The Last Castrato

The last great castrato, we are told, was Vellutti who was a favourite with many early 19th century composers.  Tuesday night’s concert at Koerner Hall as part of Toronto Summer Music was a tribute to him with counter-tenor Franco Fagioli accompanied by L’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Versailles and their flamboyant violinist/conductor Stefan Plewniak performing music associated with Vellutti interspersed with orchestral music from (mostly) the same operas.

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I due Figaro

Mercadante’s I due Figaro(1) is one of a number of operas that continue the story of Figaro, Almaviva etc into a third instalment.  It sets a libretto by Felice Romani based on Les deux Figaro by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly.  It premiered in Madrid in 1835 but was lost for many years before being rediscovered in 2009 and given at the 2011 Ravenna Festival.  Yesterday in got its Canadian premier at VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert.

iduefigaro

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