Wexford Festival Opera LIVE Il bravo 2018

Act 1
Foscari plans the kidnapping of the young Violetta for whom he rejected his former mistress, the courtesan Teodora. To kidnap Violetta, Foscari is determined to assassinate his tutor, Maffeo. This package could have been facilitated by the intervention of a contract killer, Bravo, who did not agree to get involved. Dressed in black and masked, Bravo is in the grip of a dark melancholy when he receives a visit from a young outlaw, Pisani, to whom he agrees to lend his support. Pisani has come to Venice to find the young girl he loves and to achieve revenge. Bravo agrees to lend him his mask and his dagger. Disguised as a noble Dalmatian, Bravo lets Foscari know he knows his crimes. Maffeo's body has been found in an abandoned gondola, and Violetta wanders distraught through the streets of Venice. Under his disguise,

Act 2
Teodora learns with anguish of Maffeo's death and of Violetta's adoption by a mysterious stranger. The courtesan confesses that she is the young girl's own mother. Teodora thinks that Bravo, the hitman, is the only one capable of getting her daughter back. Teodora welcomes Pisani disguised as Bravo: he swears to her to find Violetta. The latter is safe with the real Bravo who tells her her unfortunate story. Falsely accused before the Council of Ten, he was sentenced to exile while his father was to be executed. To save his father's life, Bravo had to agree to become a contract killer for the Council of Ten. Soon Pisani finds Violetta and the two young people confess their mutual passion. Pisani reveals to Violetta that she is Teodora's daughter. Bravo surprises them. He swears to them to lead Violetta himself to his mother, promising that he will promote their union. Bravo and Violetta go in masks to the salons of Teodora where a ball takes place in which Pisani also participates. Bravo introduces Violetta to her mother, which sets off a scandal. Teodora then causes a fire which allows her to flee with her daughter.

Act 3
Teodora and her daughter indulge in the happiness of the reunion away from prying eyes, but they are surprised by Bravo who demands tangible proof of the filiation of the two women. Only Maffeo could have attested that Teodora was indeed Violetta's mother and that she had preferred to flee far from a cruel husband named Carlo. Bravo then reveals that he is this Carlo and that he believed to have caused the death of his wife. Pisani then emerges, still wearing the Bravo mask. The young man demands the hand of Violetta and Bravo gives him an appointment at midnight, the hour when he will have to return his mask and his dagger. Meanwhile, the Council of Ten guards prowl around Teodora's home. We learn that Foscari has been sentenced to exile for the murder of Maffeo. Bravo helps his found wife and daughter escape with Pisani who returns his mask, dagger and a written order from the Council. Teodora discovers the reality of Bravo's activities, the identity behind which Carlo was hiding. The latter failed to get his father out of the Council prisons. Carlo and Teodora watch the gondola go away, carrying their daughter and Pisani. To make matters worse, Bravo then opens the Council's order which designates Teodora as the next victim to be executed. Learning of the sentence, Teodora kills herself. A Council messenger brings news of his father's death to Carlo. Now the Bravo is released from his contract killer obligations, but his life is definitely shattered, and he collapses on the corpse of his wife.

Carlo ("Il bravo"), a hired assassin: tenor Rubens Pelizzari
Violetta, an orphan from Genoa: soprano Ekaterina Bakanova
Teodora, a mysterious Venetian woman: soprano Yasko Sato
Pisani, an exiled Venetian patrician: tenor Alessandro Luciano
Foscari, a Venetian patrician: baritone Gustavo Castillo
Capello, a Venetian patrician: tenor José de Eça
Michelina, Teodora's maid: soprano Angela "Angiolina" Villa
Marco, Teodora's gondolier: bass Toni Nežić
Luigi, Foscari's servant: bass Simon Mechlinski
Messenger: tenor Richard Shaffrey

Carlo ("Il bravo"), a hired assassin: tenor Rubens Pelizzari
Violetta, an orphan from Genoa: soprano Ekaterina Bakanova
Teodora, a mysterious Venetian woman: soprano Yasko Sato
Pisani, an exiled Venetian patrician: tenor Alessandro Luciano
Foscari, a Venetian patrician: baritone Gustavo Castillo
Capello, a Venetian patrician: tenor José de Eça
Michelina, Teodora's maid: soprano Ioana Constatin-Pipelea
Marco, Teodora's gondolier: bass Toni Nežić
Luigi, Foscari's servant: bass Simon Mechlinski
Messenger: tenor Richard Shaffrey

Great opera, great singing, but what is it with the modern tourist? I also like his other operas in particular: Il reggente and Le due illustri rivali.

It does not get worse than this. None of these 'artists,' I am sure, ever heard of Mercadante till signed for this miserable gig. The singers are, to put it mildly, inadequate - generic opera singers who haven't yet blown their voices or their 15 minutes. The conductor..a metronome would have done just as well. The production is moronic garbage based on a concept any average 3rd grade student would be ashamed of.
There is a professional, brilliant, recording of this opera conducted by Gabrielle Ferro with a cast of real, completely committed and excellent singers - from a cycle of performances in a real (Rome) house in 1970. On Fonit Cetra. This is Mercadante's greatest score, and the Ferro performance does full justice to this towering, noble work.