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Organization

Singer

Bass

Fernando Radó

Lord Walter Valton

Nicolas Testé

Sir George

Roberto Tagliavini

Tenor

Javier Camarena

Lord Arthur Talbo

Celso Albelo

Baritone

Ludovic Tézier

Sir Richard Forth

George Petean

Damiano Salerno

Antonio Lozano

Sir Bruno Robertson

Mezzo-soprano

Annalisa Stroppa

Henrietta of France

Cassandre Berthon

Soprano

Diana Damrau

Elvira

Venera Gimadieva

Conductor

Evelino Pidò

Stage director

Emilio Sagi

Set designer

Daniel Bianco

Costume designer

Pepa Ojanguren

Lighting designer

Eduardo Bravo

Chorus master

Andrés Máspero

Teatro Real de Madrid

I puritani -  (The Puritans)

Madrid

Spain

Teatro Real

Known as a masterpiece of Romantic opera, it was staged for the first time in the Teatro Real in June 2016, with an exceptional cast including Diana Damrau, Javier Camarena, Venera Gimadieva and Celso Albelo, with the Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus.

This is the last opera by Bellini, who died at the young age of 34 after having triumphed in Parisian high society, and finally —in a music scene dominated by Italians, from Rossini to Donizetti, his great rival— having been commissioned to write a piece which would be first performed at the Théâtre Italien in 1835. The Sicilian composer chose a historical subject, set during the English Civil War when Cromwell and the Puritans clashed with the Royalists. He created an exciting love story featuring plenty of passion, treachery and madness. The opera centres on a typical Romantic heroine, Elvira, who finds herself inexplicably abandoned by her betrothed on her wedding day. The pain this causes her is so unbearable that she goes insane. Madness was characteristic of the Romantic era: the physical fragility and social marginalisation of the characters was a way to make the irrepressible force of their emotions more expressive. In the stylised staging by Emilio Sagi, the characters appear to be overcome by melancholy.

A bel canto jewel and one of the most technically-challenging operas of the repertoire found its dream team in 2016 at the Teatro Real de Madrid with the incredible soprano Diana Damrau as Elvira, Javier Camarena as Arturo, Ludovic Tézier as Sir Riccardo Forth, and Nicolas Testé as Sir Giorgio. The Spanish stage director Emilio Sagi’s setting of I Puritani is somber and elegant, a perfect match for the excellent musical direction of Evelino Pidò, one of the great interpreters of this repertoire.   

Bellini’s last opera brims with the ideals of Italian Romanticism: love triangles, quid pro quos, and frustrated passions that lead to madness are set against a backdrop of political rivalries in Puritan England, and the many odes to liberty allude to the political upheaval crossing the Italian peninsula of the 1830s. Though in the twilight of his career, the Bellini of I Puritani is at the summit of his genius, and as an inheritor of Rossini's tradition, he crafts beautiful and ornate melodies for the ages, including a profound and melancholic lamento that recalls traditional neapolitan folk song.

This is the last opera by Bellini. He died prematurely at age 34 when his success with Parisian society was enormous. In a musical landscape dominated by Italians from Rossini to Donizetti- who was his great rival - finally Bellini received the commission for an opera which premiered at the Théâtre des Italiens in 1834. The Sicilian composer chose the historical backdrop of the English civil war between Cromwell and the Roundheads and the Cavaliers to write an intense love story punctuated by passion, betrayal and madness. The opera focuses Elvira. She is a classic romantic heroine who believes herself incomprehensibly betrayed on her wedding day by her fiancé. Such pain and unbearable suffering causes Elvira to have a mental collapse. Madness was a characteristic feature in Romanticism: physical frailty and social isolation of characters was a way to emphasize the expression of irrepressibly powerful emotions. In this stylised staging by Emilio Sagi, these souls are overcome with melancholy.

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