July 10, 2015: Norma in Siracusa

2015-07-10 Norma (Bellini), Siracusa Teatro Greco

Norma = Chiara Taigi
Adalgisa = Adriana Damato
Clotilde = Anna Consolaro
Pollione = Piero Giuliacci
Flavio = Giuseppe di Stefano
Oroveso = Jose Antonio Garcia

Jacopo Sipari di Pescasseroli, conductor
Orchestra Sinfonica Bellini Opera Festival
Coro Lirico Siciliano (Francesco Costa)

Regia & Scene = Enrico Castiglione

Costumi = Sonia Cammarata

A wonderful location, a wonderful production. E la grande simplicita!

To compare this Norma to the Norma of Bayerische Staatsoper Munich would be unfair. They are so different. Here we had the Norma of Chiara Taigi who clearly do love her children. That is the biggest difference so we have much more sympathy for this Norma. Chiara Taigi has a different approach in singing and acting this role than Sondra Radvanovsky. Both are great. Adriana Damato is still in my opinion very much a soprano even as her voice has always been dark and she is able to sing the mezzo part of Adalgisa very well. Of course both roles, Norma and Adalgisa, lays in between soprano/mezzo territory, so all is good. As usual Pollione is often sung by a tenor with more strength than belcanto. Here we have the Pollione of Piero Giuliacci and he can belt it out and in the end he still soars especially in the ending of the opera. As Flavio we have a well known name but it is not the Giuseppe Di Stefano, this is a young Italian tenor (http://www.reggiotv.it/notizie/cultura/25699/lirica-giuseppe-stefano-trionfa-al-concorso-spoleto). Anna Consolaro as Clotilde. Finally we have Jose Antonio Garcia as Oroveso. Bravi tutti!

And the evening ended with everybody singing Happy Birthday (in Italian) to Chiara Taigi!!!
Happy Birthday, Chiara Taigi!! Tanti auguri!!

OD Travel & Photos
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