“Sardelli brings Vivaldi’s magical Orlando Furioso to the stage in Ferrara and Modena”
The operatic trilogy dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi, which is being performed at the Teatro Comunale Claudio Abbado in Ferrara, completes this year with Orlando Furioso, on stage on April 5th at 8pm and April 7th at 4pm.
Inspired by Ludovico Ariosto’s chivalric poem from 1516, the opera will then move to the Teatro Comunale in Modena on April 12th and 14th, and in September it will be part of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, with which the show is co-produced.
Ferrara is the setting for the fantastic and real world of Ludovico Ariosto: the orange garden evokes the island of Alcina, the courtyard of the castle tells of the loves and intrigues described in the poem, and the Ariostea library houses precious manuscripts and first editions of Ariosto’s works.
From the intricate plot of Ariosto’s original work, Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso follows the adventures of the paladin, deeply in love with Angelica, and Ruggiero, a victim of the sorceries of the magician Alcina. The enchanted island of Alcina serves as a backdrop for a plot that blends magical, heroic, comic, and love elements, accompanied by Vivaldi’s evocative variety of musical styles. The Venetian composer worked on this opera from 1714, with various revisions until the one presented at the Ferrara theater in 1727, replicating the premiere held at the Teatro Sant’Angelo in Venice.
As with the two previous productions, one of today’s foremost Vivaldi experts, conductor Federico Maria Sardelli (author, with Alessandro Borin, of the new critical edition), takes care of the musical part, conducting the Baroque Orchestra Accademia dello Spirito Santo. The director, Marco Bellussi, is confirmed for this production. The cast includes Yuriy Mynenko (Orlando), Arianna Vendittelli (Angelica), Sonia Prina (Alcina), Chiara Brunello (Medoro), Loriana Castellano (Bradamante), Filippo Mineccia (Ruggiero), and Mauro Borgioni (Astolfo).
“The direction follows the distorted dynamics of the drama and for this reason decides to focus on one powerful element, the mirror,” explains Bellussi. “As a result, everything that happens in it can be either reality or a distorted reflection of it.”
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