I Puritani

Bellini's “I puritani” in concert version (with Domingo Hindoyan, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Lisette Oropesa and Javier Camerana in the title roles

It is one of the iconic operas of Italian bel canto, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival has for some years now been offering its audiences a complete work in concert version: Bellini's “I puritani” is undoubtedly one of the highlights of this 2021 edition. Hosted by Domingo Hindoyan and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and led by a top-quality cast, this production, which places music at the center, is an opportunity to go beyond the necessarily superficial knowledge of such a work based on a handful of great arias, moreover immortalized by legendary interpretations such as those of Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland, to plunge into the heart of Bellini's ultimate gem, offered to Paris and then to the world in early 1835, just a few months before the composer died at the far too early age of 33. An opera that pays more attention to details of orchestration than previous ones and requires literally “supersonic” soloists, like Elvira, “prototype of the romantic heroine driven mad by emotional shock” (Alain Perroux), whose melodies are so perfect that they were to guide Frédéric Chopin in his quest for a piano that “sings”...