Il Trittico

Il Trittico
IL TABARRO / SUOR ANGELICA / GIANNI SCHICCHI
Giacomo Puccini | Three one-act operas
From the Royal Opera House
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
Estimated running time: 225 minutes, including two intermissions

Puccini‟s Il Trittico, a gem-box collection of three brief operas, runs the gamut from heart-wrenching drama to madcap farce. The tragic Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica are followed by the charming Gianni Schicchi, best known for its resplendent soprano aria, “O bio babbino caro.” Lucio Gallo, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Anja Harteros, Anna Larsson and Ekaterina Siurina are featured throughout this very special evening from the Royal Opera House.

IN CINEMAS FEBRUARY 2012
Conductor ~ Antonio Pappano
Stage Director ~ Richard Jones
Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

IL TABARRO
Set designs ~ Ultz
Costume designs ~ Nicky Gillibrand
Lighting design ~ D M Wood

SUOR ANGELICA
Set designs ~ Miriam Buether
Lighting design ~ D M Wood

GIANNI SCHICCHI
Set designs ~ John Macfarlane
Lighting design ~ Mimi Jordan Sherin

CAST
IL TABARRO
Michele ~ Lucio Gallo
Il „Talpa‟ ~ Enrico Fissore
Giorgetta ~ Eva-Maria Westbroek
La Frugola ~ Irina Mishura
Luigi ~ Aleksandrs Antonenko
Ballad Seller ~ Ji Hyun Kim
Il „Tinca‟ ~ Alan Oke
Two lovers ~ Anna Devin, Ji Hyun Kim

SUOR ANGELICA
Suor Angelica ~ Anja Harteros
La Zia Principessa ~ Anna Larsson
La Badessa ~ Irina Mishura
Suor Genoveva ~ Anna Devin
La Suora Zelatrice ~ Elena Zilio

GIANNI SCHICCHI
Gianni Schicchi ~ Lucio Gallo
Lauretta ~ Ekaterina Siurina
Rinuccio ~ Francesco Demuro
Zita ~ Elena Zilio
Gherardo ~ Alan Oke
Nella ~ Rebecca Evans
Betto di Signa ~ Jeremy White
Simone ~ Gwynne Howell
Marco ~ Robert Poulton
La Ciesca ~ Marie McLaughlin
Spinelloccio ~ Henry Waddington
Amantio ~ Enrico Fissore
Pinellino ~ Daniel Grice
Guccio ~ John Molloy

Program Note
This is The Royal Opera‟s first complete presentation of Puccini‟s Il trittico since 1965. Leading director Richard Jones staged his witty, darkly comic realization of Gianni Schicchi for The Royal Opera in 2007, and here he completes the trio. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano will conduct. Il trittico („the triptych‟), unveiled at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1918, represented an operatic departure. Instead of a single evening-length narrative, Puccini offered three contrasting one-act works. Il trittico reached Covent Garden in 1920, but has rarelybeen performed there complete.

The first panel, Il tabarro (The Cloak), takes us to a barge on the banks of the Seine, where an unusually dark version of the eternal operatic triangle is played out with a gruesome and violent ending. World-famous soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, recently on the main stage as Anna Nicole Smith in Mark-Anthony Turnage‟s Anna Nicole, directed by Richard Jones, takes the role of the wayward Giorgetta, bored with her elderly husband, who embarks on an affair with the handsome Luigi.

Next comes the pastel-shaded Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), set in a convent where a woman has been sent to expiate the „sin‟ of having an illegitimate baby; suddenly a relative arrives to bring her some devastating news. The devoted and tormented mother, Suor Angelica, is sung by German soprano Anja Harteros, who made her triumphant Royal Opera debut in 2008 as Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi‟s Simon Boccanegra. Acclaimed Jette Parker Young Artist Anna Devin sings the charming cameo role of young Suor Genoveva.

Finally, in the mordant comedy Gianni Schicchi we meet the Florentine relatives of the late Buoso Donati, intent upon altering the will of their deceased family member with the aid of a wily newcomer to the city. Renowned baritone Lucio Gallo returns to The Royal Opera after his triumphant performances as Iago in Simon Boccanegra, Elena Zilio returns in the grandly comic role of Zita and rising star Francesco Demuro sings the role of her nephew Rinuccio.