Press Office30/03/2018
VERDI OPERA NIGHT
A parade of stars for Verdi and the Arena di Verona!
Sunday 26 August 2018 – 9:30 pm
On 26th August at 9:30 pm great names on the international opera scenario and the immortal music of Giuseppe Verdi will come together in the suggestive setting of the Arena di Verona for an exceptional show:Verdi Opera Night, which will crown the 96th edition of the Opera Festival being held from 22nd June to 1st September 2018.
From the baton of Andrea Battistoni to the female voices of Lisette Oropesa, Maria Mudryak and Violeta Urmana, the male voices of Rame Lahaj, Francesco Meli, Luciano Ganci, Luca Salsi and Simone Piazzola, with the Arena’s Orchestra, Chorus, Dance Company and Technicians:a parade of stars for Verdi and the Arena di Verona!
Arena is synonymous with Verdi and with the show Verdi Opera Night homage is being paid to the most representative composer of over a century of Opera Festival. The night promises to be a resounding success, thanks to the top grade cast committed to recreating the magic and emotional power of the famous “popular trilogy” of the “Swan of Busseto”, as is stated by the General Manager Cecilia Gasdia,“It will be a true ‘parade of stars’, called to celebrate the combination of Giuseppe Verdi and Arena di Verona, which for over a century has distinguished Arena summers.Starting precisely from the 1913 Aida, which launched our glorious Festival, the name of Verdi and the notes of his immortal operas resound preponderantly through the Verona opera program”.
The Arena’s entire artistic team and international performers will be led by Andrea Battistoni, a young conductor with a brilliant career, who returns to the most coveted Verona podium following the success he has met with in recent years:“The Verdi Opera Night must be considered as a party, a celebration of one of Italy’s greatest geniuses, to which countless singers, musicians, directors, technicians and professionals in the sector have devoted hours of commitment, effort and passion in order to stage the artistic dreams of the great master from Busseto in this cavea of marvels.A party that will take the form of the most famous parts of his best-known operas:I can’t imagine a better introduction to Italian opera for curious tourists or youngsters ready to approach this extraordinary form of art, and an even greater joy for opera lovers who will once again find, in Verdi’s best-known romanzas and choruses, the original glow that introduced them to the joys of operatic music.As far as I am concerned, conductingagain on this podium under the stars will give me the most heartfelt satisfaction of my professional engagements, an ideal artistic gift to my beloved city and this theatre, truly unique at world level”.
The “Opera party” will therefore open with one of the most suggestive pieces in opera history:the Symphony from La Forza del destinoexpressed in movement by the Festival’s dancers, called on to communicate the music’s emotion by means of sinuous bodies, athletic gestures and great technique.
With simple basic scenery, then comes the first opera of the Verdi trilogy, Rigoletto, from which the second act is taken, opened by the famous aria Ella mi fu rapita, performed for the first time at the Arena by young international tenor Rame Lahaj in the role of the Duke of Mantua.This will be followed by famous arias and chorus scenes, and climax in the father-daughter duets between the jester performed by Luca Salsi,an excellent Verdi baritone on the contemporary opera scenario, and Gilda by Lisette Oropesa, a US soprano who has performed on the world’s most important stages, including the New York Metropolitan (over 100 times), and on this occasion is debuting at the “shrine of opera”.Alongside them, the cast is completed by the voices of Biagio Pizzuti as Marullo, Carlo Bosi as Matteo Borsa, Romano Dal Zovo as Count Ceprano, Nicolò Ceriani as Count Monterone and Enrico Marchesini as the Court usher.
After a short interval, the scene changes to the gloomy nocturnal atmosphere of Il Trovatore:we are in Act III and witness shocking revelations of the characters and their torment, until Manrico’s renowned final cabaletta Di quella pira, performed by another top name on the international scene:Francesco Meli.Alongside him,Azucena performed by Violeta Urmana, artist loved by Arena audiences, as is Verdi baritone Simone Piazzola, also an acclaimed Count Luna at the Arena on the occasion of the 2016 Festival. The cast is completed by Dal Zovo as Ferrando and Bosi as Ruiz.
Then the scene changes once more and, at the end of the gala, one of the world’s most performed operas:La Traviata, from which the emblematic third act is proposed.The role of Violetta Valéry is entrusted in this case to Maria Mudryak, a successful young singer who has won the most important international competitions and has already performed leading roles in important theatres; Mudryak will perform for the first time at the Arena di Verona alongside Alfredo by Luciano Ganci, another well-known tenor on his first outing at the Verona amphitheatre.Crowning the cast, we once again find Simone Piazzola, in the role of Giorgio Germont, his pièce de résistance and a role he has performed worldwide over 150 times.The cast is completed by Annina by Martina Gresia and Doctor Grenvil by Dal Zovo.
Thanks go to all the supporters of the Arena di Verona Opera Festival, who, with their valuable and unfailing contribution, support the organization of the 2018 edition, and in particular UniCredit, leading European banking group, Major Partnerof the Opera Festival for over twenty years, Special PartnerAGSM, Official SponsorIntimissimi, Automotive Partner Volkswagen Group Italia, Mobility Partner DB Bahn Italia and Media PartnerRTL 102.5, which returns to support the mission of Fondazione Arena and its prestigious Festival.
Tickets are already on sale for the Verdi Opera Night show and spectators are invited to reserve their seats now to experience this unmissable night at the Arena in the summer of 2018!
Info
Fondazione Arena di Verona Press Office – Via Roma 7/D, 37121 Verona
tel.(+39) 045 805.1861-1905-1891 - fax (+39) 045 803.1443
–
Ticket Office – Via Dietro Anfiteatro 6/B, 37121 Verona
tel.(+39) 045 59.65.17 – fax (+39) 045 801.3287 – e-mail
Call center (+39) 045 800.51.51 - - Advance ticket sales Geticket
26th August - 9:30 pm
VERDI OPERA NIGHT
Conductor Andrea Battistoni
La Forza del destino,Symphony
Rigoletto, Act II
RigolettoLuca Pozza
The Duke of MantuaRame Lahaj
GildaLisette Oropesa
MarulloBiagio Pizzuti
Matteo BorsaCarlo Bosi
Count CepranoRomano Dal Zovo
Count MonteroneNicolò Ceriani
Court usherEnrico Marchesini
Il Trovatore, Act III
ManricoFrancesco Meli
AzucenaVioleta Urmana
Count LunaSimone Piazzola
FerrandoRomano Dal Zovo
RuizCarlo Bosi
La Traviata,Act III
Violetta ValéryMaria Mudryak
Alfredo GermontLuciano Ganci
Giorgio GermontSimone Piazzola
AnninaMartina Gresia
Doctor GrenvilRomano Dal Zovo
ARENA DI VERONA ORCHESTRA, CHORUS, DANCE COMPANY AND TECHNICIANS
Fondazione Arena di Verona reserves the right to make changes to the current programme.
Major Partner/ Special Partner
Automotive Partner
/ Official Sponsor
/ Mobility Partner
/ Media Partner