Thirteenth on the list of the most popular operas in the world, l’Elisir d’amore has not been performed at La Monnaie since 1985 (yet, it was created there as early as 1840). This new production that reunites the operas of Bologna, Madrid and Brussels, called for a new artistic team with Thomas Rösner conducting the La Monnaie Orchestra and Choirs and Damiano Michieletto as stage director. It will be presented at the Cirque Royal.
A new-comer to Brussels, the Italian Damiano Michieletto has since his debut at the Wexford Opera Festival worked in Europe as well as the United States. He captures the simple joy, tenderness and vivacity tinged with irony of Donizetti’s opera. The stage setting is all but metaphysical. It transposes Nemorino and Adina’s love story onto a Mediterranean beach – this modern place so evocative of rustic love rhetoric with a retro tinge, in which summer idylls might prove explosive.
The cast of L’Elisir d’amore brings together artists highly appreciated for their vocal quality and stage presence. The Russian tenor Dmitry Korchak is already familiar to the role of Nemorino, which he sung at the Paris National Opera and Covent Garden. He will be alternating the role with the young Italian tenor Antonio Poli, who will make his debuts at La Monnaie. The Russian sopranoOlga Peretyatko also makes her debuts at La Monnaie with the role of Adina that she has mastered perfectly, in alternance with the Belgian soprano Anne-Catherine Gillet who returns after her success in Rigoletto’s Gilda. The Greek baritone Aris Argiris and the Argentinian Armando Noguera share the role of Belcore. The young Argentinian soprano Maria Savastano interprets Gianetta, The basses Simon Orfila and Riccardo Novaro perform Dulcamara.
