Bel Canto, ice that scorches

Can some earthly power save us from old age and death? Can one force a person to love someone whom one does not actually love? Queen Elizabeth I of England loves Roberto Devereux. But, he loves another. With her leadership defeated by heartbreak and decrepitude, the queen falters. She sings: “I no longer reign, no longer live...” Passion and palace conspiracies intertwine in Roberto Devereux (1837), a mature opera by Gaetano Donizetti. The final work of his”Tudor Queens” trilogy, the Maestranza concludes its cycle to coincide with the 225th anniversary of the birth of the composer from Bergamo. The opera is based in historical fact but fictionized in an exacerbated romantic tragedy that calls for fevered vocal virtuosity. Canarian Yolanda Auyanet and Jerez tenor Ismael Jordi, a master of Bel canto who returns to our theatre, take on two of the most demanding roles of the repertory. Canadian conductor Yves Abel, is a specialist in Italian opera, having triumphed in Berlin, Vienna or New York. The production comes from the Welsh National Opera and has been a success in important European opera houses.

Runaway passion, political intrigue, jealousy, abuse of authority and revenge. Love and death in Roberto Devereux, zenith of Bel canto, comes to the stage for the first time at the Maestranza.

Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano. Premiere at the Teatro San Carlo of Naples, October 29, 1837