Sarasota Opera Visits Verdi - Last Leg

The final leg of Sarasota Opera’s Verdi Pilgrimage, took the group to the beautiful city of Venice.

Teatro La Fenice

Venice figured large in Verdi’s career. Several of his greatest operas were premiered in the city including Ernani, Attila, Rigoletto, La traviata,  and Simon Boccanegra. It was in the city he also met one of his closest collaborators and friends, librettist Francesco Maria Piave. In another act of the composer’s charity, Verdi supported Piave and his family after the poet was struck down by a stroke and left paralyzed in 1867, until his death in 1876.

The Sarasota group traveled from Parma to Venice by bus and then transferred by water taxi to the Bauer’s Hotel, near the Piazza San Marco. The afternoon was taken up with touring the Ca’ Rezzonico, a palazzo which once included Robert Browning and Cole Porter as its tenants and is now one of the finest museums of art in Venice.

Members of the group at dinner at Cipriani overlooking St. Mark's Basilica

Following the tour we adjourned to the island of Giudecca and the famous Cipriani Hotel where we had a private dinner overlooking the Grand Canal.

Despite the rain, the following morning a few hardy souls toured the Basilica of St. Marks, the Rialto Market, and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, a building for which Tintoretto provided all of the artwork, including some of his greatest masterpieces.

The group in front of the Teatro La Fenice

A performance at the Teatro La Fenice was on tap for the evening. The famous theater, site of the Verdi premieres (including the opening night fiasco of La traviata) in Venice, is named after the “Phoenix.” The beautiful, but ill-starred venue has had to repeatedly “rise from the ashes” as fires have destroyed the theater three times, in 1792, 1836, and most recently in 1996. It is one of the most historically important theaters in the country and one of the most ornate.

The artistic director of the Teatro La Fenice, Fortunato Ortombina, gave some insight into the theater and the production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly that we were about to see. Coincidentally, Mo. DeRenzi recognized Mr. Ortombina from his earlier work with the Institute of Verdi Studies in Parma.

Maestro DeRenzi, Teatro La Fenice Artistic Director Fortunato Ortombina, and Executive Director Richard Russell
inside Teatro La Fenice

The performance of Puccini’s masterwork provoked much conversation among the group over dinner at the Taverna La Fenice, after the opera. Through a partnership with the Art Biennale, the set design was by visual artist Mariko Mori, whose futuristic aesthetic is reflected in the giant Möbius that dominates the spare stage and which inspired a modernistic interpretation of the opera. Notwithstanding the varying opinions of the production, everyone was glad to have experienced opera in this historic theater.

The interior of Venice's Teatro La Fenice with Mariko Mori's set for Act I of Madama Butterfly on stage

The following day, the last of the trip, took the group to Lake Orta and the beautiful Villa Crespi. Everyone assembled in the 2-Michelin starred restaurant for a delectable dinner and a chance to reminisce about the exceptional experiences of the past 9 days. Even Mo. DeRenzi, who had been to many of places we visited before, had never been to parts of the Casa Verdi in Milan and Villa Verdi at Santa’Agata that are not usually open to the public, as well as the opportunity to meet one of the composer’s descendants. Everyone was sorry to see the trip end and spirits were hardly dampened when the maître’d of the restaurant felt the need to cut off our attempt to pay homage to Verdi by singing “Va pensiero sull’ali dorate” from Nabucco one last time.

It was an experience that no one will soon forget and a fitting start to the season that will bring the Grand Finale to Sarasota Opera’s 28-season long “Verdi Cycle.”

Sarasota Opera Visits Verdi (Day 3 and 4)

The Duomo in Milan

Despite rain, the Sarasota Verdi lovers spent the morning touring two of the major sites of Milan, the Duomo and Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. The painting, housed in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, is one of the glories of western art despite its severely deteriorated condition. The Sarasotans were struck by its beauty in, what was for some, a very moving visit.

The following day, the group decamped from Milan to the city of Parma, the area that was the birthplace and home of composer Giuseppe Verdi. First order of business was a tour of the Teatro Regio, a beautiful theater, similar in size to the Sarasota Opera House, where a Verdi Festival is held each October.

Sarasotans enjoying a tour of the Teatro Regio di Parma

This was followed by a visit to the Corale Verdi, home of the Verdi Choral Society (begun in 1905) and also a wonderful restaurant. The promised light lunch, was instead a simple, but sumptuous meal of Parmesan delicacies including tortelloni, stuffed veal, and roast Prosciutto (Parma Ham). The meal was accompanied by a sparkling white wine and Lambrusco, a sparkling red wine that is a speciality of the region.

Sarasotans enjoying lunch at the Corale Verdi

The evening that followed will no doubt for many, be the highlight of the tour. In March 2013, Sarasota Opera had a visit from four members of the “Club of the 27”.  Each of these devoted enthusiasts of the music of Giuseppe Verdi are named after one of the composer’s operas. They meet once a week to discuss music and have developed ongoing education programs in the schools about music and Verdi.

This year, the Sarasota Opera group visited “the 27” in their clubhouse, a small cove underneath Parma’s musical school “Casa della Musica.” The visitors entered a dark room the only illumination highlighting a bust of Verdi.

The Sarasotans in front of a statue of Verdi in his hometown of Busseto

The members of the 27 were lined up against the wall and began singing “Va, pensiero,” the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from Verdi’s opera Nabucco, which is a second national anthem for Italians. Following this ritual, the president Enzo Petrolini (Un giorno di regno) presented the Sarasotans with gifts and medals in the image of Verdi. There was then some social time with the two groups over prosecco and local Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Next was a concert in honor of the Sarasota guests, in the Casa della Musica. Five accomplished young Italian singers, soprano Renata Campanella, soprano Scilla Cristiano, mezzo-soprano Leonora Sofia, tenor Antonio Corianò, and bass Davide Ruberti, were accompanied by Simone Savina, in arias from operas by Verdi and others. All of these singers are working in Italy and at the beginning of promising careers.

Everyone (including the artists) then moved to a restaurant just outside of Parma, Il granaio. The Sarasota travelers were the guests of the Club of the 27 for another typical and generous Parmesan meal: Tortelloni in brodo, ravioli alla erba, and a selection of delicious Parmesan meats including coppa, salami, and of course Prosciutto di Parma. Despite the pleas of the guests that they were stuffed, their hosts continued to bring out more food including wonderful desserts of fruit, various tortes, a delicious treat of apples baked in wine and gelato.

One more presentation ended the evening: a plaque that commemorates the friendship between the Club of the 27 and Sarasota Opera.  Members of the club promised that many of them would join their new friends in Sarasota for the Grand Finale of the Verdi Cycle in March 2016.

Sarasota Opera Visits Verdi (Day 2)

The entrance to the Sala Verdi

The Sarasota Opera Visits Verdi began the evening of the second night with a reception in the “Sala Verdi”, the suite that was the composer’s home in Milan for 30 years and where he died in 1901. When Verdi wasn’t using it, his presumptive heirs like Pietro Mascagni could gain access, but when Verdi wanted it, the current occupant was asked to leave so the composer could have its use. In recent years luminaries like Oprah Winfrey have occupied the prized room in the hotel.

The reception was a precursor to attending a new production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot at La Scala. Unfortunately Sarasota Opera Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi and Executive Director Richard Russell had to leave the gathering early to meet La Scala’s sovrintendente Alexander Pereira and Director of External Affairs Dr. Donatella Brunezzi. Mr. Pereira welcomed the Sarasotans to La Scala. Mr. Pereira and Dr. Brunezzi already knew about Sarasota Opera and the company and listened with interest as Mo. DeRenzi and Mr. Russell talked about the end of their Verdi Cycle and plans for the future.

Puccini’s opera Turandot received its world premiere at La Scala in 1926, a year and a half following the composer’s death. Left unfinished at the time of Puccini’s demise, it was completed by composer Franco Alfano for the first performance. More recently composer Luciano Berio took another stab at the ending and it was in this version that the Sarasota Opera group saw it on Wednesday night.

Promotional poster for Turandot at La Scala

The performance starred Swedish soprano Nina Stemme in the title role, with Aleksandr Antonenko as Calaf and rising young Italian soprano Maria Agresta as Liù.  Music director designate Ricardo Chailly conducted. The production, much more conceptual than the traditional production seen in Sarasota in 2013, was directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. The audience was extremely enthusiastic about the singers but the visitors from Sarasota were surprised to hear booing as the conductor took his bow. It’s not something we are used to in Sarasota, but a staffer at La Scala warned everyone that it happens often in Italy.

Puccini's Turandot at La Scala

Click HERE to continue onto day 3 and 4 of Sarasota Opera's adventures in Italy...

Sarasota Opera Visits Verdi

At the end of March 2016, Sarasota Opera will complete its Verdi Cycle, a 28-season effort to perform all of the works of Italy’s greatest composer Giuseppe Verdi. This will be a landmark season for the company, with national and international attention focused on Sarasota Opera.

To kick-off the celebratory season, Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi and Executive Director Richard Russell are accompanying a group of 27 Sarasota Opera patrons to Italy as “Sarasota Visits Verdi.”  The 9-night tour includes a sample of audience members who live in Sarasota full-time, are snow-birds and some who come from as far as California and London to join this pilgrimage to visit places where the composer lived and worked.

The trip kicked off on Tuesday night (5/19) with a welcome dinner at the Grand Hotel et de Milan.  This 5-star hotel was the composer’s residence in Milan during the last 30 years of his life and it was in a suite on the first floor that he passed away at the age of 87 on January 27, 1901.

Members of Sarasota Opera's pilgrimage to the sites of Giuseppe Verdi join in the
Grand Hotel et de Milan for a welcome dinner

From the Royal Box at Milan's famed Teatro alla Scala,
a member of the staff  explaines the workings of  Italy's most
venerated Opera House 

The next morning everyone made the short walk to Milan’s famous “Teatro alla Scala,” probably the most venerated opera house in the world. Nevertheless, even this theater, which opened in 1778, and was the site of the premieres of Verdi’s Oberto, Un giorno di regno, Nabucco, I lombardi alla prima crociata, Otello, and Falstaff has not performed all of the composer’s operas, as Sarasota Opera will have by next year.

La Scala has an interesting museum attached to the opera house which charts its history and has a room devoted exclusively to Verdi. The visit also included a guided tour of the auditorium and backstage from one of the theater’s music staff.  The plush historical interior of the theater is in stark contrast to the updated technology visited backstage (result of a 3-year renovation from 2001-2004).

Entrance to the Casa di Riposo in Milan

Following the theater visit, a bus took the group to the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti (Rest Home for Musicians) which is more commonly known as the Casa Verdi. In a letter to a friend the composer wrote: “Among my works, the one I like best is the Home that I have had built in Milan for accommodating old singers not favored by fortune, or who, when they were young, did not possess the virtue of saving. The poor, dear companions of my lifetime! Believe me, my friend, that Home is truly my most beautiful work (la mia opera più bella.”)

Sarasota Opera Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi contemplates a bust of Giuseppe Verdi in the sitting room of the Casa Verdi, the retirement home for poor musicians the composer built in Milan  

It was a novel idea to build and equip a rest home for the disadvantaged when Verdi proposed this idea in in the last years of his life.  It was not the first example of this type of philanthropy. A few years earlier he had built a hospital for the residents of Villanova, a town near his country estate at Sant’Agata. He acquired land on the outskirts of Milan in 1889 for the retirement home and oversaw the design and construction of the building, attending to every detail. He endowed it  with the royalties from his operas (which expired in  1962; it is now funded by a private foundation and the state.)

Under a portrait of the composer Giuseppe Verdi, members of Sarasota Opera's Verdi trip 
hear about his life at the Casa Verdi  

The Sarasotans were  met by the Director of Communications for the Casa Verdi, who highlighted Verdi’s place not only as a great composer of opera, but as a national hero whose music inspired Italians in their quest for unification in the mid 1800s. The house is full of artifacts from Verdi’s collection (including a small piano that he was given as a boy and kept all of his life) and it is in a crypt off the courtyard of the house that is his final resting place, along with his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi.

The crypt at the Casa Verdi where the composer and his wife are buried.

The evening will take the Sarasota contingent back to La Scala for a performance of Turandot by Verdi’s heir, Giacomo Puccini.

Stay tuned for more updates as Sarasota Opera continues its travels through Italy and the life of Giuseppe Verdi.