{"id":69188,"date":"2014-02-09T00:35:28","date_gmt":"2014-02-08T22:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=69188"},"modified":"2017-02-09T14:35:46","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:35:46","slug":"veronalitaliana-in-algeri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/veronalitaliana-in-algeri\/","title":{"rendered":"Verona, Teatro Filarmonico:”L’Italiana in Algeri”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Verona. Filarmonico Theatre. ‘The Other Sides of Arena’ 2013-2014 <\/em>
\n“<\/strong>L’ITALIANA\u00a0 IN\u00a0 ALGERI” <\/b>
\nOpera\u00a0 in 2 acts, libretto by Angelo Anelli
\nMusic by Gioachino Rossini\u00a0 <\/b>
\nMustafa, Bey of Algiers\u00a0 <\/em>MIRCO PALAZZI
\nElvira, his wife \u00a0<\/em>ALIDA BERTI
\nZulma, her slave and confidante\u00a0 <\/em>ALESSIA NADIN
\nHaly, capitain of the Algerian corsairs in the service of the Bey\u00a0<\/em> FEDERICO LONGHI
\nLindoro, an Italian in love with Isabella\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>DANIELE ZANFARDINO
\nIsabella, an Italian\u00a0 <\/em>MARINA DE LISO
\nTaddeo, an Italian retainer to Isabella\u00a0<\/em> FILIPPO FONTANA
\nOrchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona
\nConductor Francesco Lanzillotta <\/strong>
\nChorus master Armando Tasso
\n<\/i><\/strong>Director, sets and costumes Pier Luigi Pizzi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nVerona, 6th<\/sup> February, 2014.<\/i><\/p>\n

The strong point in this staging of L’Italiana in Algeri, is Pier Luigi Pizzi<\/strong>‘s historic production. It <\/i>is fresh and delightful and above all, hasn’t dated after 20 years. The sets and costumes are refined and simple, in keeping with the levity of the opera.\u00a0 Rossini embraced the 18th<\/sup> century’s fascination for the exotic of the Ottoman Empire, and Orientalism in general,\u00a0 and it may be more than a coincidence that the opera premiered in 1813 in Venice, the city with the strongest historical ties to the Ottomans.\u00a0 It seems too, that the plot was based on a true story of the time. The themes treated in Rossini’s opera, notwithstanding its comic and light-hearted vein, are more than ever topical\u00a0 in Italy today,\u00a0 particularly in the underlying comparison between Western and Islamic culture and tradition, and the acquiescence and submission of women.\u00a0 Pizzi captures the spirit of all of this with a discreet dose of\u00a0 wit and irony. He creates evocative and harmonious scenes, with the skilful use of carved sliding screens, marble steps, an outdoor pavilion in the near ground and Sancta Sofia in the distance, and amusingly sets the first scene in a very convincing Turkish Bath complete with a bevy of seated eunuchs, their heads shrouded in towels. From the candles lighting the proscenium before the curtain rises, to the warmth and depth of the sky in the background, to the footlights effect on the singers and chorus, the subtlety and vibrancy of the lighting are calibrated and stunning. The elegant costumes are in oriental style but only those of the soloists are ornate and colourful, and\u00a0 in very strong hues. The <\/i>costumes of the eponymous heroine are very theatrical and extravagant, highlighting the strong and independent personality which is apparent from her first whip-wielding entry and defines a stark demarcation point\u00a0 between the situations of the\u00a0 two female contenders.
\nIn the third performance, on 6th<\/sup> February, the orchestra, conducted by Lanzillotta<\/strong>, found the perfect dynamic balance with the stage and in turn, the buoyancy, sparkle and\u00a0 grace to express the brilliant character of the work\u00a0 and geniality of the youthful(21 year old)Rossini.\u00a0 Overall, the orchestra was precise and attentive, and although there were a couple of noticeable technical slips in the woodwind in the ouverture, the major solos throughout the opera were executed with competency and accuracy.\u00a0 The male chorus, too, was dramatically convincing, musically compact and precise and stylistically refined.\u00a0 Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, the stage and orchestra were not synchronized, although they were quick to realign. The most commanding performance of the evening came from the bass Marco Palazzi who effortlessly combined a natural and easy stage presence, with a\u00a0 resonant and agile voice of rich\u00a0 timbre. Daniele Zanfardino <\/strong>acquitted himself admirably in the passages of\u00a0 agility, and although he phrased with elegance and taste and\u00a0 threw himself into the role with passion, his volume resulted too lightweight to be incisive, especially over the orchestra.\u00a0 Marina De Liso<\/strong> presented a strong and temperamental Isabella, but a continual and wavering vibrato clouded diction and articulation and rendered her vocal line unfocussed. Obvious variance between registers was manifest and the low notes although firm and clear,were thrown into a chest voice of a completely different nature to the rest. A resourceful artist, she handled the coloratura with determination. After a rather thin start Alida Berti<\/strong>, as Elvira,gained substance as the opera progressed, as did Alessia Nadin<\/strong> at her side as the slave Zulma.\u00a0 Filippo Fontana was a restrained rather than histrionic Taddeo, and the Haly of\u00a0 Federico Longo<\/strong> was secure and entertaining. The performance merited a more numerous audience, but those present made up for it in the warmth of their applause.\u00a0Photo Ennevi<\/em><\/p>\n

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Verona. Filarmonico Theatre. ‘The Other Sides of Arena’ 2013-2014 “L’ITALIANA\u00a0 IN\u00a0 ALGERI” Opera\u00a0 in 2 acts, libretto by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7217,3145,6860,2155,2644,4292,9354,2709,143,421,2778,751,145,6545,1484,793],"class_list":["post-69188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-alessia-nadin","tag-alida-berti","tag-armando-tasso","tag-daniele-zanfardino","tag-federico-longhi","tag-filippo-fontana","tag-foreign-readers","tag-francesco-lanzillotta","tag-gioachino-rossini","tag-litaliana-in-algeri","tag-marina-de-liso","tag-mirco-palazzi","tag-opera-lirica","tag-orchestra-dellarena-di-verona","tag-pier-luigi-pizzi","tag-teatro-filarmonico-di-verona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86944,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69188\/revisions\/86944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}