Guangzhou Opera House Presents Historic Performance of Donizetti’s ‘Rita’

By David Salazar

The Guangzhou Opera House opened a new production of Donizetti’s “Rita” on June 30, 2022. The production will run through July 2, 2022.

The production was originally premiered at the 2020 Italia Mia Festival in Hong Kong and was directed by Peter Gordon, who directed this new version remotely due to COVID border restrictions.

“We had to direct it remotely via streaming video,” Gordon told OperaWire via email. “The whole thing was quite some experience.”

The opera stars Xing Xingyuan in the titular role with tenor Lin Junliang as Beppe, and baritone Zhong Haodong as Gasparo. The work, presented in a new arrangement by new arrangement by Italian composer Marco Iannelli, was conducted by Zheng Honghao; Iannelli was the music director for the original production at Italia Mia.

Per Gordon, this is the first commercial production of the opera in China.

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