With the intention of representing L'ELISIR D'AMORE as a fairy tale, while respecting the music and libretto, Paolo Panizza, permanent director of the Verona Arena, where he has collaborated with all the biggest names in international opera, directs a new staging of Donizetti's masterpiece.
From the "candor" of the music and the characters - with the exception of Dulcamara - of this work, Panizza draws inspiration for the construction of a clean, all-white opening scene, which conforms more to the sensations of the listener than to the usual representation of a rural and peasant world. It is the arrival of Dulcamara and of him and lisirto awaken color in the village: a metaphor for dreams and illusions that often give life new possibilities. Dulcamara, with his ability to arouse feelings and desire for youth, thus becomes "a nice bearer of vitality" losing the connotations of a fraudulent character. "If L'elisir were a fable, couldn't Dulcamara be a sort of Deus ex machina who comes to bring a little magic? Don't we too often need to delude ourselves in order to seek some happiness?".
Among the performers the soprano Paola Cigna in the role of Adina.
Paolo Panizza, born in Verona in 1962, works at the Royal Office of the Verona Arena. Fundamental in his career is the meeting with Maestro Pier Luigi Pizzi, with whom he has collaborated professionally since 1984. His latest collaborations are I Vespri Siciliani at the Teatro Regio in Parma and Maria Stuarda at the Megaron in Athens.
He has directed, among others, for the Arena of Verona, the Municipal of Piacenza, Donizetti of Bergamo.
In 2010 the Traviata of Bergamo made a long tour in Japan: eight performances in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. He also made a Bohème at the Komi Opera House in Russia and a Traviatain the Della Regina theaters in Cattolica, Bonci in Cesena, Rossini in Pesaro, Auditorium Melotti in Rovereto and Borgatti in Cento. In 2011 you directed Il Trovatore at the Politeama Greco theater in Lecce, co-produced by the Petruzzelli Foundation of Bari.
Giulia Manicardi, from Modena, obtained the II level academic diploma in Orchestral Conducting with full marks and honors at the “G. B Martini ”in Bologna under the guidance of Maestro L. Acocella.
You have given concerts with various instrumental ensembles, including the Bucharest Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Plovdiv Festivale Symphony Orchestra (BG), the Venice Symphony Orchestra, Vratza Philarmonic Orchestra (BG), Cappellla Teatina, Arte Resoluta. In the field of symphonic choral music you have conducted numerous productions of the “L. Gazzotti ”in Modena, of which you are Music Director.
