From TOLEDO OPERA
The sun rises on a hidden mountain encampment. Hammers clang on anvils in the background. A bohemian woman, staring into the flames of a campfire, is gripped by a flashback: years ago, her mother was accused of witchcraft by a powerful count and burned at the stake. In a fit of vengeful rage, the woman made a terrible mistake: intending to kill the count’s son, she accidentally murdered her own child instead, and has secretly raised the count’s son as her own.
Though it may sound like a scene from “Game of Thrones,” it’s the backstory that launches the action of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” It’s a quintessentially larger-than-life tragic opera, and it’s a fittingly grand return to the stage for Toledo Opera: on October 8 and 10, the company will open its 2021-22 season with a performance of Il Trovatore at the Valentine Theater, its first main-stage performance in nearly two years.
First performed in 1853, “Il Trovatore” takes place against the backdrop of war in fifteenth-century Spain. The action centers on a love triangle between the Count di Luna, the noblewoman Leonora, and rebel leader Manrico; as we gradually discover that Azucena — the bohemian woman who Manrico believes to be his mother — has a dark secret in her past, the love triangle and the revenge plot converge to culminate in tragedy.
It’s an elaborate premise, to be sure. But its richly developed characters, and the sheer power of its vocal compositions — some of Verdi’s most iconic and memorable — give this opera a narrative drive and emotional intensity like few others in the repertoire.
Enrico Caruso famously said that a successful staging of “Il Trovatore”is easy: all it takes is the four greatest singers in the world. At the time of the opera’s composition, Verdi’s choice to include lead roles for four voice types was daring and unconventional, and the music is indeed technically demanding. But Toledo Opera has assembled a cast and artistic team with remarkable star power, and their track record suggests they’re up to the task.
Leah Crocetto, who will make her Toledo Opera debut as Leonora, has performed some of opera’s greatest heroines. She made her debut with Opera Australia earlier this year singing the title role of Aida for performances in Sydney and Melbourne. She has performed as Mimi in “La Bohème” with San Francisco Opera, Liù in Turandot with the Metropolitan Opera, Aida and Madame Lidoine in “Dialogues of the Carmelites” with the Washington National Opera, and Leonora in “Il Trovatore” with Oper Frankfurt and Seattle Opera.
Crocetto’s fellow leads — tenor Carl Tanner as Manrico, mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel as Azucena, and baritone Kyle Pfortmiller as Count di Luna — bring international bona fides of their own, with past performances at the Met, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera House, and Deutsch Oper Berlin, among many others. Also joining the cast are bass Allen Michael Jones (Ferrando), soprano and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Grace Wipfli (Ines), tenor Brian Skoog (Ruiz), and baritone-bass Michael Colman (Bohemian).
For Toledo Opera Executive Director Suzanne Rorick, the opera’s intense, gripping story and music make it a perfect choice to kick off an especially significant season: it will be the Opera’s first performance at the Valentine since the theater closed its doors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
“Great opera transports us to a world beyond the everyday — by bringing us together, it takes us on a shared journey outside ourselves,” said Rorick. “That kind of shared experience is something that’s been sorely missing from all of our lives for the past two years, and we want our audiences’ first time back in the Valentine Theater to be as meaningful for them as it is for us.”
Toledo Opera will perform “Il Trovatore” at the Valentine Theater on Friday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. To learn more about our Il Trovatore cast and production team and buy tickets now, visit: https://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/il-trovatore/
From TOLEDO OPERA
The sun rises on a hidden mountain encampment. Hammers clang on anvils in the background. A bohemian woman, staring into the flames of a campfire, is gripped by a flashback: years ago, her mother was accused of witchcraft by a powerful count and burned at the stake. In a fit of vengeful rage, the woman made a terrible mistake: intending to kill the count’s son, she accidentally murdered her own child instead, and has secretly raised the count’s son as her own.
Though it may sound like a scene from “Game of Thrones,” it’s the backstory that launches the action of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” It’s a quintessentially larger-than-life tragic opera, and it’s a fittingly grand return to the stage for Toledo Opera: on October 8 and 10, the company will open its 2021-22 season with a performance of Il Trovatore at the Valentine Theater, its first main-stage performance in nearly two years.
First performed in 1853, “Il Trovatore” takes place against the backdrop of war in fifteenth-century Spain. The action centers on a love triangle between the Count di Luna, the noblewoman Leonora, and rebel leader Manrico; as we gradually discover that Azucena — the bohemian woman who Manrico believes to be his mother — has a dark secret in her past, the love triangle and the revenge plot converge to culminate in tragedy.
It’s an elaborate premise, to be sure. But its richly developed characters, and the sheer power of its vocal compositions — some of Verdi’s most iconic and memorable — give this opera a narrative drive and emotional intensity like few others in the repertoire.
Enrico Caruso famously said that a successful staging of “Il Trovatore”is easy: all it takes is the four greatest singers in the world. At the time of the opera’s composition, Verdi’s choice to include lead roles for four voice types was daring and unconventional, and the music is indeed technically demanding. But Toledo Opera has assembled a cast and artistic team with remarkable star power, and their track record suggests they’re up to the task.
Leah Crocetto, who will make her Toledo Opera debut as Leonora, has performed some of opera’s greatest heroines. She made her debut with Opera Australia earlier this year singing the title role of Aida for performances in Sydney and Melbourne. She has performed as Mimi in “La Bohème” with San Francisco Opera, Liù in Turandot with the Metropolitan Opera, Aida and Madame Lidoine in “Dialogues of the Carmelites” with the Washington National Opera, and Leonora in “Il Trovatore” with Oper Frankfurt and Seattle Opera.
Crocetto’s fellow leads — tenor Carl Tanner as Manrico, mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel as Azucena, and baritone Kyle Pfortmiller as Count di Luna — bring international bona fides of their own, with past performances at the Met, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opera National de Paris, Royal Opera House, and Deutsch Oper Berlin, among many others. Also joining the cast are bass Allen Michael Jones (Ferrando), soprano and Toledo Opera Resident Artist Grace Wipfli (Ines), tenor Brian Skoog (Ruiz), and baritone-bass Michael Colman (Bohemian).
For Toledo Opera Executive Director Suzanne Rorick, the opera’s intense, gripping story and music make it a perfect choice to kick off an especially significant season: it will be the Opera’s first performance at the Valentine since the theater closed its doors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
“Great opera transports us to a world beyond the everyday — by bringing us together, it takes us on a shared journey outside ourselves,” said Rorick. “That kind of shared experience is something that’s been sorely missing from all of our lives for the past two years, and we want our audiences’ first time back in the Valentine Theater to be as meaningful for them as it is for us.”
Toledo Opera will perform “Il Trovatore” at the Valentine Theater on Friday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. To learn more about our Il Trovatore cast and production team and buy tickets now, visit: https://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/il-trovatore/
