René Barbera

Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera *Don Pasquale* returns to Teatro alla Scala in a 2018 production directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Set in a dreamlike, black-and-white Rome inspired by Italian cinema of the 1950s, the staging blends cinematic references, visual spectacle and bittersweet comedy. Ambrogio Maestri stars as the aging bachelor Don Pasquale, alongside Rosa Feola as Norina, René Barbera as Ernesto and Mattia Olivieri as Dr. Malatesta. Elaborate sets by Livermore and Giò Forma, colourful costumes by Gianluca Falaschi and video design by D-WOK bring this classic tale of deception, romance and generational conflict to life.

A passionate young couple finds itself caught up in a conflict between opposing political factions. Entangled as they are in a web of political intrigue, deception and madness, will the power of their love prevail? Set in England during the Civil War, Bellini’s last opera I puritani opposes Royalist cavaliers and rebellious Puritans. Its sweeping historical drama and romantic intrigues drew rapturous music of melancholy intensity from the composer. For the first time, this production includes the entire score written for the work’s Paris premiere.

Witness the fall of Troy and the rise of an even greater nation in Hector Berlioz’s monumental five-part epic The Trojans. Opera legend Susan Graham, a master of the French opera repertoire, leads the cast as the lovesick queen Dido, who welcomes the Trojan refugees to her shores—only to have her heart broken by one of their heroes.