Music from operas by Henry Purcell, Verdi, Monteverdi, by Richard Strauss and Rossini, by Boito and other composers from over 200 years of music history. A so-called pastiche opera. The conductor is Omer Meir Wellber and the director is Johannes Erath. Soprano Carmen Giannattasio, baritone Markus Werba and bass Alexandros Stavrakakis sing on stage and in the stalls. The new season of Palermo’s Teatro Massimo opens with a completely new form of musical theatre. An opera vision – without a plot that is concrete at first glance, explains director Johannes Erath: “But of course there is a common thread. Not in the narrative sense, in the storytelling sense, but it’s more of an emotional journey, like a rollercoaster of emotions.” PRESS “A hymn to the empathic magnificence of opera” (La Repubblica) / “An unprecedented opening” (La Repubblica Palermo)
Ricciardo e Zoraide
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the premiere of the Rossini rarity, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro stages “Ricciardo e Zoraide” with an all-star cast. Juan Diego Flórez makes his debut as the crusader Ricciardo, giving a “masterclass in bel canto” (Bachtrack). Pretty Yende – “radiant and richly expressive” (Financial Times) as Zoraide – proves that she is “a virtuosa in Rossini singing” (Neue Musikzeitung).
Il Trovatore
A monumental staging by late legendary director Franco Zeffirelli brings superstar Anna Netrebko to the Arena of Verona where she is giving her much-anticipated debut in one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas, Il Trovatore. Zeffirelli created a legendary scenery within the Arena, one of the most spectacular open-air venues of the world. Next to Anna Netrebko as Leonora perform Verdi accomplished baritone Luca Salsi as Count di Luna. Yusif Eyvazov returns to the Arena as his powerful-voiced opponent Manrico. MET star Dolora Zajick as Azucena and young rising Italian bass Riccardo Fassi as Ferrando join the prestigious ensemble. The revered master of opera Franco Zeffirelli, who died shortly before the premiere of Il Trovatore, created a legendary scenery with groups of giant sized armoured knights, a fortress turning into a luminous cathedral, an enormous choir, horses, breathtaking fights: “his perhaps best arena production” (Opernglas).
L’Orfeo
On the occasion of the 450th anniversary of this genius’ birth, an international cast of soloists together with members of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists under the baton of their artistic director Sir John Eliot Gardiner commemorate the Italian composer in a series of semi-staged performances at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Gardiner, one of the most versatile conductors of our time, is certainly acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival of the past five decades. His lifelong examination of Monteverdi’s work makes him uniquely qualified to celebrate the composer in all his glory with the semi-staged opera trilogy L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea. “Anyone who has had trouble to access Montiverdi’s music so far, should listen to this trilogy. A whole world will open up for him or her.” (FAZ)
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria
On the occasion of the 450th anniversary of this genius’ birth, an international cast of soloists together with members of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists under the baton of their artistic director Sir John Eliot Gardiner commemorate the Italian composer in a series of semi-staged performances at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Gardiner, one of the most versatile conductors of our time, is certainly acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival of the past five decades. His lifelong examination of Monteverdi’s work makes him uniquely qualified to celebrate the composer in all his glory with the semi-staged opera trilogy L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea. “Anyone who has had trouble to access Montiverdi’s music so far, should listen to this trilogy. A whole world will open up for him or her.” (FAZ)
L’incoronazione di Poppea
On the occasion of the 450th anniversary of this genius’ birth, an international cast of soloists together with members of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists under the baton of their artistic director Sir John Eliot Gardiner commemorate the Italian composer in a series of semi-staged performances at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Gardiner, one of the most versatile conductors of our time, is certainly acknowledged as a key figure in the early music revival of the past five decades. His lifelong examination of Monteverdi’s work makes him uniquely qualified to celebrate the composer in all his glory with the semi-staged opera trilogy L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea. “Anyone who has had trouble to access Montiverdi’s music so far, should listen to this trilogy. A whole world will open up for him or her.” (FAZ)