Classical Music

Violeta Urmana, Vincenzo La Scola, Marco di Felice, Vladimir Galouzine, Maria Bayo, and Carlo Guelfi star in these operas by Mascagni and Leoncavallo directed by Giancarlo del Monaco with Jesus Lopez Cobos conducting the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Madrid Symphony Orchestra & Chorus).

Japan.

Classical Music

Anna Malavasi, David Sotgiu, and Pierluigi Dilegente star in this 2007 production of the Mascagni opera with Manlio Benzi conducting the Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia and Slovak Chamber Orchestra.

Mascagni's first and most successful work has become an opera classic as it features elements of the Greek tragedy, mixing up religious and archaic elements. It's a story of love, passion, jealousy and restored honor in bloodshed. Directors Di Gangi and Giacomazzi set this traditional Cavalleria in a Sicilian village of the 1940s where the buildings are rather bare and the piazza is the stage for private as well as public drama. Conductor Valerio Galli is at the head of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the best in Italy. Good performance reviews for the whole cast. "The star of the show is Angelo Villari, who plays an impeccable Turiddu. Thanks to his warm and fiery voice, the Italian tenor adds credibility to a complex character, torn between passion and sensitivity... Soprano Alexia Voulgaridou portrays a perfect, melancholic Santuzza. She possesses an excellent vocal instrument and her voice is lyrical, dramatic and emotionally engaging... Marina Ogii is a Lola imbued with charm and sensuality, with a warm and cleverly projected voice... Elena Zilio is a well-centered and engaging Mamma Lucia, with a magnetic stage presence and an incredible expressive talent... Lorenzo Fratini is at the head of the chorus which provides excellent and powerful contributions to the performance. " (connessiallopera. It)

Mascagni's first and most successful work has become an opera classic as it features elements of the Greek tragedy, mixing up religious and archaic elements. It's a story of love, passion, jealousy and restored honor in bloodshed. Directors Di Gangi and Giacomazzi set this traditional Cavalleria in a Sicilian village of the 1940s where the buildings are rather bare and the piazza is the stage for private as well as public drama. Conductor Valerio Galli is at the head of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the best in Italy. Good performance reviews for the whole cast. "The star of the show is Angelo Villari, who plays an impeccable Turiddu. Thanks to his warm and fiery voice, the Italian tenor adds credibility to a complex character, torn between passion and sensitivity... Soprano Alexia Voulgaridou portrays a perfect, melancholic Santuzza. She possesses an excellent vocal instrument and her voice is lyrical, dramatic and emotionally engaging... Marina Ogii is a Lola imbued with charm and sensuality, with a warm and cleverly projected voice... Elena Zilio is a well-centered and engaging Mamma Lucia, with a magnetic stage presence and an incredible expressive talent... Lorenzo Fratini is at the head of the chorus which provides excellent and powerful contributions to the performance. " (connessiallopera. It)

Classical Music

Following the runaway success of Cavalleria rusticana in 1890 at the age of 27, Mascagni did not rest on his laurels. In just a few years, he completed no less than five operas, including Iris, premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1898. Mascagni might well have taken for his own Puccini's famous quip, “Against everything and everyone, make a work from melody”. And in Iris it is melodic invention which shows the composer's genius at its greatest. A melody by Mascagni is usually long, smooth and Italian-sounding; and Iris is full-on melody all the way, particularly in such crowd-pleasers as Jor's Serenade, the “Hymn of the Sun” or the duet in Act II “Oh come al tuo sottile corpo s'aggira”, which includes the famous “Piovra”. Furtheremore, with a little effort listeners can identify what would be the various musical “numbers”. In Iris, Mascagni is almost obsessively attentive to recitative and his exemplary flexibility at times recalls the sublime "conversation style" "invented" by Puccini. The present production was recorded live at the Teatro Goldoni, Livorno, in December of 2017.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Cavalleria rusticana is the short opera that has all the elements of a grand opera compressed into a single highly dramatic time span. The story of love, lust, blood-feud and betrayal played out against the pageantry of the Easter celebrations in a Sicilian village delivers an emotional wallop because of the youthful vigor and musical wealth of it's great score which includes the glorious Easter Hymn and the deeply moving Intermezzo. Mascagni was never to repeat his youthful success but this brief work is enough to ensure his immortality. 1 CD with 12-page booklet.

In November 2022, there was a memorable performance at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden: Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, undoubtedly one of the most important key works of musical verismo. For the first time the audience could experience the work as it was performed at its premiere in Rome in 1890.

Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock had reversed cuts and restored the original vocal range of some of the singers' parts. Meticulous study of the autograph score enabled him to implement the composer's original instructions and intentions in an exemplary manner. He was supported in this by his Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra, trained in "historically informed performance practice", as well as by a topclass ensemble of young soloists.

The result sounds exciting and stirring, and also excitingly new.

Building on the success of Cavalleria rusticana, Pietro Mascagni’s commedia lirica L’amico Fritz was given seven encores and thirty-five curtain calls at its premiere in Rome in 1891. Considered by critics to be one of Mascagni’s best operas, the story is that of a love triangle involving the wealthy Fritz Kobus and Suzel, daughter of one of his tenants, who together sing the famous ‘Cherry Duet’ in Act II. Returning to the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence for the first time since 1941, this production was acclaimed for its superb cast and astonishingly effective modern setting.