The second title of Teatro Municipal Piacenza’s Opera Season, Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena will be staged on Friday 16 (8pm) and Sunday 18 February (3.30pm). The opera tragedy in two acts, on a libretto by Felice Romani, will be conducted by Diego Fasolis and directed by Carmelo Rifici. The prestigious cast features Carmela Remigio as Anna Bolena – winner of the 2016 Abbiati Prize for the role of Donizetti’s queen – Arianna Vendittelli (Giovanna Seymour), Ruzil Gatin (Lord Riccardo Percy), Paola Gardina (Smeton), Simone Alberghini (Henry VIII), Luigi De Donato (Lord Rochefort) and Marcello Nardis (Sir Hervey). On stage the Claudio Merulo Choir of Reggio Emilia directed by Martino Faggiani. The sets are by Guido Buganza, costumes by Margherita Baldoni, lights by Alessandro Verazzi. The opera is a co-production of LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena, Associazione “I Barocchisti”.
Diego Fasolis at the helm of I Classicisti, a direct emanation of I Barocchisti, chooses to bring this milestone of 19th-century romanticism back to life in its purest form, with painstaking philological research: all the cuts are reopened for a total of almost four hours of music, tuning forks at 430 Hz and period instruments.

Anna Bolena represents one of the highest peaks of Donizetti’s operatic production and of romantic opera in general. Inspired by the drama Henri VIII by Marie-Joseph Blaise de Chénier, it debuted at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 26 December 1830 to extraordinary success. Donizetti composed it on the spur of the moment, in just thirty days, for the soprano who was to star in it, Giuditta Pasta. Despite its initial success, the opera gradually disappeared from the repertoire until, in 1957 at La Scala, Maria Callas gave it a real second life thanks to a memorable performance, in a production conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni and directed by Luchino Visconti. In this production, Anna is the true dramatic fulcrum of the entire opera, a character endowed with great expressive force. A characteristic that, together with the psychological precision of the characters, the dramatic capacity of the duets, and the introspection, so timely in the journey that leads Boleyn to her death, make this opera almost unique.

Carmelo Rifici, who directed the opera, explains: ‘Listening to the opera, it was impossible for me to renounce a dynamic image of the performance. The music itself seems to transport you into a world where everything moves, non-stop; despite the long duets, indeed precisely because of the length of the sections of the score, the director is able to penetrate the mental and spiritual labyrinths of the characters. The inner and narrative plots move together. The feeling that lingers with every listening is precisely this: the drama moves menacingly towards Anna’. And so scenographer Guido Buganza places the work on a revolving device with a sober design, but made up of sliding wings, secret passages, and retractable doors. Continuing in the director’s notes, Rifici explains that ‘This eternal movement, this unstoppable force, so subtly amplified by a tragic chorus that sentimentally accompanies the tragedy to its ominous consequences, made me imagine a threatening and tumultuous stage space, which prevents the characters from finding protection or comfort. (…) The space is not reassuring, but changing, labyrinthine; it leads the characters to perdition and bewilderment. At the same time, it is not a realistic space, but a space of the soul: the rooms the characters pass through are interior rooms, opening doors to their fears, to their most brutal impulses. This is why I avoided overly realistic details, preferring, on the contrary, to imagine symbolic and artistic objects and furnishings, capable of containing the brutal force of the drama, but also of bringing to life the sentimental need of the characters, their need for love’.

Presenting the opera on Thursday 15 February at 6 p.m. in the foyer of the Municipal Theatre will be the students of Piacenza’s Liceo Respighi, thanks to the Aperi Opera project, under the guidance of teachers Elena Metti and Arianna Gazzola. Between acting and music, the protagonists will be students Emma Agosti, Michele Baldrighi, Mattia Barella, Matilde Braghieri, Emma Bricchi, Angelo Caronia, Rebecca Chiesa, Christopher Crescimanna, Veronica Fulcini, Adem Gaddour, Nathaly Gaggioli, Laura Maggi, Isacco Marchesi, Amy Mazzocchi, Sofia Moglia, Giada Rolleri, Laura Tosi. At the piano, Maestro Corrado Pozzoli, with the participation of the Liceo Respighi Choir prepared by Ilaria Italia. Admission is free.

Information: Municipal Theatre Box Office: tel. 0523 385720/21 – biglietteria@teatripiacenza.it, www.teatripiacenza.it