Mary, Queen of Scots (Diana Damrau) and Elizabeth I (Jamie Barton) square off as history’s most formidable sister monarchs, with Maurizio Benini at the podium.
A searing operatic setting of Friedrich Schiller’s play, Donizetti’s drama thrills with intense stand-offs and impressive vocal displays. Stephen Costello sings the role of Mary’s lover, Leicester; Andrzej Filonczyk is the chancellor Cecil; and Michele Pertusi sings the Earl Talbot. A notable curiosity of the score is the wide range of casting possibilities for the two leading ladies: either role can be by a soprano or a mezzo-soprano. The vocal contrast between soprano Diana Damrau and mezzo Jamie Barton should be especially engaging in the great confrontation scene at the end of Act I.
Maria Stuarda had a troubled genesis, despite its musical and theatrical brilliance, and only recently achieved a place in the repertory as a prime example of the mid-19th century bel canto style. The two fearsome females embody different perceptions of royalty—in direct conflict at that moment in time—and the opera’s drama is true to history in a way the facts are not.
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