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Thursday at the Opera – Ciro in Babilonia

Introduction by Deirdre O’Grady, UCD Emeritus Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies.

Film in Italian with English subtitles.

 

Rossini/Aventi, Ciro in Babilonia/Cyrus in Babylon Ferrara 1812

Amira: ‘È di madre il pianto mio/È di sposa il mio dolor’

‘My tears are that of a mother/My sorrow that of a spouse’.

 

The plot is drawn from the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel. Aventi’s libretto reflects the eighteenth-century enlightenment conflict between freedom and tyranny. It treats of the threatening of a grieving woman, Amira wife of Ciro, by Baldassare King of Babylon, while using her son as a pawn. Ciro in disguise gains access to the court of the tyrant but on being discovered is condemned to death. He is freed when the Persian army conquers Babylon. A ‘semi-serious’ opera it combines heroic endurance, family values and a happy ending. Ciro, created by the contralto Maria Marcolini is this production sung by the celebrated Polish coloratura contralto Ewa Podleś. With a range of three octaves Podleś gives a performance in the tradition of the great artists of the Golden Age of opera.

Davide Livemore’s epic production depicting a silent movie in a theatre setting has all the pomp and splendour of a Cecil B. De Mille historical pageant. Gianluca Falaschi’s award-winning costume designs complete this outstanding production.

[U1]Ake

 

Reservation no longer available

  • Organized by: Istituto Italiano di Cultura
  • In collaboration with: Rossini Opera Festival