to r e b ro reux deve
Sondra Radvanovsky returns in the ultimate diva role
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REMIERE COC P
T
he tumultuous, final days of the reign of Elizabeth I find powerful expression in Donizetti’s Tudor drama. A dark cloud of suspected treason hangs over Devereux who has further betrayed his Queen’s affections by falling in love with the wife of one of her courtiers. In the harrowing final scene, a life hangs in the balance and Elizabeth faces the ultimate choice: to fulfill her role as supreme monarch, or give in to her own, all-too-human emotions.
Elizabeth I, the central role in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, has always attracted the foremost divas of their day. That tradition now
continues with Sondra Radvanovsky, the world’s leading interpreter of the great 19th-century Italian prima donna roles. She is joined onstage by star tenor Giuseppe Filianoti as Roberto Devereux and Canadian icon Russell Braun as the Duke of Nottingham. All three stars debut these roles with the COC. As in 2010’s hugely popular Maria Stuarda, Donizetti’s show-stopping melodies and sumptuous period costumes bring the intrigue of the Elizabethan court to life within a Shakespearean Globe Theatreinspired setting.
Vocal fireworks will explode when Donizetti’s Queen Elizabeth I is scorned by Roberto Devereux.
24 Prelude Magazine