“L’ange de Nisida” receives the special award of the 39th “Abbiati” of the music criticismOF THE MUSIC CRITICISM
The jury of the 39th edition of “Abbiati” Award has nominated the winners for the year 2019: the Special Award goes to a production of the Donizetti Opera festival, the world premiere in stage form of the Gaetano Donizetti’s opera L’ange de Nisida with the direction of Francesco Micheli at the Site of Donizetti Theatre in Bergamo last November.
«We are delighted to receive the news of this award during such a difficult period – Francesco Micheli states excitedly – The recognition of the critical is important for all of us, because it further enhances the dialogue between fathers and sons that animates the Donizetti Opera festival as an example of the continuous dialogue between Donizetti and Bergamo, between the past and the present, between the brilliant artistic legacy of our composer (partly yet to be rediscovered) and the industriousness inherent in its territory.
We thank all the artists involved in the production of L’ange de Nisida, starting from my travelling companion, the musical director of the festival Riccardo Frizza, who has encouraged the formation of the orchestral and choral staff and the cast of splendid performers with whom Jean Luc Tingaud read the score reconstructed by Candida Mantica.
The success has to be shared with all the technical and organisation staff of the Foundation, with the Municipality and also with the workers involved in the restorations, who made those memorable evenings possible in the site of the Theatre, whose imminent reopening is now crowned by a first authoritative laurel ».
The score of L’Ange de Nisida, which was believed lost after the missed premiere of 1839, was recovered and rebuilt by Candida Mantica, young Calabrian researched with a PhD from Southampton University, who worked for eight years on the manuscript sheets at the Bibliothèque National de France in Paris, managing to identify around 470 manuscript pages of Donizetti, also thanks to the copy of a draft of the booklet kept in Bergamo.
The staging of the “double rebirth” – with the scenes of Angelo Sala projected onto the floor which then became a mirror, and the colourful paper costumes of Margherita Baldoni – provided for the performance of the show in the space of the audience, the orchestra in the hole but turned towards the stages and the audience on the stages and on a grandstand built for the occasion on stage.
The vocal interpreters were the baritone Florian Sempey in the role of Don Fernand d’Aragon, Federico Benetti as Le Moine, the tenor Konu Kim as Leone de Casaldi, the Russian soprano Lidia Fridman in the role of Sylvia de Linarès. The Donizetti Opera Orchestra was directed by Jean-Luc Tingaud; the Donizetti Opera Choir by Fabio Tartari.
The debut had been preceded by a path of six rehearsals open to the city, which allowed more than 1500 inhabitants of Bergamo to enter in advance into the site and to discover the opera and the production processes of the show, according to an idea rooted in the festival of territorial action.
The show was recorded by Dynamic and will be available in September on DVD/BluRay.
The restoration of the Donizetti Theatre – which saw the commitment of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the Municipality of Bergamo and the Lombardy Region – was made possible thanks also to a group of private donors who contributed to half of the total cost of the work.
To this patrons so sensitive and engaged in restoration, to the sponsors of Donizetti Opera festival and Donizetti Ambassadors, a special group of ten companies from Bergamo was then joined, which– with a total contribution of about 200,000 euros – made the realization of L’Ange de Nisida in the Theatre Site possible: Ambrosini Carni, Automha, Dufry, Faip, Pesenti Foundation, Framar, Pellegrini, Perrel Utensili Fratelli Magoni, Siad and UBI Banca.
The jury of the 39th Italian Music Critics Award “Franco Abbiati”, composed by Alessandro Cammarano, Paola De Simone, Andrea Estero, Carlo Fiore, Angelo Foletto, Enrico Girardi, Giancarlo Landini, Gianluigi Mattietti, Gian Paolo Minardi, Carla Moreni, Alessandro Mormile, Paolo Petazzi, Alessandro Rigolli, Lorenzo Tozzi, and remotely reunited, also awarded the following prizes: best show: “Chovanščina” di Mussorgskij (Teatro alla Scala in Milan); best conductor: Kirill Petrenko; best news for Italy: Georg Friedrich Haas, Musiche per Matera (Musics for Matera); best director: Robert Carsen; best sets and costumes: Federica Parolini and Silvia Aymonino; best solo artist: Martha Argerich; best singers: Asmik Grigorian and Christophe Dumaux; best music initiative: Talenti Vulcanici; “Piero Farulli” award to a young chamber ensemble: Quartetto Werther; “Filippo Siebaneck” award for the training activity: Micron.
The Donizetti Opera festival is organized by the Donizetti Theatre Foundation and by the Municipality of Bergamo with the support of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Cariplo Foundation, Lombardy Region, Sacbo, Chamber of Commerce of Bergamo in collaboration with the Gaetano Donizetti Conservatory, Mia Foundation, Opera Europa, Atb, with the support of ABenergia, the light of the Donizetti Night. A special thanks to UBI BANCA and to Donizetti Ambassadors who support the activity of the Foundation with Art Bonus.
Cantiere del Teatro Donizetti
Wednesday 13th November – 7.00 pm (Under30 preview)
Saturday 16th November – 8.30 pm
Thursday 21st November – 20.30
L’ANGE DE NISIDA
An opera in four acts from a libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaez – music by Gaetano Donizetti
Score by Candida Mantica (realizations by Martin Fitzpatrick)© OperaRara / Peters, Lipsia; Italian representative Casa Musicale Sonzogno di Piero Ostali, Milan
Unpublished cabaletta by Candida Mantica (realization by Federico Biscione) © Fondazione Teatro Donizetti
Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud
Directed by Francesco Micheli
Scenery Angelo Sala
Costumes Margherita Baldoni
Lighting design Alessandro Andreoli
Director’s assistants Davide Gasparro and Erika Natati
Costumes assistants Silvia Pasta and Valentina Volpi
Orchestra Donizetti Opera
Coro Donizetti Opera
Choirmaster Fabio Tartari
Don Fernand d’Aragon Florian Sempey
Don Gaspar Roberto Lorenzi
Leone de Casaldi Konu Kim
La comtesse Sylvia de Linarès Lidia Fridman
Le Moine Federico Benetti
Mimes Enrico Buongrazio, Luca Maniglio, Emanuele Marchetti, Michele Onori
New set-up and production by Fondazione Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo
First scenic representation
