Bravo! It was exhilarating to watch Dalinda, the “lost opera” by Gaetano Donizetti – staged in Cape Town, at the Baxter Pam Golding Theatre by Opera UCT, conducted by Jeremy Silver the director of Opera UCT. The production was on from September 4-8, 2024 – a very short season. There was much anticipation for this production – the first theatrical full-scale production of the “lost opera” which was rediscovered in 2019 and which has been reassembled. Dalinda was staged as a concert presentation in In May 2023, by the Berlin Operngruppe at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Germany.
Exquisite music by Donizetti and stunning performances. There were two casts. We saw Nontobeko Bhengu (Dalinda), Mkhanyiseli Dyantyi (Ildemaro), Aubrey Lodewyk (Acmet) and Violina Anguelov-Hobbs (Ugo d’Asti). There was no A and B cast- just two casts.
Thanks so much to Dalinda répétiteur Ian Bothma who was sitting next to me. He gave me insights to the style of singing – Bel Canto – Italian for “beautiful singing”. The vibe of the music is “cordial/friendly” but underlying that is extreme tension. Whoah – this is a very tense and hectic opera. Everyone dies. It doesn’t end well. It’s tense but so Italian and passionate and reverberates now. There is a ceasefire and there is a peace festival which is supposed to mark the end of war but instead there is murder and mayhem. Dalinda as a mother is given the impossible choice – to decide which way her son, Ildemaro should die – bv the sword or poison. It is a complex plot. I would have liked to see the production again to take in the tableaux of voice and performance.
There are lots of cadenzas in this opera – the passages in opera – where the characters burst into song and basically show off. The orchestra stops playing and the singer is in the limelight. Thank you Ian Bothma for explaining- I thought a cadenza was when someone has a hissy fit. I cannot wait to see the next production by Opera UCT. It is difficult to believe that that this is a student opera production. It is wonderful that we get the opportunity to see young opera stars in action – before they get snapped up for companies abroad. Related coverage https://thecaperobyn.co.za/interview-jeremy-silver-talks-about-staging-dalinda-donizettis-lost-opera-in-cape-town/
✳ Opera UCT’ staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s Dalinda at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, September 4 – 8, 2024. Pic by Ian Landsberg. Supplied.
