Annalisa Stroppa & Javier Camarena Lead Donizetti Opera Festival’s ‘La Favorite’

By Francisco Salazar

The Donizetti Opera Festival is set to present “La Favorite.”

The festival will present a critical edition edited by Rebecca Harris-Warrick, which reinstates the original French version as conceived by Donizetti for its first performance at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique in Paris in 1840.

Riccardo Frizza will conduct the work with a cast that includes Annalisa Stroppa in the leading role, Javier Camarena, Florian Sempey, Evgeny Stavinsky, Caterina Di Tonno, and Edoardo Milletti.

Frizza will conduct the Donizetti Opera Orchestra and Chorus and the Chorus of Accademia della Scala. Valentina Carrasco will direct the production.

In a statement Frizza said, “‘La Favorite’ is an opera which is especially close to my heart. It is one of Donizetti’s more famous works, yet has been performed in imaginative but terrible reinterpretations, disfigured by omissions that have become standard, and demeaned by a meaningless rhythmic and poetic translation that has failed to honor the genius of Donizetti. It is hard to believe that the opera resisted so well until the arrival of modern Belcanto sensitivity which, amongst its many other merits, has given us the critical editions that have enabled us to rediscover true Belcanto. Such editions include this excellent one by Harris-Warrick, which allows us to perform this unabridged version of ‘La Favorite,’ including the marvellous, elaborate ballet, here in Bergamo.”

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