Linda Riccardi / Recenzje

There were obvious additional challenges in the current environment. Instead of presenting Le nozze in villa in the newly renovated theater, the third Donizetti opera was presented online, filmed in a spectator-less opera house. Always following social distancing rules, director Davide Marranchelli and set designer Anna Bonomelli tried to take advantage of the situation, coming up with an imaginative mise-en-scène. The orchestra was placed on stage with the wind players behind a plexiglass screen. The auditorium was covered with green strips of artificial turf and, in a preamble to the performance. Le nozze in villa is the work of a young composer in the process of discovering his own path. The music does sound imitative, Rossini’s shadow looming high over the score (an aria sung by Nonna Anastasia, authoritative mezzo Manuela Custer, sounded very much like the one sung by Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia). Nevertheless, vocal ensembles were well balanced and the orchestral music was beautifully shaped with noticeable woodwinds interventions. Switching around from accompanying recitatives at the keyboard to conducting with great verve, Montanari led with confidence the historically informed instrumentalists of Gli originali and the Donizetti Opera Chorus, even if the synchronization between singers and orchestra was not always perfect. Meritoriously, he easily brought forward both the sparkling spirit and the melodiousness of the score. The most accomplished of the evening’s soloist was mezzo Gaia Petrone in the role of Sabina. She displayed a full, rounded, mellifluous voice in several arias. As her love interest, Claudio, tenor Giorgio Misseri became more and more assured as the evening progressed. Voices occasionally shaky, the two baritones – Omar Montanari (Don Petronio) and Fabio Capitanucci (Trifoglio) – acted with confidence, navigating with panache through the convoluted plot.