ANNA PIROZZI TO STAR AS LADY MACBETH AT THE TEATRO MASSIMO OF PALERMO

On January 21, 2017 Anna Pirozzi will return to the Teatro Massimo of Palermo to sing Lady Macbeth in the premiere of a new Emma Dante production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Gabriele Ferro that will open the 2017 season of the opera house. At 8:15pm Central European Time the performance will be video streamed live on the website of the Teatro Massimo: http://www.teatromassimo.it/teatro-massimo-tv/

“This is my first collaboration with acclaimed stage director Emma Dante, whose strong and intense personality reflects on her compelling, almost shocking production, which opens here at the Massimo and then will travel to Turin and Edinburgh this coming summer. It is therefore a high-profile event in which I am elated and honored to participate.”

When asked about this notoriously demanding role, the Neapolitan soprano states. “I made my debut as Lady Macbeth at the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo in Brazil in 2012 in a Bob Wilson staging that was a co-production with the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, then I sang it one year later in Cagliari, in a different mise-en-scéne. This role presents so many vocal, and even more so interpretative challenges: it is highly nuanced, with its strong, very “masculine” and diabolic side, which must be conveyed to the audience. Though it has a lot in common with my most performed role, Abigaille, the most crucial difference is it’s decidedly lower tessitura, so that some moments seem to belong to the mezzo-soprano territory. Verdi’s writing appears to be more mature, with its wealth of dynamic indications and meticulously written instructions as to what Lady Macbeth’s vocal color should be. It is undoubtedly a more complex role than Abigaille.”

Anna Pirozzi returns to the Teatro Massimo of Palermo after having sung Abigaille in Nabucco in 2013. Other engagements this year include Macbeth in the same Emma Dante production at the Teatro Regio of Turin, Macbeth for her debut at the Teatro Real of Madrid alongside Plácido Domingo and conducted by James Conlon, Andrea Chénier at the ABAO Bilbao and for her debut at the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires and Nabucco at the Teatro alla Scala conducted by Nello Santi.

Information about the performances of Macbeth at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo:

Luca Salsi / Giuseppe Altomare (Macbeth), Anna Pirozzi / Virginia Tola (Lady Macbeth), Marco Mimica (Banco), Vincenzo Costanzo (Macduff), Federica Alfano (Dama), Manuel Pierattelli (Malcolm), Antonio Barbagallo (Domestico/Sicario/Araldo)

Gabriele Ferro (conductor), Emma Dante (director)

Performances: January 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 2017

http://www.teatromassimo.it/calendario/opere/macbeth.html

[Photo by Victor Santiago]