WELCOME

Welcome to tonight’s performance of Donizetti’s opera L’esule di Roma. Premiered in Naples in 1828, this opera launched his international career and was a milestone in Donizetti’s work. We present it as a part of our year-long celebration of the 225th anniversary of Donizetti’s birth. Tonight’s concert marks the world premiere of our new critical edition of the score and is Opera Rara’s 27th complete Donizetti restoration.

Partnership is core to both Opera Rara's and Britten Sinfonia's work. We first joined forces in 2019 with another Donizetti opera, Il Paria. Since then, we have collaborated on Mercadante’s Il proscritto, an opera that had not been heard for nearly 200 years, which we performed last year at the Barbican. Our studio recording was released worldwide earlier this year.

Tonight, we welcome an international cast of soloists. Albina Shagimuratova and Nicola Alaimo return to Opera Rara following previous acclaimed performances. They are joined by Sergey Romanovsky, who makes his highly-anticipated debut this evening. Lluís Calvet i Pey and André Henriques, both recent graduates from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s Opera School, as well as Kezia Bienek, are working with Opera Rara for the first time.

It is a pleasure for Opera Rara and the Britten Sinfonia to be working together again and to welcome you to an evening of operatic discovery.

MEURIG BOWEN Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Britten Sinfonia

HENRY LITTLE Chief Executive, Opera Rara