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Adriana Lecouvreur makes its Australian premiere at the iconic Sydney Opera House this February. Fondly described as “the operatic equivalent of Sunset Boulevard” by The Guardian, Rosetta Cucchi’s opera runs from 20th February – 7th March 2023. Ahead of this exciting debut, we spoke to two of the production’s stars, conductor Leonardo Sini and baritone Giorgio Caoduro.
Italian conductor Leonardo Sini, winner of the prestigious International Conducting Competition Maestro Solti, is one of the most promising conductors of his generation. In the 2019 Season he debuted in Opera Lombardia conducting La Sonnambula in Como, Cremona, Pavia as well as at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo.
During the last Seasons he debuted at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova (La Boheme), at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari (Ballo in Maschera); at the Hungarian State Opera (Ballo in Maschera, Don Carlo, Edgar, Le Villi, Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo); at the Opera Australia (Turandot); at the Bunka Kaikan Tokyo (Falstaff); at the Opernhaus Zurich (Rigoletto); at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Aida); at the Hamburg Staatsoper (Lucia di Lammermoor); at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (La Traviata). He also debuted at the Opera Bastille in Paris (Elisir d’amore)
The preparation of Adriana Lecouvreur is going great! It is very easy to work with artists like Ermonela Jaho and Michael Fabiano. This opera needs artists who, in addition to being excellent singers, are also wonderful interpreters. Ermonela is the perfect summary of these two particular conditions. She is a complete artist on stage and Adriana’s character will come out in an extraordinary way.
Her worthy companion is Michael Fabiano, who has the ability to combine a perfect singing technique with a strong but never “over the top” interpretation! Giorgio Caoduro and Carmen Topciu are two excellent artists in the difficult roles of Michonnet and the Princess of Bouillon.
All the rest of the cast, made up of Australian artists, is truly of extraordinary quality and they are all very musically prepared!
I have to make a final consideration for the work done with Rosetta Cucchi, which is a real rarity among today’s opera directors. She is a woman with an extraordinary charisma, a profound connoisseur of Adriana’s music and score, she has chosen a vision of Cilea’s masterpiece which is very original, and which wants to tell four different stories linked by a single common thread… stories of women who have dedicated their existence to art. A profound and very original point of view that she has been able to tell us with elegance and belief. It was a great pleasure to meet and work with her!
The main stages of my studies have been the Diploma in Trumpet at the Conservatory of Sassari, followed by a Master in Trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music in London. While specialising in trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music in London, I happened to attend rehearsals by the Philharmonia Orchestra. I was struck and fascinated by how Maestro Lorin Maazel worked on the interpretation of the program. I was also impressed by his involvement on a human level.
As a result, I decided to try a career in conducting and thanks to the suggestions of a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music, with whom I took some private lessons, who encouraged me and shared elements of their experience, I embarked on this fascinating journey.
Then I attended courses in orchestral conducting in London, and subsequently entered the specialisation and advanced training course at the conservatories in Amsterdam and The Hague. I can say only this: I love being a conductor… I love all things of my life and my work…
Perhaps the most important thing I can say is that, when I’m on the podium, I have the serenity of “being in the right place”. And this feeling is wonderful.
I am very excited and honoured to have the opportunity to work again here in Sydney with the incredible Orchestra and Chorus of Opera Australia. Here we can work with very energic spirits and with a positive and vibrant attitude! It is not frequent to be placed in optimal working conditions, above all from the point of view of the times and spaces in which the rehearsals take place; and this unfortunately also happens in prestigious and renowned European Opera Houses.
Here instead one is welcomed and “inserted” into a perfect theatrical machine. Working here is really a great pleasure!
Winning this international competition allowed people in the classical-music industry to know of me, my skills and potential. They also gave me valuable suggestions and ideas on paths worth exploring. Likewise, meeting artistic directors and superintendents who trusted me was undoubtedly the other turning point of these past, intense, three years. I had the opportunity to challenge myself by conducting major orchestras and, in some cases, I was able to assist conductors who are internationally renowned; all of this was priceless, to say the least.
In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank each and every one of them for having done what not everyone is willing to do, namely give opportunities to young artists at the beginning of their professional career.
The most important highlights of my career, at this moment, are the wonderful debuts in some of the biggest and world-renowned Opera House in the world like Opera de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Semperoper Dresden and, of course, last year’s debut with Opera Australia!
This will be a very busy year for me with many debuts: immediately after Adriana I will be in Hamburg for Puccini’s Trittico, then I will return to the Deutsche Oper for Aida, I will go to Las Palmas to debut La Gioconda, and immediately after in Oman for Così fan tutte. Then in June I will debut Il Trovatore in Seoul and I will return to Budapest for Traviata.
Born in Monfalcone, Italy, Giorgio Caoduro is rapidly becoming one of the leading Italian baritones of his generation. He has made debuts in recent seasons at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opéra National de Paris, Berlin State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Aix-en-Provence and others. Caoduro completed his studies at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro with soprano Cecilia Fusco and was a winner in several competitions; among then the Lignano SabbiadoroCompetition and the International Singing Competition Associazione Lirica Concertisticain Milano. In the 2012–2013 season Caoduro made his debut at Washington National Opera as Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and debuted at the Florida Grand Opera as Germont in La Traviata. He also returned to Sydney for Lucia di Lammermoor. Engagements for the 2013/2014 season include performing at the Opera de Lausanne in a production of The Barber of Seville as Figaro.
In the 2010–2011 season Caoduro returned to La Scala as Belcore in a new production of L’elisir d’amore with Rolando Villazon and Nino Machaidze. He appeared as Dandini in La Cenerentola for Opera de Nice and as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia in both Toulouse, Sydney and for Opera de Mahon, and was also heard in Las Palmas as Belcore and at Teatro Verdi Trieste in Lucia di Lammermoor. His engagements for the 2011–2012 season included Il barbiere di Siviglia for Teatro La Fenice, L’Arbore di Diana for Opera de Montpellier and Escamillo in Carmen for Opera de Lyon.
In September of 2009 Giorgio Caoduro made his Los Angeles Opera debut as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore under James Conlon. Other projects during that season included his return to Genova in Lucia di Lamermoor, Werther at the Teatro Regio in Parma, Marcello in La bohème at the Berlin State Opera and Ping in Turandot in Monte Carlo. He returned to La Scala in July of 2010 as Figaro in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. In the fall of 2008 Caoduro made his debut at the San Francisco Opera as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore opposite Ramon Vargas. He then made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Ping. In the spring of 2009, he debuted the role of Riccardo in Bellini’s I Puritani with the Greek National Opera in Athens and appeared as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor in Salerno conducted by Daniel Oren.
Other notable past engagements for Giorgio Caoduro include I’Italiana in Algeri at the Berlin State Opera and Aix-en-Provence, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Stuttgart State Opera, Opéra de Montpellier and Opéra National de Paris. He has also appeared in La Cenerentola in Trieste, Glyndebourne, Frankfurt and Paris.
I am very well, thank you! Enjoying the warm Australian summer and the beautiful sights of Sydney! I am really enjoying rehearsing for my debut in the role of Michonnet. I feel very fortunate to sing it for the first time under the direction of Rosetta Cucchi. Her unique directorial vision is taking an already excellent piece to another level. I promise the audience is in for a treat!
The entire cast is simply incredible, and audiences will particularly enjoy the luscious voices of Carmen Topciu and Michael Fabiano. However, I must confess that I have completely fallen in love with Ermonela Jaho’s performance. She is one of the most committed singers I have ever had the pleasure to share the stage with. She is an incredibly generous artist who lifts up everyone around her.
Well, I started really early, winning an international singing competition at 19 years old and that was basically the beginning of my career. Two years later, I was singing Rossini at the Paris Opera and La Scala. I had the privilege to share the stage with some of the best singers in the world (I did my debut in Cenerentola at 21 years old in Paris with Joyce Di Donato in the title role) from whom I have learned so much, and continue to. Like every singer, I made many mistakes.
As we say in Italy, “I banged my head” but I was lucky enough not to break it.
I really enjoy how my artistic priorities have changed throughout my career. When you are young, you mostly concentrate on the vocal athletics side of singing. However, as you develop, you realise that the voice alone is not enough and look for new ways to finesse your craft. As a result, I feel I became a better actor and a more refined musician.
I made my debut at OA in 2011 as Figaro in The Barber of Seville. Over the last twenty years, I’ve been lucky enough to have a career that has allowed me to perform with very prestigious companies all around the world. I can safely say that Opera Australia is on the top of that list.
The status that comes with an international career is of course very appealing, but what I really enjoy is the chance to create music and theatre with incredible colleagues at such a high standard.
As well as being a world-renowned Opera Company, Opera Australia is a second family to me. I have sung in more than ten productions here and I have made deep connections with so many artists and music professionals. I think I have more friends in Sydney than in Trieste, my hometown!
Rossini has been my life long musical love. The first aria I ever studied was written by Rossini and I’ll probably sing his music until I die! With this CD I wanted to showcase all of the vocal and dramatic skills that I have learned throughout my career as a Rossini specialist. I also wanted to authentically communicate each character’s story and emotion through the hyperbolic bel canto virtuosity.
So, if you like coloratura and high notes, but also love comedy and drama, I think you will enjoy my album.
We haven’t started working on Roberto Devereux yet, so unfortunately, I don’t have any “behind the scenes” secrets for you yet! I can tell you that it’s a dramatic tale loosely based on historical events.
There’s a famous quote by George Bernard Shaw that goes “Opera is when a tenor and a soprano want to make love, but are prevented from doing so by a baritone”. In this case there’s also another soprano who wants to stop them, and this soprano is Queen Elizabeth the first.
The Australian premiere of acclaimed Italian director Rosetta Cucchi’s production of Adriana Lecouvreur will feature an outstanding quartet of some of the world’s most extraordinary opera singers when it opens at the Sydney Opera House this February.
The role of Adriana Lecouvreur demands the finest talent in both singing and acting, and Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho’s renowned musical and storytelling skills make her perfect to return to Sydney to reprise the part.
She immersed herself in the title role when co-producer Opera Oviedo staged this production in early 2022, after it opened at Teatro Comunale Di Bologna. Critics claimed Jaho was “absolutely splendid in the difficult character of Adriana Lecouvreur, a role for which she seems to have been born” – Scherzo.
Adriana’s bitter rival, the Principessa, will be performed by Romanian mezzo-soprano Carmen Topciu. No stranger to playing Ermonela’s on-stage rival, the pair faced off against each other as Anne and Jane in Opera Australia’s 2019 production of Anna Bolena.
Award-winning American tenor Michael Fabiano also returns, after his last performance with the Company in 2019, to make his role debut as the romantic lead, Maurizio. Coming from the cast of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, Fabiano will first perform his debut Australian solo recital at Melbourne City Recital Hall on February 12.
Regular visiting artist for OA since 2014, leading Italian baritone Giorgio Caoduro will perform the role of Michonnet. Local audiences will have another chance to enjoy Caoduro’s superb singing in the Company’s concerts of Roberto Devereux in March.
Stellar Opera Australia talent, Jane Ede, Angela Hogan, Virgilio Marino, Richard Anderson, Adam Player and Anthony Mackey round out the cast, each making role debuts in this exciting production.
The lush, romantic score of Cilèa’s most famous opera will be expertly played by the Opera Australia Orchestra, conducted by Italian maestro Leonardo Sini who won the prestigious International Conducting Competition Maestro Solti in 2017.
Rosetta Cucchi’s acclaimed version features breathtaking sets and costumes designed by Tiziano Santi and Claudia Pernigotti that transport audiences through time, with each of the four acts taking place in a new era, from the 18th century to the 1960s.
Cilèa’s operatic reimagining of the true story of Adrienne Lecouvreur is one of many adaptations of her fascinating life across a variety of artforms. Cucchi’s vision of this high-tension love triangle drama, including a stunning silks performance, will have audiences intrigued by Adriana’s scandalous tale until the final curtain falls.
Mystery, intrigue, murder? Lovers’ liaisons don’t come any more dangerous than this.
She’s a superstar. Adored by all. She can have any man she chooses. Or can she?
Based on a true story, Adriana Lecouvreur is renowned as “the operatic equivalent of Sunset Boulevard” (The Guardian). Ermonela Jaho, “the world’s most acclaimed soprano” (The Economist), blazes in a role that calls for a pure diva.
This is a tryst with a twist. A tumultuous real life entanglement is a love triangle ripe for operatic excess: the stellar actress, her aristocrat admirer, and his jealous ex who just happens to be Adriana’s greatest rival. Lashings of secrets, pungent violets, and composer Francesco Ciléa’s seductive score make this a high verismo drama.
From Montserrat Caballé and Joan Sutherland to Anna Netrebko, prima donnas of every era have aspired to sing Adriana. Ermonela’s voice of a ‘fiery angel’ meets its match in Carmen Topciu’s smouldering mezzo as the Princess.
Tensions between the two simmer then explode over the attention of Count Maurizio, played by opera’s “high-flying leading man” (Vanity Fair), Michael Fabiano. Baritone Giorgio Caoduro adds depth to the potent mix as Michonnet, Adriana’s doting stage director.
Opera’s definitive statement on celebrity scandals brims with passion and peril. Inventive Italian director Rosetta Cucchi takes this salacious tale from the repertoire’s shadows to the limelight – where Adriana Lecouvreur rightfully belongs.
A CO-PRODUCTION BETWEEN TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA, FUNDACIÓN ÓPERA DE OVIEDO AND OPERA AUSTRALIA.
Adriana Lecouvreur runs from 20th February – 7th March 2023 at Sydney Opera House
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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