4/16/16 – ROBERTO DEVEREUX @ 1:00PM

Metropolitan Opera

Roberto Deverux by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto written by Salvadore Cammarano  after François Ancelot’s tragedy Elisabeth d’Angleterre (1829), and based as well on the Historie secrete des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex (1787) by Jacques Lescéne des Maisons,

Approximate running time: 2 HRS 40 MINS

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky takes on the extraordinary challenge of singing all three of Donizetti’s Tudor queens in the course of a single season, a rare feat made famous by Beverly Sills—and not attempted on a New York stage since. In this climactic opera of the trilogy, she plays Queen Elizabeth I, forced to sign the death warrant of the nobleman she loves, Roberto Devereux. Tenor Matthew Polenzani is Devereux, and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča and baritone Mariusz Kwiecien complete the principal quartet in the bel canto masterpiece, conducted by Donizetti specialist Maurizio Benini. As with the earlier Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda, the production is by Sir David McVicar, who with this staging completes an enormously ambitious directorial accomplishment.

Sung in: Italian

Photo Credits: Metropolitan Opera