At Donizetti Opera Festival: farces flop, young singers impress

Francesco Bossi (Enrico) and Lucrezia Tacchi (Serafina)

Francesco Bossi (Enrico) and Pierpaolo Martella (Don Annibale Pistacchio)

Il campanello

Cristóbal Campos Marín (Pepé), Cristina De Carolis (Rita) and Alessandro Corbelli (Gasparo)

Eleonora de Prez

By Mark Pullinger, 16 November 2025

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Corbelli... promptly stole the show with little more than a series of sighs, winks and shrugs”

Reviewed at Teatro Sociale, Bergamo on 15 November 2025

Donizetti, Il campanello

Donizetti, Rita, ou Le mari battu (Deux hommes et une femme)

Fondazione Donizetti

Enrico Saverio Pagano, Conductor

Stefania Bonfadelli, Director

Serena Rocco, Set Designer

Valeria Donata Bettella, Costume Designer

Fiammetta Baldisseri, Lighting Designer

Gli Originali Orchestra

Teatro alla Scala Academy Chorus

Lucrezia Tacchi, Serafina

Eleonora de Prez, Madama Rosa

Pierpaolo Martella, Don Annibale Pistacchio

Francesco Bossi, Enrico

Giovanni Dragano, Spiridione

Cristina De Carolis, Rita

Cristóbal Campos Marín, Pepé

Alessandro Corbelli, Gasparo

Salvo Sgrò, Choirmaster / chorus director

Shipwrecked: Donizetti’s Il furioso comes a cropper in Bergamo

Mark Pullinger, 16th November

Manuel Renga’s sensitive framing device sets up a sympathetic production of a problematic opera, but is scuppered by the central vocal performance.

***11

Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro given a controversial update in Bergamo

Mark Pullinger, 14th November

Francesco Micheli reimagines Caterina Cornaro in a contemporary setting, switching to the historical past, to open this year’s Donizetti Opera festival in the composer’s home town.

****1

Young Sicilian soprano grabs the limelight in Bergamo Don Pasquale

Mark Pullinger, 17th November

They came for Javier Camarena, but cheered Giulia Mazzola to the rafters of the Teatro Donizetti as the third production of this year's festival opens.

***11

A modern makeover for Donizetti’s Zoraida di Granata

Mark Pullinger, 16th November

Bruno Ravella's effective production was seen in Wexford in its original 1822 version, but Donizetti Opera opts for the composer's 1824 revision, throwing the spotlight onto Cecilia Molinari's excellent Abenamet.

***11

Tudor history, gothic thrills: Roberto Devereux in Bergamo

Mark Pullinger, 15th November

Is Roberto Devereux the finest of Donizetti's four Tudor operas? Stephen Langridge's stylish, stylised production and a wonderful cast under Riccardo Frizza make a great case for it.

****1

The “other” Lucia at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo

Laura Servidei, 18th November

Stricken by illness, the French version of Donizetti’s masterpiece is somewhat disappointing.

More reviews...

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Farces flop but young singers impress in Donizetti double bill