The Will-o-the-Wisps by Puccini, From (2024/2024), Directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini, Conductor Riccardo Frizza, Teatro Regio, Turin, Italy

A heartbroken young woman is transformed into a villi, a legendary evil supernatural creature, to take revenge on her unfaithful lover: she forces him to dance until death. This is, in a nutshell, Le Villi, the opera with which Puccini made his debut, immediately making his mark due to the intensity of the melodies and the force of the symphonic writing. Initially written as a single act, a few months after its debut, the opera was revised by its author in an expanded version, with new arias and a new orchestral interlude, which debuted precisely at Teatro Regio in 1884. The audience appreciated the skilful combination of Italian tradition and Wagnerian elements and saw it as a triumph. After that resounding success, Le Villi is revived for the first time at our Theatre under the conduction of Riccardo Frizza, a specialist in the Italian opera repertoire. The new production is led by Pier Francesco Maestrini: the director delves into the theme of the occult. The director assumes that the fact that the composer took inspiration by the ballet Giselle by Adolfe Adam to compose the opera-ballet Le villi, should not be misleading, because in the music Puccini pours all his rash of youth with the aim, not mediated by maturity prudence, of shocking the audience.