Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47 Orchestra e Coro Donizetti Opera & Riccardo Frizza

• Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848): Belisario, A. 47, Act I:
• 1 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 1: Trionfo - Sinfonia 07:25
• 2 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 1: Plauso d'eterna gloria 02:00
• 3 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 2: Corri amica 05:53
• 4 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 3: Plauso! Voci di gioia 02:24
• 5 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 3: Sin la tomba è a me negata! 03:05
• 6 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 3: Ti conforta 05:03
• 7 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 4: O nume degli eserciti 03:31
• 8 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 6: Cesare, hai vinto 03:20
• 9 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 6: Quando di sangue tinto 03:56
• 10 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 6: Sul campo della gloria 03:23
• 11 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 7: Padre! 02:35
• 12 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 9: Che mai sarà! 03:25
• 13 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 10: Sostegni del mio trono 04:36
• 14 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 12: Ah! Da chi son io tradito 05:12
• 15 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act I Scene 12: Sognai fra genti barbare 05:31
• Belisario, A. 47, Act II:
• 16 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 1: L'esilio - Oh duce! Oh eccesso orribile 04:34
• 17 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 2: A sì tremendo annunzio 02:29
• 18 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 2: Vien la figlia 02:16
• 19 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 3: Trema Bisanzio! Sterminatrice 03:41
• 20 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 3: Amici è forza separarci 06:55
• 21 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act II Scene 4: Ah se potessi piangere 08:16
• Belisario, A. 47, Act III:
• 22 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 1: La morte - Qui siedi, o padre 04:39
• 23 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 2: Diffondasi terribile 06:33
• 24 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 3: Se il fratel stringere m'è dato 03:00
• 25 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 3: Figli partiam 03:53
• 26 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 4: Itene al campo 03:02
• 27 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 5: Da quel dì che l'innocente 03:47
• 28 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 5: Vittoria! Vittoria! 01:39
• 29 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 6: Di pianto, di gemiti 05:54
• 30 Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47, Act III Scene 7: Egli è spento 04:35
• Total Runtime 02:06:32

Info for Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47

Donizetti's three-act tragic opera Belisario was a resounding success in its day, driven by its composer’s superlative theatrical instinct and his skilful interweaving of intense tragic narrative and emotional pathos. Belisario is betrayed by his wife Antonina, who falsely accuses him of high treason. Belisario is blinded and exiled, with proof of his innocence coming too late, and is mortally wounded during a final military victory. This production was performed and recorded without an audience in Bergamo during the Covid-19 lockdown in November 2020 – a moving performance reflecting a spirit of defiance amidst ruin and darkness.

A baritone protagonist, Belisario, a glorious leader who has fallen into disgrace due to false accusations and who, blinded, leaves as an exile escorted by his merciful daughter. And an “unpleasant” prima donna, Antonina, who first slanders and ruins her husband by accusing him of having killed their son and then, in the finale, repents with a spectacular aria of remorse. All this in an “ancient” setting, in the imperial Constantinople, whose solemn classicism is emphasised by the frequent use of marching rhythms and in which such a great figure of Roman history as Justinian is staged. As is often the case, Donizetti refuses to follow the beaten track and looks for new paths with this fascinating Belisario, represented for the first time on February 4, 1836 (it is the first work written after Lucia di Lammermoor), which marked his debut at La Fenice in Venice. Its success was somehow controversial, because the author was accused of having accepted eight thousand francs, what was thought to be an excessive remuneration. “There were a few hitches, but you know even before how the first few nights will go. It will get better and better”, Donizetti wrote to Ricordi. In fact, after the third performance, the work was so acclaimed that the audience accompanied Donizetti to his lodging with torches and a marching band. This is a confirmation of the fact that Donizetti had seen right in evaluating the dramaturgical po tential of the story and in defending the choice of his librettist Salvadore Cammarano, whom La Fenice had momentarily thought to replace. Back to theatrical circulation, albeit sparingly, since the Vene tian revival of 1969, Belisario today stands as one of the most interesting titles of the mature Donizetti, with some of the most refined pages of his corpus, such as the duet between blind Belisario and his daughter. A topic – fatherly love and the relationship between fathers and children – which “clearly anticipates”, writes Ashbrook, similar patterns in Verdi’s theatre.

Simon Lim, soprano (Giustiniano)
Roberto Frontali, baritone (Belisario)
Carmela Remigio, soprano (Antonina)
Annalisa Stroppa, mezzosoprano (Irene)
Celso Albelo, tenor (Alamiro)
Anaïs Mejías, soprano (Eudora)
Klodjan Kacani, tenor (Eutropio)
Stefano Gentili, bass (Eusebio)
Orchestra Donizetti Opera
Coro Donizetti Opera
Riccardo Frizza, conductor

Riccardo Frizza
Musical director of the Bergamo Donizetti Opera Festival since 2017, Riccardo Frizza is regularly engaged by the most important theatres, musical institutions and festivals in the world, where he conducts many of the principal international orchestras. From the Metropolitan Opera House in New York to the Opéra National in Paris, not to mention La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the San Carlo in Naples, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Regio in Turin, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Macerata Opera Festival, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Müpa in Budapest, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, ABAO Bilbao Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Castell de Peralada Festival and many other theatres in Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, China, Switzerland, France and the United States of America, where he has conducted operas from Italian repertoire by composers such as Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Verdi and Puccini. Orchestras he has conducted in symphonic concerts include the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Dresden Sachsische Staatskapelle, the “G. Verdi “, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Philharmonia (London), the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020 he won Best Conductor at the International Opera Awards and in 2021 was awarded by Ópera XXI as best Musical Director for his work at the helm of the performances of Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, at ABAO Bilbao Ópera in October 2019. Riccardo Frizza has an ample discography with labels such as Decca, Sony, Dynamic and Naxos. Among other engagements, highlights of Frizza’s 2020-2021 season include Roberto Devereux at La Fenice in Venice, Belisario and Marino Faliero at the Donizetti Opera Festival, his return to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with Les Contes d’Hoffmann, a bel-canto concert in Montecarlo with Karine Deshayes and Marina Rebeka, Rigoletto at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, La sonnambula at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In November/December he will conduct L’elisir d’amore at the Donizetti Opera Festival, opening its 7th edition, and at the Wiener Staatsoper for his house debut. In December he is expected at the Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome for a special concert in honour of Enrico Caruso.

Upcoming engagements for 2022 include: La Clemenza di Tito at the ABAO Bilbao Opera; a concert with works by Chopin and Schumann at the Teatro Malibran in Venice; The Three Queens (a concert with arias from Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux) alongside Sondra Radvanovsky and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the San Carlo in Naples; L’amico Fritz at the Teatro del Maggio in Florence; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Traviata at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

He opened the 2019-2020 season with I Puritani at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, which he followed with Lucia di Lammermoor in Bilbao, Lucrezia Borgia at the Bergamo Donizetti Festival, The Three Queens with Radvanovksy at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, a Strauss Gala with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, a Beethoven concerto with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra at the Teatro Grande in Brescia, La sonnambula at the Müpa in Budapest, Donizetti’s Requiem Mass at the gates of the Monumental Cemetery in Bergamo in homage to the victims of Covid-19 in an event that was broadcast by RAI1 and attended by the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella, as well as a concert, Nel cuore della Musica at the Arena di Verona.

In the 2018-2019 season, Frizza conducted Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, Semiramide at La Fenice in Venice, the opening concert and Il Castello di Kenilworth at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, L’Italiana in Algeri at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, I Lombardi alla prima crociata at ABAO Bilbao Opera, Anna Bolena at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Falstaff at The Dallas Opera, Aida at La Fenice and La Traviata at the Castell de Peralada Festival (Spain). Highlights of his 2017-2018 season were Falstaff at the Teatro Regio in Parma, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at the Müpa Budapest, La Traviata at the New National Theater in Tokyo, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra National in Paris, Norma at the Tokyo Nikikai Opera, Luisa Miller at Opernhaus Zürich, L’Elisir d’amore and Norma at La Fenice and Il Pirata at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

He opened the 2016-2017 with Lucia di Lammermoor at the Opéra National in Paris to then continue with Attila at La Fenice, Norma at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rigoletto at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Lucia di Lammermoor at La Fenice, I Puritani at Müpa Budapest and Aida at the Macerata Opera Festival.

In the 2015-2016 season he conducted Tosca in La Fenice, Norma at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Linda di Chamonix at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and Otello at the Macerata Opera Festival. Highlights from previous seasons include, among others, engagements at venues such as the Arena di Verona (Nabucco, Rigoletto), ABAO Bilbao Opera (Otello, Luisa Miller, Don Carlo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La Sonnambula), The Dallas Opera (La Bohème), La Fenice in Venice (La Traviata, Il Trovatore), San Francisco Opera (Tosca, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Lucrezia Borgia), the New York Metropolitan (La Bohème, Tosca, Norma, Armida, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto), Cité de la Musique-Philharmonie (Otello), Münchner Opern-Festspiele (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), the Opéra National in Paris (L’Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola), the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (La Cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia), Seattle Opera (Rigoletto, Falstaff, Aida), Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Italy (Giovanna d’Arco), the Theater an der Wien (Attila, Les contes d’Hoffmann), the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Oberto), Oper Frankfurt (Otello), Opernhaus Zürich (La scala di seta), Semperoper Dresden (L’Elisir d’amore, Anna Bolena, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Favorite, L’Italiana in Algeri), Macerata Opera Festival (Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Maria Stuarda), the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona (Manon Lescaut), the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre (Don Pasquale, Tancredi), Ópera de Las Palmas in Gran Canaria (I Masnadieri, La Favorita), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Il Turco in Italia), De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam (L’Elisir d’amore), the New National Theatre in Tokyo (Otello), the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo (Carmen), the Staatsoper Hamburg (Simon Boccanegra), Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa (Manon Lescaut, Le Villi, Die Zauberflöte, La Favorite, La fille du régiment, Nabucco), the Teatro Real in Madrid (Tancredi), Houston Grand Opera (La Fille du régiment), Washington National Opera (La Fille du régiment, L’Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola), Oper Leipzig (Luisa Miller), the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (Adelaide di Borgogna, Matilde di Shabran, Il Turco in Italia), the Aix-en-Provence Festival (L’Italiana in Algeri), the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome (Maria Stuarda, L’Italiana in Algeri), the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Semiramide), the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico DC (Verdi’s Requiem), the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon (La Donna del lago), the Teatro Comunale in Bologna (Don Pasquale, La Cenerentola), the Quincena Musical in San Sebastian (La Donna del lago), the Montpellier Opéra National (Un ballo in maschera), Monte-Carlo Opera (Aida), the Teatro Regio in Turin (Semiramide), Opéra de Marseille (La Cenerentola), the Radio France Festival in Montpellier (La Donna del lago) and the Teatro Regio in Parma (Rigoletto).

Booklet for Donizetti: Belisario, A. 47