Bellini's I Puritani
Francisco Negrín (stage director), Giuliano Carella (conductor) – With Mariola Cantarero (Elvira) and John Osborn (Lord Arturo Talbo)... – Het Muziektheater
Cast
Francisco Negrín — Stage director
Es Devlin — Set designer
Louis Désiré — Costume designer
Bruno Poet — Lighting designer
Program notes
I Puritani by Bellini was staged by Francisco Negrín at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam in 2009, with Mariola Cantarero, John Osborn and the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, conducted by Giuliano Carella.
I Puritani (The Puritans) is an opera in three acts by Bellini, based on a libretto by Count Pepoli and first performed at the Italian Theatre in Paris in 1835. The plot takes place in 1659 in England, during the Civil War. In a fortress near Plymouth, Lord Walton is a partisan of Cromwell and wants his daughter, Elvira, to marry Sir Richard Forth, a fellow Cromwell supporter. But Elvira is in love with Lord Talbot, a knight and supporter of the Stuarts... This impossible romance will drive Elvira to madness.
The staging by Francisco Negrín evokes a male-dominated world. Es Devlin created the metal scenery, which is an allusion to soldiers' armour, while Louis Désiré put together a combination of historical and more modern costumes. Conductor Giuliano Carella conducts the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest and choirmaster Martin Wright leads the Koor Van De Nederlandse Opera. American tenor John Osborn, who won first prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition in 1996, plays Lord Talbot, a supporter of the Stuarts. Soprano Mariola Cantarero plays Elvira, the young woman whose love drives her to madness.