Verdi La forza del destino opera to libretto by Francesco Piave. Directed 2021 by Carlus Padrissa (of La Fura dels Baus) at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Saioa Hernández (Leonora), Roberto Aronica (Don Alvaro), Amartuvshin Enkhbat (Don Carlo di Vargas), Annalisa Stroppa (Preziosilla), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Padre Guardiano), Nicola Alaimo (Fra Melitone), Alessandro Spina (Il Marchese di Calatrava), Leonardo Cortellazzi (Mastro Trabuco), Valentina Corò (Curra), Francesco Samuele Venuti (Un Alcalde), and Roman Lyulkin (Un chirurgo). Also stars extras Elena Barsotti, Maria Diletta Della Martina, Maria Novella Della Martira, Sara Silli, Giampaolo Gobbi, Emanuele Marchetti, Alessio Nieddu, and Gaetano Tizzano. Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Features chorus soloists Ferruccio Finetti, Leonardo Melani, and Luca Tamani. Assistant direction by João Aboim Carvalho; set design by Roland Olbeter; assistant set designer was Esterina Zarrillo; costume design by Chu Uroz; light and video design by Franc Aleu. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini; video production by Metis; recording, editing, and post-production by MASClassica Audio Recording, Claudio Speranzini, and Antonio Martino. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
In June 2021, Giuseppe Pennisi states in classicalmusicdaily.com that this Forza is set between 1758 and 3333. He concludes this is a recording to listen to but not to watch. Mark Mandel reaches a different conclusion at pages 56 -57 of the August 2022 Opera News: If you are up for a “vast epic” of strange lighting, weird sets, surreal costumes, lessons in physics, dramatic projections, flaming breastplates, tattoos, and wild acrobatic dancers, you will probably enjoy the singing and the orchestra also. Then this title would be a “good modern supplement” to that traditional Destino in your library.
Here's an official trailer that shows well what Padrissa’s does:
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