Sunday 14 August 2011

La Favorite, by Gaetano Donizetti



LA FAVORITA (in Italian) or LA FAVORITE (in French) by Gaetano Donizetti is about Leonor de Guzman, mistress (favorite) of King Alphonse XI of Castille.

The LESSON from this OPERA is most HISTORY in Opera is mostly bogus.

Leonor de Guzman was a widow before she met King Alphone. They had 10 children together. 10 !!! Ten children!! The Queen naturally hated the situation but she could not do anything about it until the King died and she was free to kill her rival. But Leonor still won. In the end her son became King Henry II of Castille. He became king after killing his half-brother. And that is the true history!!!

2 times La Favorite 2003-03-11, 2006-03-23
2003-03-11 La Favorite (G. Donizetti),Wiener Staatsoper

Léonor de Guzman = Violeta Urmana
Fernand = Giuseppe Sabbatini
Alphonse XI = Carlos Alvarez
Balthazar = Giacomo Prestia
Don Gaspar = John Dickie
Inès = Genia Kühmeier

Fabio Luisi, conductor

Inszenierung - John Dew
Bühnenbild - Thomas Gruber
Kostüme -José-Manuel Vazquez


2006-03-23 La Favorite (Donizetti),Opernhaus Zurich

Leonor de Guzman = Vesselina Kasarova
Fernand = Fabio Sartori
Inez = Jaël Azzaretti
Alphonse = Roberto Servile
Balthazar = Carlo Colombara
Don Gaspar = Eric Huchet

Marc Minkowski, conductor

Inszenierung - Philippe Sireuil
Bühnenbild - Vincent Lemaire
Kostüme - Jorge Jara
Choreographie - Avi Kaiser


  For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com

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