Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
The title role of Donizetti’s chilling tragedy based on Sir Walter Scott has become an icon in opera and beyond, an archetype of the constrained woman asserting herself in society. The insanity that overtakes and destroys Lucia, depicted in opera’s most celebrated mad scene, has especially captured the public imagination. Donizetti’s handling of this fragile woman’s state of mind remains seductively beautiful, thoroughly compelling, and deeply disturbing, but the score as a whole brilliantly displays the composer’s mastery of bel canto vocal writing.
Natalie Dessay stars as the young bride driven to madness in Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece. Joseph Calleja is Edgardo, Ludovic Tézier is Enrico, and Kwangchul Youn is Raimondo, with Patrick Summers on the podium.
