I'm very attached to this opera, with which I made my debut at La Fenice in Venice in 2018 and also recorded a version at the Royal Opera House in London. L'elisir d'amore is, without doubt, one of the great masterpieces in the history of opera and perhaps the first real example of the reinvention of Italian comic opera. This renewal saw a move from the archetypical stylistic features of Italian Belcanto and the lessons drawn from Rossini’s “opera buffa” towards a new style which, despite having its origins in the light-hearted, ironic French comedie larmoyante, constantly foregrounds lachrymose sentimentality mixed with endless antics (indeed, Rossini was, as usual, ahead of his times both with La Cenerentola and with Matilde di Shabran). The pathetic element is so important as to be considered paradoxically the dramaturgical linchpin of this “playful opera” and, ten years later, it would become even more decisively so in Don Pasquale.

This L'elisir d'amore in Parma won’t fail to give the audience some surprises. As far as I'm concerned, I'll try as much as possible to highlight the range from comedy to romantic drama, and to make the most of the experience I've accumulated with the Italian Belcanto repertoire and with Donizetti in particular, with a conducting style appropriate for Belcanto, removing any excess and bringing a lighter touch to the score with its somewhat muscular orchestration. Put simply, I'm taking upon myself the responsibility of interpreting some of the orchestra's agogics and colours according to the requirements of the singing and staging. We've decided to keep and perform a few "puntature" which, although not written by the composer, I feel are a pleasure for the listener, a challenge for the singer and, in general, have their place in a live performance as lively as opera and, in particular, as lively as L'elisir d'amore which hasn't ceased to enchant, entertain and move us for almost two hundred years.

PRESS