Bass Rafał Siwek is billed as Ramfis the High Priest in nine performances of Puccini’s Aida, starting on July 9. It is his eighth season at Verona.
Meanwhile, baritone Artur Ruciński is to appear as Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata on July 8 and 14.
Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak is to sing in two Puccini operas, at the end of July as Tosca and in August as Madama Butterfly. In one of her interviews, she recalled watching a production of Madama Butterfly as a member of the audience two decades ago.
Tenor Piotr Beczała is to appear in Verona twice, as Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen and The Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto in the first half of August.
Surprisingly, this is going to be Beczała’s debut at the event, the Pole being not too keen to perform in large-scale open-air productions.
Last month, Beczała had to cancel his performances in Puccini’s Turandot at the Zürich Opera House in Switzerland, due to a severe viral infection.
In a Facebook post he wrote at the time: “I am sure that I will soon be fully recovered and I am already looking forward to singing again for you, my dear audience”.
Piotr Beczała PR/Wojciech Kusiński
The venue of the Verona Opera Festival is a Roman arena dating from around 30 AD, one of the largest and best-preserved amphitheatres from that period. It seats 15,000 spectators.
The tradition of the annual summer festivals at Verona goes back to 1913. This year marks the centenary of the opera festivals in the northeastern Italian city, which were interrupted by two world wars and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(mk/pm)