I Puritani

When ethereal bel canto sound flows from the throat, time in the opera seems to fall apart: worlds lie within vowels, and a single second holds a small eternity. In Erl, we dispel the winter with sensuous, southern bel canto.

What musical-dramatic eruptions might Vincenzo Bellini have been capable of if he had not died the year of the "I puritani" premiere? His last opera is the pinnacle of bel canto and a frenzy of coloratura – and the casting is at least as nerve-wracking as the countless trills in the roles.

To achieve this, we bring the most seasoned bel canto high-performance athletes to Erl and contrast our Wagner focus with a vocal art that has more in common with Wagner than one might imagine. The Bayreuth devotee admired Bellini. Bellini paved the way for Wagner's ideal of singing.