Barbiere - 2011 / Traviata - 2012

In 2011 and 2012, my friend, baritone Giorgio Caoduro, asked me to stage these two popular works, with piano and no choir, in an open-air arena in Lignano Sabbiadoro, a seaside resort in Friuli. The singers were very good but there was no budget for sets and costumes and very limited time for rehearsals (or for fixing the lights). If I remember well, we did Barbiere in six or seven days and Traviata in three or four. For Barbiere Giorgio had commissioned graphic designer Marco Raiola to create some nice printed canvases. It was not a great idea. The wind (which is very strong in Friuli) prevented us from tightening them properly and, in that space, they were impossible to light well. Still, the large audience (Italian and German tourists) seemed to have a lot of fun. We certainly did. 

In Italy it's customary to arrange these kind of improvised productions (I also did Don Pasquale and Tosca in Bologna in a similar fashion). Artistically speaking these are very frustrating experiences, but they teach a lot about priorities and organization.

Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia 
(Lignano Sabbiadoro, Arena Alpe Adria, August 2011)

Anna Viola (Rosina), Raffaele Prestinenzi (Almaviva), Armando Badia (Figaro), Flaviano Giordano (Bartolo), Silvia Verzier (Berta), Franco Cerri (Ufficiale), Marco Perboni (Soldato), Nicolò Sbuelz (piano). 

http://ricerca.gelocal.it/messaggeroveneto/archivio/messaggeroveneto/2011/08/12/NZ_23_04.html

Video Finale I

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2699383999017&set=vb.1089162978&type=3&theater

Se il mio nome saper voi bramate

Una voce poco fa (Rosina was fond of two things: her teddy bear and alcohol)

 Ehi, ragazza! vengo anch'io!

E il cervello poverello si riduce ad impazzar!

Verdi - La traviata 
(Lignano Sabbiadoro, Arena Alpe Adria, August 2012)

Manuela Kriscak (Violetta), Paolo Lardizzone (Alfredo), Enrico Marrucci (Germont), Ilaria Zanetti (Flora/Annina), Alessandro Cortello (Gastone), Claudio Ottino (Barone), Davide Mura (Dottore), Alessandra Sagelli (piano) http://www.liricomartini.com/

È strano...

De' miei bollenti spiriti (it was not easy to convince Manuela to do the ironing)

Addio del passato

A niuno in terra salvarmi è dato!