/ Modified apr 6, 2015 10:26 a.m.

Verdi's Don Carlo - April 11, 2015

The Metropolitan Opera

Don_Carlo_04-11-2015

Matinee broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera continue on Classical 90.5 at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, April 11, with a performance of Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi, originally set to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry. The Italian libretto, which will be performed in the Met production, is by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini, with later revisions by the composer and Antonio Ghislanzoni. The performance will run approximately four hours and forty-five minutes.

The story of Verdi's Don Carlo takes place against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, one of history's cruelties committed in the name of religion. Over the Inquisition's span of 350 years, it is documented that 3000 to 5000 people were killed for the crime of heresy. Verdi's depiction of key elements of the Spanish Inquisition - the Grand Inquisitor, the auto-da-fé, perpetuate an image of widespread terror and torture. Based on a semi-historical drama by the great German Romantic Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlo centers on the Spanish King Philip II (1527–1598), his third wife, Elisabeth of Valois, and his son from his first marriage, Carlos, Prince of Asturias. The opera not only provides ample opportunity for scenic splendor, it also contains magnificent roles for singing actors, some of the greatest arias in the Italian repertory, orchestral writing that achieves symphonic heights, and a strong choral presence.

The dynamic young maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducts.

THE CAST
Elisabeth de Valois: Barbara Frittoli
Princess Eboli: Ekaterina Gubanova
Don Carlo: Yonghoon Lee
Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa: Simon Keenlyside
Philip II: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Grand Inquisitor: James Morris

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