Donizetti Anna Bolena opera to a libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2013 by Cesare Scarton at the Teatro Flavio Vespasiano in Rieti, Italy in connection with the Reatefestival of the Theatro Dell’Opera di Roma. Stars Federico Benetti (Enrico VIII, King of England), Marta Torbidoni (Anna Bolena, his wife), Laura Polverelli (Giovanna or Jane Seymour, Anna’s lady-in-waiting), Dionisos Tsantinis (Lord Rochefort, Anna’s brother), Moisés Marín García (Lord Percy), Martina Belli (Smeton, musician), and Carlo Allemano (Sir Hervey, court official). Fabio Biondi conducts the Europa Galante (period-instrument chamber orchestra) and the Belcanto Chorus (Chorus Master Martino Faggiani). Set design by Michele Della Cioppa; costume design by Anna Biagiotti; light design by Corrado Rea. No videographer credited (bad sign). Sung in Italian. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: NA
Anna Bolena is usually presented as an elaborate historical piece set in England in 1536: we have a good HDVD example of this staring Anna Netrebko complete with the crushing late scene where the 3-year-old future Queen Elisabeth I toddles on the screen to kiss her mother goodbye. Fabio Biondi, who founded and directs the small-scale Europe Galante orchestra, apparently had the idea of paring back everything in Anna Bolena and setting it 300 years later in the time Donizetti wrote it (about 1830). And Biondi's doing this with all-Italian forces in the tiny town of Rieti about 40 miles from Rome. This is a most obscure title with almost no information available on the Internet. Dynamic has a huge vault of Italian operas in DVDs, but many of their recordings don't have the production values needed to survive in the HD entertainment era. You might be wise to be cautious about investing in this. But, on the other hand, Presto Classical stocks this title, which is a good sign.
Here is a YouTube clip suggesting this is a cross between a staged opera and a fancy concert version:
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