Inspired by the life of the poet André Chénier at the time of the French Revolution, Giordano’s opera with libretto by Luigi Illica, faithfully portrays in detail the story of the protagonist, his love for Maddalena di Coigny, his arrest as a counter-revolutionary and their final hours. Teatro Comunale di Bologna’s 2022 production is conducted by resident Ukrainian music director Oksana Lyniv with an authentic staging by Pier Francesco Maestrini and a distinguished cast.
The story is by the dramatist Carlo Gozzi and dates from 1762, telling of the Chinese princess Turandot, who sets her suitors three riddles in order to marry her. Only the suitor who solves the riddle may ask for her hand in marriage, otherwise death awaits.
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–1794), who was executed during the French Revolution.
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.
Rarely has a production of Verdi’s Otello been staged in such a prestigious location: the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice! This special outdoor “event production” of the Teatro La Fenice takes place amidst genuine late-Gothic and Renaissance architecture highlighted by spectacular projections: “A set of singular fascination” (Il Corriere Musicale). Critics were full of praise for the musical performance, designating conductor Myung-Whun Chung as the “absolutely dominating force” of the performance (GB Opera). The lead role is sung by Gregory Kunde, who successfully interpreted both Verdi’s and Rossini’s Otello in one year, perhaps the first tenor ever to do so. He “reproduces every accent, every colour demanded by Verdi with sensibility and intelligence” (OperaClick).
Verdi's lively opera Luisa Miller – filled with tricks, betrayals, and love stories – is performed at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in a staging by Jean-Claude Fall and conducted by Massimo Zanetti.
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