Il trovatore proves a masterpiece even without staging

By Renato Verga, 03 August 2020

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Reviewed at Arena Sferisterio, Macerata on 1 August 2020

Verdi, Il trovatore (Semi-staged performance)

Vincenzo Milletarì, Conductor

Massimo Cavalletti, Il conte di Luna

Roberta Mantegna, Leonora

Veronica Simeoni, Azucena

Luciano Ganci, Manrico

Fiammetta Tofoni, Ines

Didier Pieri, Ruiz

Massimiliano Mandozzi, An old gipsy

Davide Giangregorio, Ferrando

Ludovico Gobbi, Lighting Designer

Ernesto Scarponi, Video

Coro Lirico Marchigiano "Vincenzo Bellini"

Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana

Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante wins hearts at the Opéra de Paris

David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

****1

Chasing the American Dream: UK premiere for Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

****1

Longborough Festival Opera season starts slow with Orlando

Eleanor Knight, 30th May

Beth Taylor gives the lows and highs of Handel's heroics an almighty, whole-body shakedown in Sinéad O'Neill’s new staging of Handel's Orlando.

***11

Bang! Mozart’s volcano erupts in Opera Holland Park’s Così fan tutte

Peter Quantrill, 28th May

Mount Vesuvius looms over Cecilia Stinton’s compelling new production of Così fan tutte.

****1

Viennese splendour in Garsington’s Rosenkavalier revival

Roy Westbrook, 28th May

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

****1

Garsington’s new La traviata ticks every musical and dramatic box

David Karlin, 27th May

Music Director Douglas Boyd conducts a performance of exceptional musical quality, and Louisa Muller's uncontroversial but passionate direction makes this Traviata one for the ages.

*****

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Renato Verga

Renato graduated from Turin University in Physics. He has always had a particular passion for music and the stage. A former member of a choir, he was raised in the musical milieu influenced by the eminent Italian musicologist Massimo Mila. In 2014, Renato started his own blog, which now has 1000 posts.