Five words (well, four words and a number): Festival Verdi 2007 in Parma.
The excitement is insane -- we're so moving in the area for the duration of the Festival. Coz October 1-28, 2007 will see this year's Verdi Festival bring teh house down with works such as Luisa Miller, La Traviata, Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio, and the Messa da Requiem. Not just in Parma, but also in Busseto, Modena, Reggio Emilia.
Among the singers present: Leo Nucci, Fiorenza Cedolins, Luciana d'Intino, Barbara Frittoli, Mariana Pentcheva, Svetla Vassilleva, Marcelo Alvarez, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Massimo Giordano, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Vladimir Stoyanov, Giorgio Surjan.
The conductors roster: Riccardo Muti, Georges Pretre, Donato Renzetti, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniele Gatti, Antonello Allemandi.
The directors: Karl-Ernst & Ursel Herrmann, Denis Krief, Pier'Alli.
A new staging of Luisa Miller (directed by Krief); Traviata (on October 4) will be conducted by Temirkanov, directed by the Herrmanns. In tiny little awesome Teatro Verdi di Busseto (Oct. 2) a staging of Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio directed by Pier'Alli. On Oct. 10 and 12 Riccardo Muti will conduct the Regio orchestra (a first for him) in the Requiem.
Leo Nucci will give a recital on Oct. 3, arias by Rossini, Verdi and Puccini, Renzetti conducting the Teatro Regio orchestra. On the 25 Georges Pretre will be conducting Opéra de Paris orchestra, and on the 28 Daniele Gatti will close the Festival conducting the Filarmonica della Scala.