From our archives

In the programme of the ROF 2022 a new production of Otello certainly stands out, the opera is now at its third staging and its fifth presence at the Festival.
It was Pier Luigi Pizzi who staged the opera for the first time in 1988, with John Pritchard conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and the Coro Filarmonico di Praga prepared by Lubomír Mátl. In the cast, Chris Merritt (Otello), June Anderson (Desdemona), Giorgio Surjan (Elmiro), Rockwell Blake (Rodrigo), Ezio Di Cesare (Iago), Raquel Pierotti (Emilia), Eugenio Favano (Lucio), Francesco Piccoli (Doge) and Enrico Facini (Gondoliero).

The stage was revived twice at the ROF.
In 1991 Gianluigi Gelmetti conducted the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI di Torino and the Coro Filarmonico di Praga, and a cast composed by Chris Merritt and Bruce Ford (Otello), Cecilia Gasdia (Desdemona), Pietro Spagnoli (Elmiro), William Matteuzzi (Rodrigo), Michael Schade (Iago), Monica Bacelli (Emilia), Paolo Pellegrini (Lucio), Gianni Abbagnato (Doge) and Francesco Piccoli (Gondoliero).
In 1998, Corrado Rovaris conducted the ORT-Orchestra della Toscana and the Coro da Camera di Praga. In the cast, Bruce Ford (Otello), Mariella Devia (Desdemona), Simone Alberghini (Elmiro), Paul Austin Kelly (Rodrigo), Charles Workman (Iago), Enkelejda Shkosa (Emilia), Antonino Siragusa (Lucio / Gondoliero), Cesare Catani (Doge).

In 2007 the ROF planned a new production of Otello, entrusted to Giancarlo Del Monaco, assisted by Carlo Centolavigna (scenes) and Maria Filippi (costumes). Renato Palumbo conducted the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Coro da Camera di Praga. In the cast, Gregory Kunde and Ferdinand von Bothmer (Otello), Olga Peretyatko (Desdemona), Mirco Palazzi (Elmiro), Juan Diego Flórez (Rodrigo), Chris Merritt and José Manuel Zapata (Iago), Maria Gortsevskaya (Emilia), Antonino Siragusa (Lucio / Gondoliero), Aldo Bottion (Doge).

Published in : 2 May 2022