LA Opera will present the company premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s searing musical drama Roberto Devereux for six performances February 22 – March 14 at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
One of Donizetti’s Tudor Trilogy masterpieces inspired by Tudor era British history, the opera is loosely based on the court intrigues that led to the execution of the Queen Elizabeth’s lover Roberto Devereux.
The opera opens in the final year of her reign with the Queen clinging onto her power, influence and her love. The court wants Devereux executed for treason, but the she is reluctant: behind her formidable public persona lies a fragile heart that wants to reconnect with her lover. Ignoring the court’s advice, she resists joining their charges.
But the plot thickens. After an accidental slip on his part, she discovers that he secretly loves another. She frantically searches for her rival, and to her dismay, making matters worse, she realizes that it is none other than her closest confidante Sara, who also happens to be the wife of Devereux’s only ally in court, the Duke of Nottingham. Now, Devereux’s freedom and his head lie at the mercy of his jealous and raging queen – all in the full operatic glory of Donizetti’s crowning accomplishment.
Careening from heartbroken laments to outbursts of rage, Donizetti’s Queen Elizabeth is one of opera’s great diva roles, sung here by glamorous Spanish soprano Davinia Rodríguez in her LA Opera debut, a role she reprises later this spring at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy.
One of the leading tenors of our time who regularly performs at all major opera houses of the world and longtime LA Opera favorite, the magnificent Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas returns as the scoundrel at the center of all the trouble. Angelenos may remember his 1996 LA Opera debut as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, a role he reprised here in 1999. He also performed with LA Opera in the title roles of Werther in 1998 and Don Carlo in 2018.
Mezzo-sopranos Ashley Dixon and Raehann Bryce-Davis alternate in the role of Sara, the object of Devereux’s affection. Raehann Bryce-Davis recently made her LA Opera debut as the Big Stone in Eurydice, and will return next season as Azucena in Il Trovatore.
Baritone Quinn Kelsey, a prominent star at the Metropolitan Opera and other international companies, will make his LA Opera debut as the Duke of Nottingham, the wronged husband caught up in Devereux’s web of deceit, singing five of the six performances. South Korean baritone Kihun Yoon takes over on March 14. An alumnus of the company’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, his leading roles with LA Opera have included Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Scarpia in Tosca, and Marcello in La Bohème earlier this season. The role of the Duke of Nottingham was originally scheduled to have been performed by Plácido Domingo, who has since withdrawn.
Other notable singers include two current members of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro as Lord Cecil, and baritone Michael J. Hawk as Sir Walter Raleigh.
Conductor Eun Sun Kim will make her LAO debut conducting five performances of Roberto Devereux. She is the principal guest conductor of the Houston Grand Opera and becomes the music director of the San Francisco Opera in 2021. Louis Lohraseb, a member of LAO’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, will make his mainstage company debut conducting the March 14 performance.
The production is directed by Stephen Lawless, with scenery by Benoît Dugardyn, costumes by Ingeborg Bernerth and lighting by Christopher Akerlind. Grant Gershon is chorus director, and Nicola Bowie is the show’s choreographer.
Roberto Devereux is performed in Italian with English subtitles, with an estimated running time of two hours and 45 minutes which includes one intermission. LA Opera will present a concert performance of Roberto Devereux on February 25 at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University in Orange.
For more information and tickets, please visit LAOpera.org.