Verdi opera closes off Manoel Performing Arts Festival

Il Trovatore is lined up as the climax of the current Teatru Manoel BOV Performing Arts Festival from March 15 to 17.

Directed by Alena Peskova, the production will feature artists from the Silesian Theatre in Opava and the Malta Philarmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductor Damiano Binetti.

"Il Trovatore is one of Giuseppe Verdi's most renowned operas and this production, coupled with the direct participation of the Malta Philarmonic Orchestra is bound to make of this event, one of the major highlights of the current season," said Ray Attard, CEO Of Teatru Manoel.

"We have decided to dedicate three whole nights to this production because we are all aware of the popularity that Verdi's music enjoys amongst the Maltese audiences. We are also very confident that this production, backed by the experience and the talent of all the participating artists, the professional direction of both Alena Peskova and Damiano Binetti as well as the Malta Philarmonic Orchestra's participation, all promise to deliver a memorable and unique event," Attard added.

The Theatre has also managed to attract well over 1,000 overseas visitors who are travelling to Malta specifically for Il Trovatore.

Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore has a very complex plot, brimming with drama and with a lot of characters vying for prominence and attention. The story turns on a grisly case of infanticide, gypsies and witches burned at the stake. So what makes Il Trovatore one of the most popular operas of all time?

The answer is the music. Il Trovatore features one of the most spectacular tenor arias in any opera, a series of memorable soprano arias, some truly intnse music for the mezzo-soprano and a couple of Verdi's signature, achingly beautiful baritone arias. And that's not to mention the famous Anvil Chorus.

Considered as one of the most performed operas world wide, Il Trovatore is an opera in four acts based on an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano who in turned had based it on the play El Trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

First performed at Teatro Apollo in Rome on the 19th January 1853, Il Trovatore was the second major output during Verdi's 'middle period' following the world premier of Rigoletto in 1851. The third masterpiece was La Traviata which was staged two months after Il Trovatore on the 6th of March 1853 at La Fenice in Venice.

Damiano Binetti is a conductor and artistic director of the Silesian Theatre in Opava. Born in Italy, Damiano originally trained as a singer in Italy and in the Czech Republic. In 1991 he traveled to Prague where he studied conducting at the AMU faculty.

Since 1994, he has been the musical director of the prestigious Prague Madrigalists. Damiano is a conductor with a great interest for early music both from the symphonic and opera repertoire.

Having completed her studies at Prague´s Dance Conservatory in 1994 with graduation programme in the Estates Theater that included her own choreography Time in Motion, Alena Peskova joined for one season the Musical Theater in Karlin and later worked at the J.K.Tyl Theater in Pilsen from 1995- 1999.

Since that time she has been a freelance dancer and choreographer with a number of tours across Europe, Japan and South America.

She continues her collaboration with the J.K.Tyl Theater, State Opera Prague, Czech Chamber Philharmonic and the Vienna Walzer orchestra preparing choreographies for operas, musicals, festivals, art openings and fashion shows - where she also appears.

She is also the founder of the independent association of professional dancers Ultra-Minimal-Ballet (UMB). Since September 2010 she accepted the post of the artistic director and choreographer of the Ballet company DFXŠ in Liberec.

All three performances of Il Trovatore commence at 19:30. As part of the Toi Toi Education Programme there is a pre-show talk before each performance at 18:45 which lasts 40 minutes and is held in the Studio Theatre. 40 places are available for these talks and they can be booked when purchasing seats for the concert.

Tickets may be booked online at www.teatrumanoel.com.mt or via Teatru Manoel's booking office on 21 246389 or via email [email protected].