Jessica Pratt & Shalva Mukeria

Opera di Firenze http://www.operadifirenze.it

Florence, Italy
  • Conductor Fabrizio Maria Carminati
  • October 2016
    14
    Friday
    20:00 > 23:00
    3 hours
Find out more about the Program

Jessica Pratt & Shalva Mukeria

Program

Press & Reviews

Connessi all'Opera
Francesco Bertini
Gala lirico L’Opera per la vita
This review refers to L'Opera per la Vita at Associazione Lirica Trevigiana.
Not available in English
La sua prova appare maiuscola, in particolare per quanto attiene l’utilizzo sempre fluido e naturale dei registri acuto e sopracuto, la rotondità della zona centrale e l’attento dosaggio delle sfumature, tanto rilevanti in “Ah, non credea mirarti… Ah! Non giunge” da La sonnambula di Bellini e nell’ampio finale del primo atto della Traviata, dove il soprano investe appieno i propri mezzi per tornire compiutamente i cangianti stati d’animo di Violetta.
Full article...
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. "
Full article...

Excerpts

Sinfonia: Don Pasquale

taken from Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti

Oh! quante volte, oh quante!

taken from I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini
Giulietta worries because she does not know where Romeo has gone. She is in love with him and waits with ardor for him to come. She wishes to see his silhouette in the light of the day and hear his sigh which reminds her of the breeze.
Lyrics
Eccomi in lieta vesta...eccomi adorna... Come vittima all'ara. Oh! almen potessi Qual vittima cader dell'ara al piede! O nuzïali tede, Abborrite così, così fatali, Siate, ah! siate per me faci ferali. Ardo...una vampa, un foco Tutta mi strugge. Un refrigerio ai venti io chiedo invano. Ove se'tu, Romeo? In qual terra t'aggiri? Dove, dove invïarti i miei sospiri? Oh! quante volte, Oh! quante ti chiedo Al ciel piangendo Con quale ardor t'attendo, E inganno il mio desir! Raggio del tuo sembiante Parmi il brillar del giorno : L'aura che spira intorno Mi sembra un tuo respir.

Angelo casto e bel

taken from Le Duc d'Albe by Gaetano Donizetti

Ah! non credea mirarti... Ah! non giunge

taken from La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini
While sleepwalking, Amina prays for Elvino and then sings her sorrow. She remembers the engagement ring that he took from her when he believed she was unfaithful to him.
Lyrics
Ah,non credea mirarti si presto estinto, o fiore; passasti al par d'amore, che un giorno sol(o) duro. Potria novel vigore il pianto mio recarti ma ravvivar l'amore il pianto mio, ah no, non puo. Ah, non giunge uman pensiero al contento ond'io son piena: a miei sensi io credo appena; tu m'affida o mio tesor. Ah, mi abbraccia, e sempre insieme, sempre uniti in una speme, della terra, in cui viviamo ci formiamo un ciel d'amor.

Sinfonia: Roberto Devereux

taken from Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti

Son già lontani... Corre a valle... Vieni fra queste braccia

taken from I Puritani by Vincenzo Bellini

Sinfonia: L’amor coniugale

taken from L’amor coniugale by Giovanni Simone Mayr

Ange si pur

taken from La Favorite by Gaetano Donizetti

O luce di quest'anima

taken from Linda di Chamounix by Gaetano Donizetti
Lyrics
Ah! tardai troppo, e al nostro favorito convegno io non trovai il mio diletto Carlo; e chi sa mai quanto egli avrà sofferto! Ma non al par di me! Pegno d'amore questi fior mi lasciò! tenero core! E per quel core io l'amo, unico di lui bene. Poveri entrambi siamo, viviam d'amor, di speme; pittore ignoto ancora egli s'innalzerà coi suoi talenti! Sarà mio sposo allora. Oh noi contenti! O luce di quest'anima, delizia, amore e vita, la nostra sorte unita, in terra, in ciel sarà. Deh, vieni a me, riposati su questo cor che t'ama, che te sospira e brama, che per te sol vivrà.

Tombe degli avi miei

taken from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti

Lucia perdona… Verranno a te sull’aure

taken from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
Lyrics
EDGARDO Lucia, perdona se ad ora inusitata io vederti chiedea: ragion possente a ciò mi trasse. Prìa che in ciel biancheggi l'alba novella dalle patrie sponde lungi sarò. LUCIA Che dici? EDGARDO Pe' Franchi lidi amici sciolgo le vele; ivi trattar m'è dato le sorti della Scozia. LUCIA E me nel pianto abbandoni così? EDGARDO Prìa di lasciarti Ashton mi vegga...io stenderò placato a lui la destra e la tua destra, pegno fra noi di pace, chiederò. LUCIA Che ascolto! Ah, no...rimanga nel silenzio sepolto per or l'arcano affetto. EDGARDO Intendo! Di mia stirpe il reo persecutor, dei mali miei ancor pago non è! Mi tolse il padre, il mio retaggio avito. Né basta? Che brama ancor quel cor feroce e rio? La mia perdita intera? Il sangue mio? Egli m'odia... LUCIA Ah, no... EDGARDO M'aborre. LUCIA Calma, oh ciel, quell'ira estrema. EDGARDO Fiamma ardente in sen mi corre! M'odi. LUCIA Edgardo! EDGARDO M'odi e trema! Sulla tomba che rinserra il tradito genitore al tuo sangue eterna guerra io giurai nel mio furore. LUCIA Ah! EDGARDO Ma ti vidi, e in cor mi nacque altro affetto, e l'ira tacque. Pur quel voto non è infranto, io potrei, sì potrei compirlo ancor! LUCIA Deh! Ti placa. Deh, ti frena. EDGARDO Ah, Lucia! LUCIA Può tradirne un solo accento! Non ti basta la mia pena? Vuoi ch'io mora di spavento? EDGARDO Ah, no! LUCIA Ceda, ceda ogn'altro affetto, solo amor t'infiammi il petto; un più nobile, più santo, d'ogni voto è un puro amor, ah, solo amore, ecc. Cedi, cedi a me, cedi, cedi all'amor. EDGARDO Pur quel voto non è infranto, ecc. Io potrei compirlo ancor. (con subita risoluzione) Qui di sposa eterna fede, qui mi giura al cielo innante. Dio ci ascolta, Dio ci vede; tempio ed ara è un core amante; (ponendo un anello in dito a Lucia) al tuo fato unisco il mio, son tuo sposo. LUCIA (porgendo a sua volta il proprio anello ad Edgardo) E tua son io. EDGARDO e LUCIA Ah, soltanto il nostro foco spegnerà di morte il gel. LUCIA Ai miei voti amore invoco, ai miei voti invoco il ciel, ecc. EDGARDO Ai miei voti invoco il cielo, ecc. Separarci omai conviene. LUCIA Oh, parola a me funesta! Il mio cor con te ne viene. EDGARDO Il mio cor con te qui resta, ecc. LUCIA Ah, Edgardo, ah! Edgardo! EDGARDO Separarci omai convien. LUCIA Ah, talor del tuo pensiero venga un foglio messaggero, e la vita fuggitiva di speranze nutrirò. EDGARDO Io di te memoria viva sempre, o cara, serberò. LUCIA Ah! Verranno a te sull'aure i miei sospiri ardenti, udrai nel mar che mormora l'eco dei miei lamenti. Pensando ch'io di gemiti mi pasco e di dolor, spargi un'amara lagrima su questo pegno allor, ah, su questo pegno, ecc. EDGARDO Verranno a te sull'aure, ecc. EDGARDO e LUCIA Ah! Verranno a te sull'aure, ecc. EDGARDO Rammentati, ne stringe il ciel! EDGARDO e LUCIA Addio!

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.

Giovanni Simone Mayr

Timeline

General Management

Ariosi Management

www.ariosimanagement.com

Alessandro Ariosi

projects@ariosimanagement.com

Phone: +41.916495331

Operabase Profile

Press and Public Relations

Fidelio Artists

www.fidelioartist.com

Ph. +34 616 76 08 66
info@fidelioartist.com