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Saturday, July 26 at 8:00pm – Verdi: La Forza del Destino
Bel Canto at Caramoor
(the Force of Destiny - Original St. Petersburg Version)
Venetian Theater - Tickets: $80.00, $65.00,$50.00, $35.00, $20.00 order online
Program Notes & Bios
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Takesha
Meshé Kizart |
Emmanuel
di Villarosa |
Zurab Ninua |
Marco Nistico |
Daniel Borowski |
| Leonora |
Takesha Meshé Kizart, soprano |
| Don Alvaro |
Emmanuel di Villarosa, tenor |
| Don Carlo |
Zurab Ninua, baritone |
| Preziosilla |
Kirstin Chavez, mezzo-soprano |
| Fra Melitone |
Marco Nistico, baritone |
| Padre Guardiano |
Daniel Borowski, bass |
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Orchestra of St. Luke's |
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Caramoor Opera Chorus |
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Will Crutchfield, conductor |
Bel Canto at Caramoor continues its acclaimed Verdi series with the original version of Verdi’s most ambitious and wide-ranging opera, also in a new critical edition by Philip Gossett. The Force of Destiny is a relentless fate that pursues the three protagonists, set in a spectacular canvas of military and religious life spanning miles and years and summoning a variety of musical characters beyond anything Verdi had previously attempted. The familiar revised version contains some beautiful additional music, but the stark ending of the St. Petersburg version lets us feel the full tragic power of Verdi's first conception. Takesha Kizart, winner of the 2006 Verdi Voices competition, makes her Caramoor debut as Leonora, with Daniel Borowski making his first appearance as the Padre Guardiano.
This opera-in-concert will be sung in Italian with English super titles.
Pre-Opera Events in the Spanish Courtyard. Free for Opera ticket holders.
3:30pm Verdi’s Workshop
La forza del destino is perhaps Verdi’s most ambitious opera, and it is also the one for which we have the most documentation of his compositional process. The world knows two versions (St. Petersburg 1862, performed at Caramoor, and Milan 1869, the familiar score), but in fact there is an even earlier one, prepared by Verdi in 1861 before a singer’s illness forced a year’s postponement of the premiere, and reconstructed only in the 21st century. Philip Gossett takes the audience on a journey through Verdi’s encounters with the Force of Destiny, with fascinating music “from the cutting-room floor” performed by the Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists.
4:30pm The Force of Destiny and the Destiny of Russian Opera
Verdi was not the first major Italian composer to write for St. Petersburg, but rather the last. His intervention came at a moment of ferment and radical progress for Russian opera; more than one observer has noted that without La forza, Boris Godunov would have been impossible. This recital by the Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists with Rachelle Jonck weaves together earlier Italian music for the Russian capital with the developing responses of native composers.
5:30pm dinner break
7:00pm Philip Gossett introduces La forza del destino
Philip Gossett is the world’s pre-eminent scholar of Italian opera. He is the General Editor of the critical editions of both Rossini and Verdi, the author of Divas and Scholars, and the recipient of innumerable awards and prizes.
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