Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Moscow!
Published 08 September, 2008, 13:42
The Moscow Philharmonic has launched its new season with one of the city’s most eagerly awaited premieres, Bel Canto. It stars two Italian prima donnas in one show, Anna Bonitatibus and Patrizia Ciofi, who are appearing together at the city’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
The concert version of Bellini’s opera “I Capuleti e i Montecchi”, Ciofi sings Juliete and Bonitatibus is Romeo.
It’s not a new staging – it was composed by the Sicilian Vincenzio Bellini, who wrote both leading parts for female voices in the 18th century.
The term Bel-Canto (“beautiful singing”) refers to the art and science of a vocal technique which originated in Italy during the late seventeenth century. It reached its pinnacle in the early part of the nineteenth century during the Bel Canto opera era.
“I Capuleti e i Montecchi” is one of those exciting operas that unites two divas on one stage. Although there is potential for conflict between the prima donnas, you can hardly notice any jealousy between Bonitatibus and Ciofi.
“We're friends. We are of the same age, we've performed together so many times,” said Ciofi.
“Actually, nowadays there is no rivalry between singers, as you might imagine judging by different cliches and anecdotes”.
The conductor, Luciano Acocella, noticed there were no difficulties having two divas in one production.
“Patrizia Ciofi is very centred for this role,” he said. “The voice is very light, she has a very good legato. The second one, Anna Bonitatibus, is another kind of artist, but she is an artist too. A mezzo with a very good coloratura, close to Rossini’s coloratura.”
It's really hard to make a choice between the passionate Bonitatibus and lyrical Ciofi. After all, you never can tell who you like more – Romeo or Juliet.
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