Tag: Leoncavallo

On Friday 3 December 2021, Opera Rara presents the complete opera of Leoncavallo’s Zingari as it was first heard over 100 years ago at its London world première. Opera Rara’s Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi will conduct the restored original version of the opera whose creation has been spearheaded by the company. Presented in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Cadogan Hall, Rizzi will be joined on stage by Łukasz Goliński making his Opera Rara debuts, Krassimira Stoyanova (Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan, ORC44), Stephen Gaertner (ORC55 Zazà) and Arsen Soghomonyan (Puccini’s Le Willis, ORC59). Premièred in September 1912 at London’s Hippodrome Theatre and conducted by the composer himself, Zingari was commissioned by the theatre which, the previous year, had invited Leoncavallo to present his first opera Pagliacci. Based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem The Gypsies of 1827, the one-act Zingari marked Leoncavallo’s return – both musically and in length – to the verismo style of Pagliacci written 20 years earlier and already part of the established repertory. Despite Zingari’s huge success – with long runs both in London and the United States – Leoncavallo cut down the original version of the work in subsequent revivals. Following extensive research of the opera’s sources, Opera Rara discovered the original vocal score which reveals many new aspects of the drama which have been forgotten over the last century, and from which long-time collaborator Martin Fitzpatrick (English National Opera’s Head of Music) has been commissioned to re-orchestrate missing passages.