(Credit: Courtesy of Donizetti Opera Festival)

The Donizetti Opera Festival has announced its 2020 season, which is set to open on Nov. 19 and close on Dec. 6, 2020.

The season will open with a concert performance of “Belisario” with Plácido Domingo in the title role. In a press release Domingo, who is celebrating his birthday today, stated, “Dear friends, I am happy to debut my first Donizetti role as a baritone and it gives me so much joy to do it right in the birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti. I have never sung in Bergamo and it will be an honor for me to participate in the celebrations for the reopening of the Donizetti Theater, playing Belisario.”

Riccardo Frizza will conduct the work with Simon Lim, Davinia Rodriguez, Annalisa Stroppa  and Celso Albelo.

Performance Dates: Nov. 19 & 26, 2020

Sarah Blanch, Xabier Anduaga, Manuela Custer, and Paolo Bordogna are set to star in “La fille du régiment” in a new critical edition by Claudio Toscani for Casa Ricordi within the National Edition, created with the collaboration and contribution of the Municipality of Bergamo and the Donizetti Theater Foundation. Corrado Rovaris conducts.

Performance Dates: Nov. 17, 20, 28 & Dec. 3, 2020

The festival will also showcase “Marino Faliero” starring Javier Camarena in a critical edition of Maria Chiara Bertieri for the Donizetti Foundation. Francesca Dotto, Alex Esposito, and Bogdan Baciu star in the work, which will be conducted by Riccardo Frizza.

Performance Dates: Nov. 18, 21, 27, & Dec. 6, 2020

The final opera of the season will be “Le Nozze in Villa” continuing the Donizetti 200 program in a critical edition by Edoardo Cavalli and Maria Chiara Bertieri. Gaia Petrone, Omar Montanari, Fabio Capitanucci, Edgardo Rocha, and Manuela Custer star in the work.

Performance Dates: Nov. 19, 22, 29 & Dec. 5, 2020

The festival will also celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with “L’amor conjugal” by Giovanni Simone Mayr based on “Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal” by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, the work on which Beethoven based his opera “Fidelio.” Chantal Santon Jeffery, Natalie Pérez,  Olivier Gourdy, Andrés Agudelo, Adrien Fournaison, and Bastien Rimondi star.

Performance Date: Dec. 4, 2020