The New Opera Season 2010-2011

5 May 2010 — Aida at the San Francisco Opera - Marcello will open the 2010-2011 opera season at the San Francisco Opera with his debut as Radames in Verdi’s masterpiece, Aida. This spectacular production of the opera, which was first staged at the English National Opera, will be simulcast live from the War Memorial Opera House to the AT&T Park’s high-definition scoreboard. It is a unique opportunity for opera lovers to enjoy the sights and sounds of the San Francisco Opera in one of the nation’s foremost stadiums.

The new season of the San Francisco Opera will be launched on 10 September with an opening night gala that includes the traditional Opera Ball. Giordani will share the stage with a stellar cast which includes soprano Micaela Carosi as Aida, mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as Amneris and Marco Vratogna as Amonasro. Maestro Nicola Luisotti will lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Adriana Lecouvreur al Teatro dell’Opera di Roma - In November 2010, Marcello returns to Italy to appear as Maurizio, Count of Saxony, in Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Based on the life of the famous French actress of the XVIII century, Adrienne LeCouvreur, Adriana is the best known of Cilea’s operas.

Numbered among the operas of the verismo school, Adriana has never achieved the popularity of Pagliacci or Cavalleria Rusticana, but has enjoyed the favor of some of the most acclaimed sopranos of the opera stage. Next to names such as Oliveri, Tebaldi, Scotto, Caballé and Freni, the tenor role tends to receive only marginal attention on the part of the critics. It wasn’t so, however, on the occasion of Giordani’s debut in the role of Maurizio with Opera Orchestra of NY in 2002, where his performance was received enthusiastically by the public and the critics: “Marcello Giordani sang like a god”, wrote the critic of the New York Times; and the critic of the New York Magazine stated: “…his Maurizio was as ringing and ardently phrased as any I've heard in the role, including Franco Corelli." At the Rome Opera, Giordani will share the stage with soprano Martina Serafin as Adriana, and mezzo-soprano Giovanna Casolla as the Princess.

La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera of New York and at the Lyric Opera di Chicago - In December 2010, Marcello Giordani’s will make his debut in the role of the Mexican bandit Dick Johnson/Ramirez in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan of New York, and in January of the new year, he will reprise the role at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The libretto of the opera is based on the popular American play “The Girl of the Golden West” by David Belasco, the most celebrated American playwright of his time, who was also the author of the drama which had previously inspired Madama Butterfly. Puccini saw “The Girl of the Golden West” during a visit to New York and was greatly impressed by it.

In writing the score for the main tenor role, Puccini had in mind the voice of Enrico Caruso, and this revival of Giancarlo del Monaco’s widely acclaimed 1991 production at the Metropolitan commemorates the 100th anniversary of the world première of the opera on December 10, 1919, with soprano Emmy Destinn in the title role and Enrico Caruso as Ramirez, under the musical direction of Arturo Toscanini. Del Monaco’s production was first staged in 1991 with Placido Domingo as Ramirez, and has not been revived since 1993. In the upcoming revival, the role of Minnie, the quintessential American girl, will be sung by the renowned American soprano, Deborah Voigt.

The Lyric Opera’s production of Fanciulla del West, created and originally directed by the theatrical director Harold Prince, was staged for the first time in 1978 and has not been revived since 1991. In the upcoming revival, Deborah Voigt will appear again as Minnie next to Giordani’s Ramirez.

If Fanciulla does not enjoy the same popularity as Bohème, Tosca or Madama Butterfly, this is undoubtedly due to the requirements imposed by the complex and demanding score which calls for voices of exceptional heft and amplitude, capable of sustaining the difficult tessitura, and of conveying the vast gamut of feelings and emotions inherent in the music.

The year 2011 also marks the 25th anniversary of Giordani’s professiona debut, and will see the release of his new recording of Neopolitan and Italian songs dedicated to the memory of Enrico Caruso and other great Italian singers of the past.

Cav/Pag at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona - In the Spring of 2011 Marcello will return to Europe for his debut in the two operas most closely associated with the Italian “verismo” period: Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Traditionally, the two operas are presented the same night and are referred to as the double bill Cav/Pag. This is due mainly to the brevity of each opera (one act only), so that the double bill offers a complete operatic evening. Generally, the roles of Turiddo in Cavalleria and Canio in Pagliaggi are sung by two different tenors, but in some instances the same tenor has tackled both roles the same night. At the Liceu, not only will Giordani perform both roles, but his performances will bring to five the number of his debuts in about 9 months.

Tosca at the Bavarian State Opera and at Royal Opera of London - Giordani will close the 20010-11 season as Cavaradossi in two productions of Tosca, at the Bavarian State Opera of Munich (May) and at the Royal Opera House of London (June/July). Of his interpretation of the role at the ROH during the current season, the online magazine Musical Criticism.com wrote: “…tenors of his caliber are few and far between. He has a robust voice with easy, thrilling top notes, but he was also capable of some beautiful pianissimo phrases in Act III, making for a complete and satisfying performance of this great tenor role.”