On June 29, the Royal Opera House will present a new production of “I Puritani,” featuring Lisette Oropesa in her signature role and led by one of the great Bel Canto conductors working today, Riccardo Frizza.

The performance will mark Frizza’s debut on the podium of the Royal Opera House, and it comes as he celebrates 25 years since his own operatic debut. He first stepped onto the podium on June 29, 2001, at the Teatro Regio di Parma, where he conducted Verdi’s “Rigoletto” as part of the theatre’s celebrations marking the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi’s death.

Since that debut Frizza has appeared at many of the world’s important houses including the Rossini Opera Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro San Carlo, Bilbao Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro La Fenice, and Gran Teatre del Liceu. He has also cemented his status as a Bel Canto specialist by becoming the Artistic Director of the Donizetti Opera Festival, where he has led the rediscovery of many of the composer’s great works.

Now he will bring Bellini’s “I Puritani” to the Royal Opera House after a 35-year absence.

In a statement the conductor said, “My presence here at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London has coincided with the twenty-fifth anniversary of a career that began conducting ‘Rigoletto’ at the Teatro Regio, Parma, and has now led me to conduct another Italian romantic masterpiece that I love very much, ‘I Puritani’ by Vincenzo Bellini.”

For those not in London, the performance on June 30 will be broadcast on BBC Radio. He will also be in Savonnlina to conduct “Norma” with Oropesa and in Napoli for “Aida” with Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann.

Recordings 

For audiences who want to discover more of Frizza’s bel canto work, check out his recordings from the Donizetti Opera Festival including “Il Castello di Kenilworth,” “Lucrezia Borgia,” “La Favorite,” “Roberto Devereux,” and “Il Diluvio Universale.” He also has a recording of “Rigoletto” from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and “Armida” from the Metropolitan Opera.