Intensity-laden La voix-Cav diptych in Bologna

By James Imam, 11 April 2017

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“musically and dramatically first rate”

Reviewed at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Bologna on 9 April 2017

Poulenc, La Voix humaine

Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana

Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Michele Mariotti, Conductor

Emma Dante, Director

Anna Caterina Antonacci, Elle

Marco Berti, Turiddu

Gezim Myshketa, Alfio

Carmen Topciu, Santuzza

Anastasia Boldyreva, Lola

Claudia Marchi, Mamma Lucia

Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Coro di Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Vick and Mariotti refresh Bohème in Bologna

James Imam, 20th January

Vick enjoys working with young singers, and in with the young second cast he is spoiled.

*****

Bologna's Teatro Comunale scores a slam dunk

James Imam, 18th May

The Comunale had teamed up with Bologna's basketball team Virtus to create a 50%-off ticket deal aimed at drawing new audiences. The subject matter of this opera might not seem the most immediately accessible, but this was playing to capture the imaginations of opera newbies.

****1

Werther's middle-class dream in Bologna

Renato Verga, 15th December

Juan Diego Flórez plays the role for the first time on stage and it's a vocal triumph

****1

I vespri siciliani in Naples: a revolt against the Mafia

Lorenzo Fiorito, 21st January

In the Italian version of Verdi's French grand opéra, Emma Dante updates the action from 1282 to the organised crime of the Sicilian Mafia.

***11

Rusalka makes a splash in a long overdue Teatro alla Scala debut

Laura Servidei, 13th June

Conductor Tomáš Hanus leads a great cast in a stunningly beautiful production of Dvořák’s masterpiece directed by Emma Dante.

*****

Tower block bohemians in Emma Dante's new staging at San Carlo

Lorenzo Fiorito, 14th October

Despite the setting in a condo, Dante’s staging is basically traditional, to the point of even respecting the original story's 1830s fashions.

***11

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James Imam

James Imam is an arts journalist writing for publications including The Financial Times, The Times, Musical America and Opera magazine. He grew up in Manchester, read anthropology at Cambridge and has since lived in Milan. As a once-aspiring countertenor he has an abiding interest in Baroque music.