Il Trovatore or The Troubadour, a famous opera by Verdi, will be the highlight starting Thursday, February 16, 2012, at 8 PM, at the Nice Opera House.
On the occasion of this first performance, Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice and President of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, has invited Marta Vincenzi, Mayor of Genoa, and the Italian Consul in Nice, Luciano Barillaro.
This four-act opera features a first-rate cast. The soprano, American singer Kristin Lewis, is one of today’s most beautiful Verdian voices. The tenor, Walter Fraccaro, who plays the Troubadour, replaced Roberto Algana at La Scala in Milan. The baritone, Dimitris Tiliakos, sang Macbeth at the Paris Opera last season. As for the witch Azucena, she will be portrayed by Dolora Zajick, a grande dame of the international opera scene, who has sung this role some 150 times!
The staging by the director of the Palermo Opera House, Lorenzo Mariani, promises to be spectacular, thanks to the sumptuous sets and the two hundred costumes created by the workshops of the Nice Côte d’Azur Opera.
Musical direction – Fabrizio Ventura
Staging – Lorenzo Mariani
Sets and costumes – William Orlandi
Lighting – Christian Pinaud
Il Conte di Luna – Dimitris Tiliakos; Leonora – Kristin Lewis; Azucena – Dolora Zajick; Manrico – Walter Fraccaro; Ferrando – Giorgio Giuseppini; Ines – Claudia Cesarano; Ruiz – Frédéric Diquero; An old gypsy – Dario Luschi
Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, musical director Philippe Auguin
Chorus of the Nice Opera, directed by Giulio Magnanini
