Turbo-charged Trovatore: Verdi at full throttle in Fidenza

Enkelejda Shkoza (Azucena)

Anna Pirozzi (Leonora) and Sally Demonte (Leonora)

Simon Mechliński (Conte di Luna) and Sally Demonte (Leonora)

Enkelejda Shkoza (Azucena) and Angelo Villari (Manrico)

Anna Pirozzi (Leonora), Simon Mechliński (Conte di Luna) and Chorus

Anna Pirozzi (Leonora) and Sally Demonte (Leonora)

By Mark Pullinger, 25 September 2022

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Angelo Villari’s teflon-coated tonsils breezed through the role of Manrico”

Reviewed at Teatro Girolamo Magnani di Fidenza, Fidenza on 24 September 2022

Verdi, Il trovatore

Teatro Regio di Parma

Sebastiano Rolli, Conductor

Elisabetta Courir, Director

Marco Rossi, Set Designer

Marta Del Fabbro, Costume Designer

Giuseppe Ruggiero, Lighting Designer

Orchestra dell'Emilia Romagna Arturo Toscanini

Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma

Szymon Mechliński, Il conte di Luna

Anna Pirozzi, Leonora

Enkelejda Shkoza, Azucena

Angelo Villari, Manrico

Alessandro Della Morte, Ferrando

Ilaria Alida Quilico, Ines

Davide Tscano, Ruiz

Sally Demonte, Dancer

Michele Merola, Choreography

MM Contemporary Dance Company

Lamb to the slaughter(house): rare outing for 1857 Simon Boccanegra

Mark Pullinger, 25th September

Boccanegra butchered in Parma? Only in the sense that director Valentina Carrasca sets the opera in an abattoir...

****1

Storm clouds gather over Verdi Festival opener

Mark Pullinger, 22nd September

Audience protests against Roberto Abbado interrupt the opening night of the festival, Yannis Kokkos' staging of La forza del destino.

***11

A traditional Attila at the Verdi Festival in Parma

James Imam, 30th September

Traditionally, Italy's most unforgiving loggionisti are reputed to reside at Parma's Teatro Regio. Thankfully for the cast, they appear to be a dying breed.

***11

Wilson's lunar Trouvère the antithesis of grand opéra

Renato Verga, 29th September

When they asked Wilson to stage an opera by Verdi, the Texan director replied "I'll never do it!". Now he is at his fourth Verdi's production.

***11

A melancholy Falstaff at the Verdi Festival in Parma

Renato Verga, 1st October

Not a particularly revealing Falstaff, but a pleasing performance though. Maybe one would have expected something of greater impact from a festival like this one, but that goal had already accomplished by Graham Vick with his Stiffelio the night before...

***11

Nothing short of a coup: Stiffelio at the Verdi Festival, Parma

James Imam, 30th September

Without recourse to virtual reality or hallucinogens, Vick has created a suggestive, vividly surreal world where one's reference points are lost to the wind.

*****

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.