Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro given a controversial update in Bergamo

Carmela Remigio (Caterina), Riccardo Fassi (Mocenigo) and Vito Priante (Lusignano)

Enea Scala (Gerardo)

Carmela Remigio (Caterina) and Vito Priante (Lusignano)

Enea Scala (Gerardo) and Vito Priante (Lusignano)

Carmela Remigio (Caterina Cornaro)

Caterina Cornaro, Prologue

By Mark Pullinger, 15 November 2025

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“Gerardo’s call to arms envisaged as a surgeon scrubbing up, wielding a scalpel instead of a sword”

Reviewed at Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo on 14 November 2025

Donizetti, Caterina Cornaro

Fondazione Donizetti

Riccardo Frizza, Conductor

Francesco Micheli, Director

Matteo Paoletti Franzato, Set Designer

Alessio Rosati, Costume Designer

Alessandro Andreoli, Lighting Designer

Orchestra Donizetti Opera

Teatro alla Scala Academy Chorus

Alberto Mattioli, Dramaturgy

Matteo Castiglioni, Video

Carmela Remigio, Caterina Cornaro

Fulvio Valenti, Andrea Cornaro

Enea Scala, Gerardo

Vito Priante, Lusignano, King of Cyprus

Francesco Lucii, Strozzi, A knight of the King

Riccardo Fassi, Mocenigo, ambassador of Venice

Vittoria Vimercati, Matilde

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

At Donizetti Opera Festival: farces flop, young singers impress

Mark Pullinger, 15th November

Il campanello and Deux Hommes et une femme bomb at the Donizetti Opera festival, but the young singers of the Bottega Donizetti – and wily old hand Alessandro Corbelli – impress.

***11

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.

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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.