Premiere of Donizetti’s L'Elisir d'Amore by 3 European Theaters

On February 26, 27, 29 and March 1, the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre presents a premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s L'Elisir d'Amore, a co-production of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater, Auditorio de Tenerife and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. The production is realized within the project Opera(e)Studio,co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. The project is supported by the Creative Georgia and Embassy of Italy to Georgia. 

Opera(e) Studio is a formative project aimed at young emerging opera singers under the age of 32, selected from international auditions held in 4 European cities. Through auditions held in Bologna, Tbilisi, Madrid and Tenerife in February 2019, 10 young singers from 7 countries have been selected for participation in the project. A total of 181 singers from 33 countries took part in the auditions.

The auditions were conducted by the Artistic Board of the project: Giulio Zappa, Director of the Opera(e)Studio Academy;  José Luis Rivero, Artistic Director, Auditorio de Tenerife; Alejandro Abrante, Opera Intendant, Opera de Tenerife; Badri Maisuradze, Artistic Director, Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater and Fulvio Macciardi, Superintendant, Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

During the two-month residency in Tenerife, the 10selected singers received intensive masterclasses from top-level international opera professionals to improve their artistic quality, covering voice techniques, repertoire, dramatic interpretation, diction, performance practice and study of specific roles, as well as specific career-building workshops and tools to learn how to manage their professional career and image on social networks.

Project activities also included small-format recitals offered at local universities, as young audience development is also an essential priority of the project. On February 18, a commented recital will be held at the Shota Rustaveli Theater and Film Georgia State University.

On February 26, 27, 29 and March 1, L'Elisir d'Amore will be performed at the Tbilisi Opera House, after which the production will depart for Bologna.

Badri Maisuradze, Artistic Director of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater, says that Pablo Maritano, Stage Director, was inspired by the golden age of cinema; a fantasy world that has been created through different Hollywood film sets of that era

Giulio Zappa, Director of the Opera (e) StudioAcademy, says “The desire was actually to build a project which allowed young singers coming, for instance, from academies or from conservatoires, to face the professional world. Another aim was to bring different nationalities to the opera; different schools, different ideas.”

Rusudan Matsaberidze, Project Manager in Georgia,  underlines the importance of this joint project as it “involves close collaboration and cultural exchange between three theatres aiming at the professional development of young singers and at the same time attracting a young audience”.

Conductors - Kakhi Solomnishvili and Levan Jagaev; Scenographer - Serena Rocco; Costume Designer - Lorena Marin; Lighting Designer - Virginio Levrio.