On Sunday the 23rd May at 8:00 pm, Opera Zuid has presented in co-production with the Nederlandse Reisopera and Dutch National Opera – the livestream premiere of L’elisir d’amore on the international platform OperaVision. With a young talented cast from the Dutch National Opera Studio.

A sweltering Italian summer evening. The romantic tension between Adina and Nemorino electrifies the air. But they are not alone. A group of friends puts their love and social standing at risk.

Director Marcos Darbyshire’s contemporary version of Donizetti’s comic opera L’elisir d’amore is a coming-of-age opera exploring identity and loss of innocence. ‘There will be a lot of laughter, but with rather than at the characters.’

Donizetti, together with Rossini and Bellini, is a preeminent composer of early 19^th-century Italian bel canto. This singing style values the singer’s emotion and timbre. In the arias, you experience the characters’ thoughts, feelings and perceptions. Under Darbyshire’s direction, characters emerge from within. It is not the storyline that is central, but the characters’ psychological growth and relationship with one another.

The slightly clumsy Nemorino is secretly in love with the hip and rich Adina. She pretends not to be in love and plays a game with him. Her rejections and the group’s reactions give Nemorino’s confidence a blow. He then asks partygoer and conman Dulcamara for a “wonder cure”. Meanwhile, the self-assured Belcore does everything in his power to keep the two apart, while the young Giannetta only wants to increase her popularity. By dawn, they are no longer the persons they were.

Performed in Italian with English subtitles.

Read the program booklet here.