Organization

Singer

Baritone

James Westman

Eustachio de Saint Pierre

Mezzo-soprano

Magda Gartner

Aurelio

Soprano

Lucia Cesaroni

Eleonora

Tenor

Neal Ferreira

Giovanni d'Aire

Alan Schneider

Giacomo de Wisants

James Demler

Pietro de Wisants

Bass

Christopher Carbin

Armando

John Allen Nelson

Eduardo III

Sumner Thompson

Edmundo

Deborah Selig

Queen Isabella

Conductor

Gil Rose

Stage director

Joshua Major

Set designer

Dan Daly

Costume designer

Brooke Stanton

Lighting designer

Dennis Parichy

Luke Scott

Una spia inglese

Odyssey Opera

Orchestra

Italian

L'assedio di Calais -  (The Siege of Calais)

Boston

United States

The Huntington Theater

L'assedio di Calais Donizetti

Public

The Siege of Calais

English

Approved

Gaetano Donizetti’s opera L’assedio di Calais (The Siege of Calais) focuses on tales of courage and self-sacrifice arising from the bleak conditions of Edward the III's year-long siege of Calais during the Hundred Years’ War. This rarely-heard Italian bel canto work was well received at the time of its premier, but an ill-timed cholera outbreak saw it close prematurely. It would be 150 years before the work was rediscovered. Recent revivals have shown it to be an opera of great beauty and poetry with truly remarkable music. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto, which has been described as "...a remarkable libretto, the closest Cammarano ever got to real poetry, particularly in his description of the embattled city and the heartfelt pride of its citizens."

“This tale of courage, self-sacrifice, and wartime could be set in the present day,” explains Gil Rose, Odyssey Opera’s Artistic and General Director. “Besieged cities are found throughout history, from Calais during the Hundred Years’ War, through Stalingrad during World War Two, to Aleppo in Syria” 

. . . 
James Westman // Eustachio de Saint-Pierre, Mayor of Calais
Magda Gartner // Aurelio, his son
Lucia Cesaroni // Eleanora 
Neal Ferreira // Giovanni d’Aire, burgher
Alan Schneider // Giacomo de Wisants, burgher
James Demler // Pietro de Wisants, burgher
Christopher Carbin // Armando, burgher 
John Allen Nelson, Baritone // Eduardo III, King of England
Sumner Thompson // Edmundo, English General 
. . .
Gil Rose // Conductor
Joshua Major // Stage Director
. . .
Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano based on Luigi Marchionni’s play L’assedio di Calais
Sung in Italian with English titles

Video by Kathy Wittman, Ball Square Films

Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais (The Siege of Calais) focuses on the bleak wartime and tales of courage and self-sacrifice in Edward the III’s year-long Siege of Calais during the Hundred Years’ War. This rarely-heard Italian bel canto work has undeservedly been absent from the operatic stage but recent revivals have shown it to be a work of great beauty and poetry. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto, which has been described as “…a remarkable libretto, the closest Cammarano ever got to real poetry, particularly in his description of the embattled city and the heartfelt pride of its citizens.” eng

The Siege of Calais by Donizetti, From (2017/2017), Directed by Joshua Major,, Conductor Gil Rose, The Huntington Theater, Boston, United States

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues