Performer: Alessandro Talevi

A historical staging with well sung arias doesn't really bring Puccini's opera alive as Rome marks its 125th anniversary. 

Alessandro Talevi production for Festival O has sight gags and vaudeville tricks aplenty and features splendid voices in a fine cast. 

It is a thing of wonder that Roberto Devereux is one of Donizetti’s lesser known works. Whether on account of its challenging soprano part, or its fussy Tudor setting, it is rarely performed, but contains some of the composer’s most beautiful – and indeed memorable – arias and duets.