Donizetti L’ange de Nisida opera to libretto by Alphonse Royer and Guastave Vaëz. Directed 2019 by Francesco Micheli at the Teatro Donizetti. Stars Florian Sempey (Don Fernand d’Aragon), Roberto Lorenzi (Don Gaspar), Konu Kim (Leone de Casaldi), Lidia Fridman (La comtese Sylvia de Linarès), and Federico Benetti (Le Moine). Jean-Luc Tingaud conducts the Orchestra Donizetti Opera and the Coro Donizetti Opera (Chorus Master Fabio Tartari). Set design by Angelo Sala; costume design by Margherita Baldoni; lighting design by Alessandro Andreoli; assistant directors are Davide Gasparro and Erika Natali; costume assistants are Silvia Pasta and Valentina Volpi. Directed for TV by Adriano Figari and Matteo Richetti; video production by Matteo Richetti; sound recording by Rino Trasi, Giuseppe Famularo, and Vera Zanotti; sound editing and post production by Rino Trasi. Sung in Italian. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Nisida is a tiny and romantic-looking island in the Bay of Naples that is corrected to Naples by a small bridge. Donizetti started on L’ange de Nisida (the The Angel of Nisida), in 1839. He abandon the project when it ran into practical issues and then worked some of the plot and music into what eventually became known as the operas Don Pasquale and La favorite. After a huge effort of scholarship, L’ange was reconstituted. The world premiere in concert form took place in 2018 at the Royal Opera in cooperation with Opera Rara, which published a 2-disc CD set. The rescue operation was completed by the Donizetti Foundation in 2019 with this premiere performance in theatrical form.
The artwork on the Keepcase covers shows the performance taking place in Teatro Donozetti in Bergamo in the portion of the building where the orchestra seats are normally located. The the audience looks down from the balconies. It appears the opportunity to do this in such an extraordinary manner arose because the theater was under complete renovation! Surely this will be discussed in detail in the keepcase booklet. In the meantime, here are some amazing images to whet your interest in this title. The images are presented in roughly chronological order:
Kind of impressive. The reconstructed opera starts its stage life in a theater that is itself under reconstruction! The video was “Hugely recommended” by Mike Ashman in the January 2021 Gramophone (page 82). Ashman says home viewers get a “more complete visual and aural experience than would have been possible for the real-life audience.” And this is not something from Donizetti’s student or early work, but of his maturity.
Here’s a trailer from Dynamic:
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