Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) composed the opera Armida in Naples and it was premiered at the Teatro di San Carlo on 11 May 1817, marking the inauguration of the newly built theatre after it had been destroyed by fire.
It is the most distinctive of the serious operas that Rossini wrote for Naples in the years after Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Armida tells the tale of the Saracen sorceress who uses her powers to bewitch and ensnare her Crusader enemies. Rossini's masterful composition and the libretto by Giovanni Schmidt transport the audience to a world of magic, love and betrayal.
This is what happened recently when it was performed at Teatru Manoel to the delight of Rossini fans and others.
The cast, the creative team, the production team, KorMalta, Moveo Dance Company all came together to provide an enjoyable evening for several audiences, many of whom had not watched Armida before. It is little known and rarely performed.
The Italian soprano holding the sole female part, Elisa Balbo is a powerful and agile singer. The male singers in leading roles were Nico Darmanin, Anie Gou, Cliff Zammit Stevens, Eduardo Hurtado Rampoldi and Albert Buttigieg (not the member of parliament please note).
Who else contributed to make Armida a success? The artistic director, Adrian Mamo whose idea it was to use three of the painted backdrops, dating over one hundred years, already available in the archives of our national theatre.
The director Paul Carr said of Armida "This is the second time I have worked with conductor Davide Levi on an Italian opera; although rarely performed, Armida has some glorious moments that are undeniably Rossini at his dramatic best."
Conductor David Levi comments: "Love, rage, pity, desire, despair: Armida goes through a whirlwind of emotions that she lives fully and that the singer needs to express while maintaining the purity, precision and elegance of Rossini's coloratura."
Costume designer Luke Azzopardi when asked by the artistic director to design costumes for Rossini's Armida made a deliberate choice "to transcend the conventional boundaries of its original time period, opting instead for the enchanting, sensual backdrop of a whimsical contemporary world infused with the subtle provocation of fashion."
In the world of opera Luke specialises in Puccini having designed all of the composer's big operas - working with the likes of Vivien Hewitt, Amarilli Nizza, Nino Machaidze and Riccardo Buscarini.
Choreographer Dorian Mallia is the founder and director of MOVEO Dance Company. His dedication to pushing boundaries and exploring new narratives continue to shape the field of dance, while the accolades and awards received by MOVEO Dance Company underscore their exceptional artistic achievements.
KorMalta - Malta's National Choir was founded in 2018. It has undertaken intense work to make the national choir a qualified choral group, meeting even the most demanding and the widest type of choral repertoire: from a cappella polyphony to baroque, up to operatic symphonic productions.
Congratulations to all those who dared to push boundaries and give us something different.
Photos: Sebio Aquilina
