Inside The Elixir of Love
Round table discussion: Maestro Bruno Campanella, singers Alessandro Corbelli and Frank Lopardo, and Professor Jesse Rosenberg
“The Elixir of Love” opened on May 12, 1882 in Milan to great acclaim. Described by Donizetti as a “playful melodrama,” the opera follows in the tradition of the great classical comic operas, even though it has moments of pure pathos, which climax in its most famous aria, “Una furtiva lagrima.” On the occasion of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” (January 23 – February 22 ) the Italian Cultural Institute is pleased to host a round table discussion with Maestro Bruno Campanella, singers Alessandro Corbelli, Frank Lopardo, Gabriele Viviani, and Professor Jesse Rosenberg. Maestro Bruno Campanella is one of Italy’s most renowned conductors. Since the late 1970s he has been known worldwide as a specialist in Bel Canto, however, his repertoire also includes works by Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Giuseppe Verdi, among others. He served as principal conductor at the Teatro Regio of Turin from 1992 to 1995. In 2002 the French Minister of Culture awarded him the title of “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.” Alessandro Corbelli is returning to Lyric Opera this season as Dulcamara in “The Elixir of Love.” He has portrayed Dulcamara at the Metropolitan Opera and in Madrid, Leipzig, and Barcelona. Gabriele Viviani is making his Lyric Opera debut this season as Belcore in “The Elixir of Love.” Frank Lopardo is singing Nemorino in “The Elixir of Love” at Lyric Opera this season. He has sung ten other leading roles with the company, most recently Puccini’s Pinkerton and Tchaikovsky’s Lenski. Jesse Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Musicology at Northwestern University in Evanston and an expert in 19th and 20th century Italian opera, with articles published on Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.