Giuseppe Verdi

Falstaff

- Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

SUMMARY

Falstaff’s comic libretto and rousing climactic chorus – interpreted as a final ovation for Verdi’s lifetime of dedication to music – is sure to delight opera fans of all ages.

Written in the composer’s late 70s, the opera sparkles a new in director Simon Phillips’ fluid and passionate production starring baritone Warwick Fyfe in an auspicious role debut as the mischievous, chubby old rogue Falstaff. Based on Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, the work offers a keenly-observed portrait of a middle-aged man trying to recapture his youth through attempted sexual liaisons. Falstaff tries his luck with two married women, but he’s more than met his match when it comes to the combined wiles of Mistress Ford and Mistress Page.

In a richly-detailed narrative of many a promising rendezvous, thwarted desires, merriment, temptation and rebuff, Falstaff is an astute celebration of life and love, and a feast for the senses. Its writing for ensemble and orchestra is inspired while Tracy Grant Lord's extravagant period costumes and Iain Aitken’s kaleidoscopic set draws the audience into the heart of its funny, fast-moving and delightful affairs.

The cast includes many of Opera Australia’s fast-rising and seasoned performers, notably Amelia Farrugia as Alice Ford, Lorina Gore as Nannetta, Dominica Matthews as Mistress Quickly and Andrew Jones in his role debut as Ford. The Australian-born music director of Pittsburgh Opera, Antony Walker, returns to conduct.

An Opera Conference co-production.