In Demand Don Pasquale

Donizetti’s Don Pasquale is one of a triumvirate of 19th-century Italian opere buffe – L’elisir d’amore and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia being the others – that continue to enchant the world’s stages. Don Pasquale represents the high point of the opera buffa tradition, employing figures taken from commedia dell’arte – the blustering old man, his lovesick nephew, the wily widow and the scheming doctor – and brings new life to the genre in this beautifully constructed comic opera full of cabalettas, cadenzas and coloratura, gently tinged with melancholy. This production employs a new critical edition of the work and stars the seasoned baritone Roberto de Candia in the central role, alongside Giulia Mazzola as Norina.