Organization

Singer

Tenor

José Cura

Edgar

Rubens Pelizzari

Mezzo-soprano

Amarilli Nizza

Fidelia

Carmen Giannattasio

Julia Gertseva

Tigrana

Giuseppina Piunti

Baritone

Marco Vratogna

Frank

Domenico Balzani

Conductor

Lü Jia

Stage director

Lorenzo Mariani

Set designer

Maurizio Balò

Costume designer

Chorus master

Claudio Marino Moretti

Bass

Carlo Cigni

Gualtiero

Yoram David

Claudio Fenoglio

Teatro Regio di Torino

Orchestra

Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino

Turin

Italy

Teatro Regio

Puccini’s operas are among the most beloved and best-known works in the classical repertoire, but Edgar may be unknown even to aficionados, at least as it is presented here. This original four-act version of Edgar, first performed in 1889, was believed lost for over a century when Puccini’s granddaughter Simonetta discovered the score fully intact in 2008. In addition to the third act’s funeral music, which Arturo Toscanini conducted at Puccini’s funeral in 1924, listeners may recognize the duet from the now-restored fourth act, cut by Puccini in subsequent revisions of the work: it bears more than a passing similarity to the third-act duet in Tosca.

For the first performance of the original score since the nineteenth century, accomplished Argentine tenor José Cura steps into the title role, a man torn between his love for virtuous Fidelia (soprano Amarilli Nizza), and his carnal lust for debauched courtesan Tigrana (one of the few mezzo roles Puccini wrote, sung here by Julia Gertseva). If the intrigue seems slightly unoriginal, the talented cast elevates the material, and Lorenzo Mariani’s rich staging transposes the action from the medieval age to Risorgimento Italy, the milieu in which the opera was born.

Edgar Puccini

Public

Approved

Photos