When it comes to Mozartian perfection on the opera stage, one needn’t always seek it in Milan, Vienna, Salzburg or New York. At the Sferisterio Opera Festival in the central Italian city of Macerata, a rapt audience was treated to a production ‘that will enter the annals of opera’ (ForumOpera.com). This ‘splendid production’ (OperaClick) by Pier Luigi Pizzi sweeps the viewer into a libertine, 18thcentury society dominated by erotic impulses.
La Traviata
The keystone of any production of Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ is the choice of the soprano to play the tender-hearted courtesan and doomed heroine Violetta Valéry. At the Sferisterio Opera Festival in the central Italian city of Macerata, the choice fell upon Mariella Devia – and it couldn’t have been more ideal for Massimo Gasparon’s stately production. The press was unanimous in acclaiming the ‘exhilarating’ (L’Opinione), ‘incomparable’ (Liberonews. it) singer, who ‘towers over the cast’ and is a ‘worthy representative of the great school of Italian singing’ (ForumOpera.com). A frequent and much-acclaimed Violetta, Mariella Devia boasts ‘perfect projection and intact vocal freshness’ (Rinascita).