Southern Ontario Lyric Opera will present Donizetti’s tragedy Lucia di Lammermoor on March 8. The performance takes place at the Burlington Centre for the Arts.
Maestro Sabatino Vacca talks about Donizetti as a composer. “Plenty of great moments. Pinnacle of Bel Canto era. Donizetti had a real gift for melody. He beautifully weaves the story with music that supports the text.”
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Gaetano Donizetti wrote his tragic opera Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835. Rossini had recently retired, and Bellini passed away. It put the spotlight on Donizetti as the premier composer of Italian opera. He set the story in Scotland, considered to be a romantic land with a rich and often violent history by modern Italians of the time.
Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) sparked the creations of multiple musical works. The most enduring is Donizetti’s, which centres the story around Lucy (or Lucia) Ashton, a young woman living in the Lammermuir Hills of Scotland who is caught in the crossfire of a feud between the Ashtons and another family, the Ravenswood.
Naturally, Lucia is carrying on a secret affair with Edgardo, a member of Ravenswoods. Lucia’s brother Enrico tricks her by telling her Edgardo has betrayed her, and forces her to marry Arturo, another nobleman.
It’s the perfect framework for a classic tragedy. Opera luminaries like Maria Callas and Dame Joan Sutherland have made it one of their trademark roles.
Performers
The SOLO production features:
- Soprano Holly Chaplin, who sings the role of Lucia, is a rising star in the Canadian opera world. The coloratura soprano will also perform in Beethoven’s 9th and Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Scarborough Philharmonic later this month.
- Tenor Joel Ricci sings the role of Edgardo. His performing experience has taken him across North America and Italy, and he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2019.
- Canadian baritone James Westman returns to the company to sing what has become one of his signature roles, Enrico. He’s sung in several international companies, including Utah Opera and Opéra de Montréal.
- Baritone Michael Robert-Broder, who sings the role of Raimondo, has a busy career locally and internationally in recitals, oratorio and opera. He often specializes in German lieder and operas.
- Alexander Cappellazzo sings the role of Arturo/Romanno in his company debut. The Toronto-based tenor is busy both as a performer with companies that include Toronto Operetta Theatre and Music at the Met, among others, and as a presenter with Apocryphonia, the organization he founded.
- Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Yelovich performs the role of Alisa in her company debut. She began her stage career in theatre, making the transition into opera, along with voice work, film and TV appearances.
The production will be directed by Greg Finney, with the SOLO Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Sabatino Vacca.
Director Gregory Finney comments, “I love the setting in Scotland. As a Cape Breton Islander born-and-raised anything Celtic tends to resonate quite strongly with me. It’s also a real treat watching how people from other cultures — like Donizetti — present Scottish culture and heritage. I also enjoy when these two things are very incongruent. I think Donizetti is probably considered the height of Bel Canto before Verdi due to how well he just writes for the voice. He understands the language and how it moves in the mouth, so while the music is very challenging, in the hands of the right singers, which we have, it seems easy as pie, and as natural as anything.”
- Find more information and tickets for the March 8 performance [HERE].
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