A modern makeover for Donizetti’s Zoraida di Granata

Cecilia Molinari (Abenamet)

Zuzana Marková (Zoraida), Cecilia Molinari (Abenamet) and Konu Kim (Almuzir)

Zuzana Marková (Zoraida)

Coro dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala

Act 2 finale

By Mark Pullinger, 17 November 2024

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“Cecilia Molinari... light, lithe mezzo is very stylish, with a warm flutter to her vibrato”

Reviewed at Teatro Sociale, Bergamo on 16 November 2024

Donizetti, Zoraida di Granata (1824 version)

Fondazione Donizetti

Alberto Zanardi, Conductor

Bruno Ravella, Director

Gary McCann, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Daniele Naldi, Lighting Designer

Gli Originali Orchestra

Coro dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala

Konu Kim, Almuzir

Zuzana Marková, Zoraida

Cecilia Molinari, Abenamet

Tuty Hernàndez, Almanzor

Lilla Takács, Ines

Valerio Morelli, Ali Zegri

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

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

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.

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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.

Cecilia Molinari impresses in a modern makeover for Donizetti’s Zoraida di Granata