The King
and
his Favourite

Available until 19.3.2021

Kings, queens, and their favourites… Or how, even in pandemic times, our artists refuse to give up. Now that the grandiose Donizetti project Bastarda (about the life of Elizabeth I) has been postponed, the team has come up with a new, but related project, made available via streaming. Through the eyes of one privileged spectator – a young girl that has been anticipating these performances for quite some time – you will be served up the highlights of Rossini’s Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra and Donizetti’s La favorita over two evenings. A further examination of the conflict between love and power in the lives of illustrative royals, by conductor Francesco Lanzillotta, director Olivier Fredj and a star-studded cast of bel canto singers.

The King and his Favourite

Outside Italy, La favorita is best known in the original French version that Gaetano Donizetti composed for the Paris Opéra (1840). Apart from a few modifications, both works tell the same story. Against the background of the struggle for power between Church and State, King Alfonso XI of Castille seeks to rid himself of his lawful spouse, in favour of his mistress and ‘favourite’ Leonora. But the usual lieto fine (happy ending) of early-nineteenth-century opera has by now made way for a tragic denouement.

Tickets Streaming

Downloads

• Biographies and overview of selected musical numbers (383.3 kB)