2009-07-08 Pagliacci (R. Leoncavallo), Opernhaus Zurich

Canio (Pagliaccio) = José Cura
Nedda (Colombina) = Fiorenza Cedolins
Tonio (Taddeo) = Carlo Guelfi
Beppe (Arlecchino) = Martin Zysset
Silvio = Gabriel Bermudez
Erster Bauer = Uwe Kosser
Zweiter Bauer = Christopher Hux

Stefano Ranzani, conductor

Producer/production - Grischa Asagaroff
Set and costume design - Luigi Perego
Lighting - Hans-Rudolf Kunz
Choir rehearsal - Jürg Hämmerli
Choreography - Tetsu Taoshita
Pagliacci started with a disappointment. The Prologue with Carlo Guelfi (Tonio) was boring, and he was already dressed up as a Commediante player. It really made me think skip the prologue, let's have the opera already.

Finally it started. Again it was the attention to detail and that every person on stage had personality and a life that impressed me. Martin Zysset as Beppe was nothing special here, why? Was it that it was the last performance of Cav/Pag in the season. As he did not excel here, Beppe (Martin Zysset) was the clue that fitted all together. Gabriel Bermudez as Silvio was a real good-looking, muscular man. No wonder Nedda fell for him. Especially since this Canio was more of drunkard than anything else. But when José Cura plays the drunkard one does feel sympathy for him. No sympathy for Nedda, Fiorenza Cedolins, the adulteress. Shameless... And then how would one feel for Nedda, the character does not have a forgiving feature. Only in Genoa, where Nedda/Canio had a daughter this I feel for Nedda, Svetla Vassileva. And then Carlo Guelfi in the opera, was better than in the prologue...
This page was last updated: June 20, 2022