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

Lucie de Lammermoor

By Laura Servidei, 20 November 2023

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“changing the atmosphere of the opera, making it even more gloomy and bleak”

Reviewed at Teatro Sociale, Bergamo on 18 November 2023

Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor (sung in French)

Fondazione Donizetti

Pierre Dumoussaud, Conductor

Jacopo Spirei, Director

Mauro Tinti, Set Designer

Agnese Rabatti, Costume Designer

Giuseppe di Iorio, Lighting Designer

Gli Originali Orchestra

Coro dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala

Alexandre Duhamel, Enrico

Caterina Sala, Lucia

Patrick Kabongo, Edgardo

Julien Henric, Arturo

Antonio Mandrillo, Normanno

Roberto Lorenzi, Raimondo

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

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

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Laura Servidei

Mathematician, science nerd, translator of popular science books, obsessed opera fan since the teen years. Day job: business analyst in a software house developing systems for the financial industry. Amateur choral singer. Main musical interests: baroque music and Italian opera. Originally from Italy, currently based in Sweden. I make a mean eggplant parmesan.