Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
A delectable and worldly-wise romp through sexual politics comes with a string of high-wire arias and witty ensemble numbers
Fan club: a much-loved Don Pasquale returns to Glyndebourne. Photograph: Clive Barda
Like the towering wigs and extravagant dresses of Julia Hansen's ravishing design, Donizetti's comic masterpiece Don Pasquale is exaggerated, picaresque – and just about as far from today's dizzying world as it is possible to get without leaving the planet.
So the return to Glyndebourne this summer of Mariame Clément's fizzing production from 2011 will be a welcome treat for many, and comes with the bonus of a number of intriguing debuts.
New to Glyndebourne in the title role is Renato Girolami. As Pasquale, the Italian baritone becomes a jealous old guardian who decides to marry and produce an heir to his fortune, to spite his nephew, who is marrying merely for love. Cue the true lovers: American tenor Andrew Stenson, as Ernesto, and the Cuban-American soprano Lisette Oropesa, making her house debut at Norina.
Fortunately for the young ones, there is a some double-dealing by fixer Dr Malatesta, sung by Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky, also new to Glyndebourne.
First performed in Paris on 3 January 1843, Don Pasquale was an immediate success for the prolific composer, whom a cartoonist at the time once depicted writing two operas at once – a tragedy with one hand and a comedy with the other.
The box-fresh cast is matched by music of such springy vigour – Giacomo Sagripanti conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra – that a thoroughly invigorating evening is assured. But all is not as it seems: there is a slight whiff of the decadent Les Liaisons Dangereuses in Clement's production, so this confection comes slightly salted...
Don Pasquale is sung in Italian, with English surtitles
Public online booking opens at 6PM, Sunday 5 March 2017
So the return to Glyndebourne this summer of Mariame Clément's fizzing production from 2011 will be a welcome treat for many, and comes with the bonus of a number of intriguing debuts.
New to Glyndebourne in the title role is Renato Girolami. As Pasquale, the Italian baritone becomes a jealous old guardian who decides to marry and produce an heir to his fortune, to spite his nephew, who is marrying merely for love. Cue the true lovers: American tenor Andrew Stenson, as Ernesto, and the Cuban-American soprano Lisette Oropesa, making her house debut at Norina.
Fortunately for the young ones, there is a some double-dealing by fixer Dr Malatesta, sung by Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky, also new to Glyndebourne.
First performed in Paris on 3 January 1843, Don Pasquale was an immediate success for the prolific composer, whom a cartoonist at the time once depicted writing two operas at once – a tragedy with one hand and a comedy with the other.
The box-fresh cast is matched by music of such springy vigour – Giacomo Sagripanti conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra – that a thoroughly invigorating evening is assured. But all is not as it seems: there is a slight whiff of the decadent Les Liaisons Dangereuses in Clement's production, so this confection comes slightly salted...
Don Pasquale is sung in Italian, with English surtitles
Public online booking opens at 6PM, Sunday 5 March 2017
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| What | Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne Festival Opera |
| Nearest tube | Victoria (underground) |
| When |
13 Jul 17 – 23 Aug 17, 14 performances, with long dinner interval. Two Sunday performances start at 4:35PM |
| Price | £40 - £260 |
| Website | Click here for more information and booking |