Around the world with Irina: Manon Lescaut_Bucharest National Opera_Daniela Dessi_Fabio Armiliato_Keri-Lynn Wilson

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Bucharest National Opera
Series "Opera and Ballet"
MANON LESCAUT by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Domenico Oliva
Orchestra and Choir of the Bucharest National Opera
Conductor: KERI – LYNN WILSON
Conductor of the choirr: STELIAN OLARIU
Director: ANDA TABACARU-HOGEA
Lights and sets: CATALIN I. ARBORE
Choreography: MIHAI BABUSHKA
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Soloists:
Manon Lescaut - DANIELA DESSI
Lescaut - IONUT PASCU
Des Grieux - FABIO ARMILIATO
Geronte - MIHNEA LAMATIC
Edmondo - MIHAI LAZAR
Innkeeper - VASILE CHISIU
Dancing Master - VALENTIN RACOVEANU
Singer - MARIA JINGA
Sergeant - DANIEL FILIPESCU
Lamplighter - LUCIAN CORCHIS
Naval captain - RADU PINTILIE
Ballet soloists: BIANCA FOTA, GIGEL UNGUREANU
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......With an impressive repertoire which includes seventy operatic works, Daniela Dessì is confirmed as one of the most important sopranos on the current opera scene. With a solid international career her performances and recordings are a reference for the whole Verdi repertoire as well as the Verist and Puccini repertoire. Born in Genoa, like her partner, the tenor Fabio Armiliato, she trained at the Arrigo Boito Academy in Parma (singing and piano), qualifying later on at the Chigiana Academy in Siena.
......In 1980 she won her first award at the International Competition of RAI and made her début with La serva padrona (Pergolesi). Thus she began her spectacular career performing in the most important theatres and festivals worldwide, showing a deep aesthetic capability ranging from Monteverdi to Prokofiev, with a particular specialisation in Mozart. Currently she is considered to be the best interpreter of the Verist repertoire.
......Her presence is constantly requested on the most prestigious stages such as the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the Regio in Turin, the Carlo Felice in Genoa, the San Carlo, Naples, the Comunale in Bologne, La Fenice, Venice, the Verona Arena, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence, the Massimo in Palermo, the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, the Lyric Opera House, Chicago, San Francisco Opera House, Los Angeles Opera House, the Staatsoper in Vienna, Deutsche Opera in Berlin, Bayersiche Staatsoper in Munich, the Opernhaus, Zurich, the Teatro Real, Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Maestranza, Seville, Bilbao Ópera House, Oviedo Opera House and a many, many more which include the most important theatres in Tokyo, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo – she being the first soprano to play the role of Butterfly in these numerous Japanese cities and in theatres such as the Opera Theatre in Seoul (Korea) and in the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Saltzburg Festival, Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Festival of the Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, etc.
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......Fabio Armiliato was born in Genoa and trained at the Niccoló Paganini Music Academy in his city of birth. He was a prize-winner in the Concorso Internazionale Tito Schipa in Lecce and in the Concorso Internazionale Pavia Lirica, making his debut in 1984 playing the character of Adorno in Simon Boccanegra at the Carlo Felice Theatre, Genoa. This was the commencement of an international and fast-moving career, bringing him to play the most important tenor roles in the most prestigious theatres worldwide.

......In the following years, he made his debut in several international theatres and festivals (Wexford, Parma, Zürich, Rome, Stuttgart, Palermo, Jerusalem, Frankfurt, Antwerp, Marseille, Montpellier, at the Opera in Paris and in Genoa) performing a wide repertoire from 1988 and 1992 including Il Trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Ernani, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria Rusticana, Verdi´s Requiem, La Bohème, Don Carlos, Aida and Carmen.In 1993 he performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the first time in Verdi´s Il Trovatore, appearing later on in the most prestigious American opera houses in Aida, Cavalleria Rusticana, Simon Boccanegra, Fedora, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Carmen.

......Other important landmarks in his career have been the debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1995, interpreting the role of Faust in Boito´s Mefistofele conducted by Riccardo Muti and returning during the following years in Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Adriana Lecouvreur. He also performed Adriana Leucouvreur, Tosca and Mefistofele at the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires; Aida and Il Trovatore at the San Francisco Opera; La Bohème and Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida, Simon Boccanegra and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Regio, Parma.

......With Un Ballo in Maschera in 1998 he made a debut at the Wiener Staatsoper where he will return in Turandot, Don Carlo, Carmen, Mefistofele and Ernani.

......The ensuing years held non-stop personal triumphs and important achievements such as debuting as Andrea Chénier in Nice in 2000 with Daniela Dessì at his side. In this role critics have defined him as “the best Chénier of our times” (G.C. Landini, L'Opera) and in January 2007 his performance in Turandot, conducted by Valery Gherghiev in Baden-Baden, was a huge success.

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