Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci DVD (The Royal Opera)

These two short Italian operas are brought together in a new staging by award-winning director Damiano Michieletto, who sets both operas in a poverty-stricken village in 1980s southern Italy. The Royal Opera’s Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts a cast that includes charismatic Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, exciting Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio and the thrilling Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko.

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Cavalleria rusticana
Santuzza: Eva-Maria Westbroek
Turiddu: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Mamma Lucia: Elena Zilio
Alfio: Dimitri Platanias

Pagliacci
Canio: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Tonio: Dimitri Platanias
Nedda: Carmen Giannattasio

Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Composers: Pietro Mascagni / Ruggero Leoncavallo
Director: Damiano Michieletto

Extras: Introduction to Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci; Antonio Pappano on the music; Cast Gallery.

Sound: LPCM 2.0 / Dolby Stereo & DTS 5.1 
Format: NTSC
Regions: All regions
Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/JP/KO
Running time: 153 mins
Year: 2015

"A triumphant evening, supported by superb work by adult and junior choruses, and by orchestral playing under Antonio Pappano which faithfully reflects the brilliant colouring of these verismo classics." Independent

"Antonio Pappano conducts: being of Campanian ancestry, this music is mother’s milk to him, and he coaxed the orchestra into a lush, uninhibited reading of the scores, feeding the climaxes with plenty of whatever the Italian is for welly." The Telegraph

"This is a gentle updating... that displays plenty of clever detail and witty touches, as well as some virtuoso stagecraft. Of his ideas, none of them controversial, the most significant is probably that of intertwining the two halves of the double bill... The production is packed with telling details" Gramophone

"the Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias came into his own as the hideous, rapacious Tonio, with Antonenko expansive and pathetic as the maniacally jealous clown Canio... The audience roared approval, for Damiano Michieletto and his team too." The Guardian

"Carmen Giannattasio’s Nedda made us feel the longing for freedom behind her illicit desire for Silvio (the ardent Dionysios Sourbis). Antonio Pappano has spoken of the way this music runs through his southern Italian veins and it certainly throbbed with authentic passion." The Evening Standard

Awards

Olivier Awards 2016: Winner - Best New Opera Production