Amica

Composer: Mascagni, Pietro

Librettist/Text Author: Berel, Paul

Conductor: Benzi, Manlio

Orchestra: Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia

Chorus: Slovak Chamber Choir

Chorus Master: Prochazka, Pavol

Amica: Malavasi, Anna

Giorgio: Sotgiu, David

Magdelone: Giorgi, Francesca De

Maitre Camoine: Rosiello, Marcello

Rinaldo: Dilengite, Pierluigi

Producer: Dellepiane, Alberto

Set Designer: Ricciarini, Michele

Costume Designer: Trauttmansdorff, Sandra von

Lighting Designer: Ruggiero, Giuseppe

Stage Director: Pizzech, Alessio

Sound Engineer: Famularo, Giuseppe

Television Director: Ricchetti, Matteo

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Date of Production: 06-05-2007

Festival: Valle D'Itria Festival, Italy

Venue: Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca

Playing Time: 01:20:00

Catalogue Number: 2.110262

UPC: 747313526253

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Pietro Mascagni explored many different musical styles, from the verismo of his ever-popular Cavalleria rusticana to the sentimental lyricism of Lodoletta. Amica was composed at breakneck speed, reaching completion only a month before its Monte Carlo première in 1905 conducted by the composer, and combined a return to 'realism' with a more sophisticated style of writing. Its extravagant scenic and vocal demands contributed to the opera's neglect until recent times. Set in the Savoy mountains around 1900, Amica is a 'dramatic poem in two acts' involving two brothers, Giorgio and Rinaldo, whose love for the same woman, Amica, culminates in tragedy. While today numbering among his least performed works, Amica was initially a triumph, praised for its 'passionate accent' and 'impulsive sincerity' by a contemporary critic, and deemed 'most worthy of re-evaluation' according to the composer's biographer Roger Flury.