Orchestra Gli Originali Coro Donizetti Opera Montanari - Le Nozze in Villa - DVD

Le nozze in villa ('The Wedding in the Villa') tells the story of Sabina and the young Claudio. They are in love, but this match goes against the will of her father, who wants her to marry the Schoolmaster Trifoglio. Misunderstandings and tensions between city emancipation and provincial narrow-mindedness are resolved, and romance ultimately triumphs thanks to the alliance of 'gracefulness, faith and youth'. This early and virtually unknown opera buffa by Donizetti is full of Rossini-influenced lyrical inventiveness and beautiful arias. Specially restored for the 2019 Bergamo Festival, this revival brings out all of the opera's 'sparkling spirit and melodiousness' (bachtrack. Com).

Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera L'aio nell'imbarazzo or A Tutor in a Jam! Was greeted with wild enthusiasm at it's Rome premiere in 1824 and became one of the composer's first great successes both in Italy and abroad. Modeled on operas by Rossini but already displaying the psychological depths of Donizetti's mature work, this is a narrative in which, shielded from female company, the overprotected sons of a strict Marquis are entrusted to their tutor, Don Gregorio. Of course, everything unravels into emotional chaos in the best opera buffa tradition, with it's universal themes of romance and social politics colorfully set in 2042.

Pietro il Grande, kzar delle Russie - composed when Donizetti was 22 years old - was the first of the composer's operas to receive more than one production. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the work's première in 2019, the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo staged this rare melodramma burlesco in a new critical edition. The influence of Rossini and Mozart is clear, but the young Donizetti still managed to create a fresh and lively work that displayed early evidence of his mature style. This Donizetti Festival performance received widespread international acclaim, with a cast of excellent singers and a unique staging by Ondadurto Teatro (Marco Paciotti and Lorenzo Pasquali), influenced by Russian avant-garde art of the early 20th century.