the mastery of tenorissimo Juan Diego Flórez and the breathtaking young soprano Olga Peretyatko in the lead roles, the press hailed the premiere of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as the “high point of the festival” (the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel).
Il Signor Bruschino
Rossini’s one-act opera Il Signor Bruschino was premiered at the Teatro di San Moisè in Venice in 1813. The chilly reception it was given – it was performed only once – is difficult to understand today, considering its bubbly, exhilarating music. As performed at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the work is a gem, and the New York Times cheered the “clever production” conceived by the young Florentine theater collective Teatro Sotteraneo, one of the most innovative experimental groups in Italy.
Bizet, Les pêcheurs de perles
Set in ancient times on the island of Ceylon, Bizet’s oper about two men’s vow of eternal friendship threatened by their love for the same woman, is a magificent example of Bizet’s gifts for melody and evocative instrumentation. This prodution from the stunning Teatro San Carlo was celebrated enthusiastically by audience and critics: “I have rarely seen a production as beautiful and faithful to the music.” (Paolo Isotta, Corriere della Sera)
Cimarosa, Il matrimonio segreto
The opera buffa “Il matrimonio segreto” (1792) is the only one of Domenico Cimarosa’s (1749-1801) 65 operas to still be regularly performed today. This is largely due to its remarkably original music, which is located stylistically between Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti, and anticipates the romantic era. The 18th century turns punk in this production that combines Baroque and Bad-Boy. The director of the often eye-popping staging is iconic Italian pop musician and TV personality Marco Castoldi, a.k.a. Morgan, who stresses the surprising modernity of the subject and underlines its timelessness.