Following the success of his debut in 2013 with La Donna del Lago, Michele Mariotti is to return to the Royal Opera House of London next 30 October to conduct another title set among the mists and the castles of medieval Scotland: Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. This romantic masterpiece par excellence, where opposing clans live their ancestral conflicts, is on stage until 27 November with Katie Mitchell’s crude and powerful production.
“Donizetti’s masterpiece has always impressed me with its peculiar atmospheres that tend to lead the drama between hallucination and reality – says orchestra conductor Michele Mariotti, who has recently interpreted Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna –. At Covent Garden I will try and deliver that special, foggy, liquid, indefinite and magic atmosphere. Lucia has its own colors, the opera has its own dimension and a strong and well defined personality. There are some beautiful musical moments, even some less evident ones, like the hunters’ pastoral at the beginning”.
The leading lady is American soprano Lisette Oropesa, who will be singing with tenors Charles Castronovo and Ismael Jordi (who will alternatively sing the role of the lover Edgardo), Christopher Maltman (Enrico), Michele Pertusi (Raimondo), Andrew Tortise (Normanno), Konu Kim (Arturo), and Rachael Lloyd (Alisa).
Following Lucia di Lammermoor in London, Michele Mariotti will be conducting Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Ópera de Tenerife (16 December) and Puccini’s La Bohème for the opening of the 2018 Season of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, of which he is Musical Director (19 January)