Young Sicilian soprano grabs the limelight in Bergamo Don Pasquale

Giulia Mazzola (Norina)

Roberto de Candia (Don Pasquale) and Javier Camarena (Ernesto)

Javier Camarena (Ernesto), Mariachi band and chorus

Giulia Mazzola (Norina) and chorus

Dario Sogos (Malatesta) and Roberto de Candia (Don Pasquale)

By Mark Pullinger, 17 November 2024

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“a bright lyric soprano with fearless top notes and a fabulous trill in her cavatina”

Reviewed at Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo on 17 November 2024

Donizetti, Don Pasquale

Fondazione Donizetti

Iván López Reynoso, Conductor

Amélie Niermeyer, Director

Maria-Alice Bahra, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Tobias Löeffler, Lighting Designer

Orchestra Donizetti Opera

Coro dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala

Roberto de Candia, Don Pasquale

Javier Camarena, Ernesto

Giulia Mazzola, Norina

Dario Sogos, Dr Malatesta

Fulvio Valenti, A Notary

Dustin Klein, Choreography

Salvo Sgrò, Choirmaster / chorus director

Students of Bottega Donizetti, Vocals

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

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

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.

Young Sicilian soprano grabs the limelight in an over-busy Don Pasquale in Bergamo