Delirio

Opera Australia https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com

Sydney
  • August 2023
    03
    Thursday
    19:30 > 22:30
    3 hours

Feel the wind on the wing of madness. A soprano – solo in the spotlight – vocally and emotionally crumbles into madness before your eyes. Favoured by the likes of Bellini, Verdi and Donizetti, ‘mad scenes’ evoke some of the most dramatic, heartbreaking and impressive moments in opera. Euphoric highs and spiralling descents show off a virtuosa’s prowess. Hailed by the New York Times as a soprano of “gleaming sound, free and easy high notes, agile coloratura runs and lyrical grace”, Australia’s own Jessica Pratt is considered one of the world’s foremost bel canto interpreters. She is best known for making Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor her own, taking his dangerously unhinged bride around the world in over 100 performances. Now, discover the method in her madness. This one-night-only showcase of ‘mad scenes’ gives Jessica an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate dramatic range and vocal acrobatics as part of the Sydney Opera House’s 50th birthday celebrations. In a performance laced with passion and poignancy, Jessica takes on the most challenging arias of the bel canto repertoire with incomparable precision and conviction. Whether singing in the languages of unrequited love, jealous rage, or haunted delusion, Jessica teases out the moments that propel each heroine to the mind’s edge.

Find out more about the Program

Delirio

Program

Press & Reviews

Opera Click
Federica Faldetta
Palermo - Teatro Massimo: "Delirio", recital di Jessica Pratt
This review refers to Delirio at Teatro Massimo.
her harmonics fill the great hall of the theatre inebriating us with the last fireworks and demonstrating until the end that an extreme mastery of the vocal technique combined with an intense interpretation generates a natural and spontaneous singing. "
FoggiaZon
Fabrizio Simone
Jessica Pratt e l’OFB enchant the GiordanoTheatre
This review refers to Gala Lirica Sinfonico at Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento.
That Pratt sings Mozart or sings Donizetti, the result is always the same: the audience is literally delirious, overwhelming the soprano with crashing applause. So it was at the end of the first aria of the Queen of the Night, and even more after Der Holle Rache Kocht in meinem Herzen, but the “Scena di pazzia" was greeted with an ovation even more clamorou. After three curtain calls Pratt gave an encore, Summertime (always Gershwin) to which the audience responded with a further enthusiastic applause.
Opera Click
Federica Faldetta
Palermo - Teatro Massimo: "Delirio", recital di Jessica Pratt
This review refers to Delirio at Teatro Massimo.
her harmonics fill the great hall of the theatre inebriating us with the last fireworks and demonstrating until the end that an extreme mastery of the vocal technique combined with an intense interpretation generates a natural and spontaneous singing. "

Opera Click
Federica Faldetta
Palermo - Teatro Massimo: "Delirio", recital di Jessica Pratt
This review refers to Delirio at Teatro Massimo.
her harmonics fill the great hall of the theatre inebriating us with the last fireworks and demonstrating until the end that an extreme mastery of the vocal technique combined with an intense interpretation generates a natural and spontaneous singing. "


Excerpts

Carlo... Nel silenzio della sera... No non è ver mentirono

taken from Linda di Chamounix by Gaetano Donizetti
Lyrics
Carlo! Carlo! A consolarmi affrettati, tal giorno desiato. Innanzi al cielo, agli uomini... tua sposa... diverrò... tua sposa... mio... si... Ah! Innanzi al cielo, agli uomini tua sposa diverrò. si, si, si Carlo... Nel silenzio della sera tornerm, ah, felici sposi ahi diletti pini ombrosi, dove nacque il nostro amor La tu a me donasti il core, Carlo, mi giurasti eterna fé, si, si, è mia cara e sola speme sempre vivere, sempre vivere, ah con te, ah si, con te, ah si, si, si, con te, in ciel, in ciel con te, si viver con te, ah sempre, O Carlo, con te. No, non è ver... mentirono: Tradir tu non mi puoi, E solo per me palpita Fedele il tuo bel cor. Cadrebbe ai piedi tuoi Linda tradita, esanime Ah! non potrei nascondermi Al mondo, al genitor. Andiam. Ecco alfine, ecco il bel giorno. Madre mia, madre! Ah mio padre! La rivale! La rival! Carlo... vieni, vieni No, non è ver... mentirono: Tradir tu non mi puoi, E solo per me palpita Fedele il tuo bel cor. Cadrebbe ai piedi tuoi Linda tradita, esanime Ah! non potrei nascondermi Al mondo, al genitor.

Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce...Ardon gli incensi... Spargi d'amaro pianto

taken from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
Synopsis
Raimondo has just interrupted the marriage celebrations to tell the guests that Lucia has gone mad and killed her bridegroom Arturo. Lucia enters. In the aria she imagines being with Edgardo, soon to be happily married.
Lyrics
RAIMONDO Eccola! CHORUS Oh giusto cielo! Par dalla tomba uscita! LUCIA Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce!...Ah, quella voce m'è qui nel cor discesa! Edgardo, io ti son resa, Edgardo, ah, Edgardo mio! Sì, ti son resa, fuggita io son da' tuoi nemici. Un gelo mi serpeggia nel sen! Trema ogni fibra!...Vacilla il piè! Presso la fonte meco t'assidi alquanto. Ohimè! Sorge il tremendo fantasma, e ne separa! Ohimè! Ohimè! Edgardo! Edgardo! Ah! Il fantasma ne separa! Qui ricovriamo, Edgardo, a piè dell'ara. Sparsa è di rose!...Un'armonia celeste, di', non ascolti? Ah! L'inno suona di nozze! Il rito per noi s'appresta!...Oh me felice! Edgardo, Edgardo, oh me felice! Oh, gioia che si sente e non si dice! Ardon gli incensi...splendon le sacre faci, splendon intorno! Ecco il Ministro! Porgimi la destra...Oh, lieto giorno! Alfin son tua, alfin sei mio, a me ti dona un Dio. Spargi d'amaro pianto Il mio terrestre velo, Mentre lassù nel cielo Io pregherò, pregherò per te Al giunger tuo soltanto Fia bello il ciel per me! Ah sì, ah sì, ah sì per me Fia bello il ciel Il ciel per me Ah sì, ah sì, ah sì per me Sì, per me... per me... Ah sì Spargi d'amaro pianto Il mio terrestre velo, Mentre lassù nel cielo Io pregherò,…

L'anello mio... Ah non credea mirarti... Ah non giunge

taken from La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini

Quest'aure mattutina...Madre! deh placati...Ah! di contento ripiena ho l'alma

taken from Emilia di Liverpool by Gaetano Donizetti
Lyrics
Quest'aura mattutina, quest'astro risplendente mi par che in dolce calma riponga i sensi miei... Sventurata piu son! che dissi mai? Non vi è pace per me... dovunque inoltro, ovunque io volgo il passo, la squallid'ombra di mia madre irata sempre... ahi! sempre io miro! Mi persegue il rimorso ov'io m'aggiro! Madre! deh placati! Misera me! Ti spinse a morte il fatto mio... Mi rende un Dio giusta mercé! Ondeggio, e palpito! Avvampo, e mi agito! E resa stupida mi manca il piè! Amici miei, prendete... Preghiere al ciel volgete... Ah! di contento ripiena ho l'alma! Il vostro giubbilo ripone in calma, e il cor più lieto brillar mi fa!

Qui la voce sua soave” … “Vien diletto, in ciel la luna

taken from I Puritani by Vincenzo Bellini
Lyrics
Qui la voce sua soave Mi chiamava e poi sparì. Qui giurava esser fedele, Qui il giurava, E poi crudele, mi fuggì! Ah! mai più qui assorti insieme Nella gioia dei sospir. Ah! rendetemi la speme, O lasciate, lasciatemi morir! Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna! Tutto tace intorno, intorno; Finchè spunti in ciel il giorno, Ah, vien, ti posa sul mio cor! Deh! t'affretta, o Arturo mio, Riedi, o caro, alla tua Elvira; Essa piange e ti sospira, Vien, o caro, all'amore.

Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in Bergamo in Lombardy, was taken, at an early age, under the wing of composer Simon Mayr who had enrolled him by means of a full scholarship. Mayr was also instrumental in obtaining a place for the young man at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione. Over the course of his career, Donizetti wrote almost 70 operas. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to that city and his residency there which lasted until the production of Caterina Cornaro in January 1844. In all, Naples presented 51 of Donizetti's operas. Before 1830, success came primarily with his comic operas, the serious ones failing to attract significant audiences. However, his first notable success came with an opera seria, Zoraida di Granata, which was presented in 1822 in Rome. In 1830, when Anna Bolena was premiered, Donizetti made a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene and this shifted the balance of success away from primarily comedic operas, although even after that date, his best-known works included comedies such as L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). Significant historical dramas did appear and became successful; they included Lucia di Lammermoor (the first to have a libretto written by Salvatore Cammarano) given in Naples in 1835, and one of the most successful Neapolitan operas, Roberto Devereux in 1837. Up to that point, all of his operas had been set to Italian libretti. Donizetti found himself increasingly chafing against the censorial limitations which existed in Italy (and especially in Naples). From about 1836, he became interested in working in Paris, where he saw much greater freedom to choose subject matter, in addition to receiving larger fees and greater prestige. From 1838 onward, with an offer from the Paris Opéra for two new works, he spent a considerable period of the following ten years in that city, and set several operas to French texts as well as overseeing staging of his Italian works. The first opera was a French version of the then-unperformed Poliuto which, in April 1840, was revised to become Les martyrs. Two new operas were also given in Paris at that time. As the 1840s progressed, Donizetti moved regularly between Naples, Rome, Paris, and Vienna continuing to compose and stage his own operas as well as those of other composers. But from around 1843, severe illness began to take hold and to limit his activities. Eventually, by early 1846 he was obliged to be confined to an institution for the mentally ill and, by late 1847, friends had him moved back to Bergamo, where he died in April 1848.

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before' " A large amount of what is known about Bellini's life and his activities comes from surviving letters—except for a short period—which were written over his lifetime to his friend Francesco Florimo, whom he had met as a fellow student in Naples and with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends and business acquaintances. Bellini was the quintessential composer of the Italian bel canto era of the early 19th century, and his work has been summed up by the London critic Tim Ashley as: ... also hugely influential, as much admired by other composers as he was by the public. Verdi raved about his "long, long, long melodies ..." Wagner, who rarely liked anyone but himself, was spellbound by Bellini's almost uncanny ability to match music with text and psychology. Liszt and Chopin professed themselves fans. Of the 19th-century giants, only Berlioz demurred. Those musicologists who consider Bellini to be merely a melancholic tunesmith are now in the minority. In considering which of his operas can be seen to be his greatest successes over the almost two hundred years since his death, Il pirata laid much of the groundwork in 1827, achieving very early recognition in comparison to Donizetti's having written thirty operas before his major 1830 triumph with Anna Bolena. Both I Capuleti ed i Montecchi at La Fenice in 1830 and La sonnambula in Milan in 1831 reached new triumphal heights, although initially Norma, given at La Scala in 1831 did not fare as well until later performances elsewhere. "The genuine triumph" of I puritani in January 1835 in Paris capped a significant career. Certainly, Capuleti, La sonnambula, Norma, and I puritani are regularly performed today. After his initial success in Naples, most of the rest of his short life was spent outside of both Sicily and Naples, those years being followed with his living and composing in Milan and Northern Italy, and—after a visit to London—then came his final masterpiece in Paris, I puritani. Only nine months later, Bellini died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33.

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Ariosi Management

Alessandro Ariosi

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Fidelio Artists

Ph. +34 616 76 08 66
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