La finta giardiniera, K. 196

Composer: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

Librettist/Text Author: Petrosellini, Giuseppe

Conductor: Bolton, Ivor

Orchestra: Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra

Arminda: Gens, Veronique

Belfiore: Ainsley, John Mark

Don Anchise: Graham Hall, John

Ramiro: Donose, Ruxandra

Roberto: Werba, Markus

Serpetta: Kucerova, Adriana

Violante Onesti: Reinprecht, Alexandra

Set Designer: Lepel, Bernd

Costume Designer: Lepel, Bernd

Lighting Designer: Boeshenz, Georg

Choreographer: Vollack, Beate

Stage Director: Dorrie, Doris

Television Director: Meth, Agnes

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Date of Production: 2006

Festival: Salzburg Festival

Venue: Salzburger Landestheater

Playing Time: 02:23:00

Catalogue Number: A04001446

Synopsis

La finta giardiniera, K. 196 (NTSC)

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Belfiore believes he has killed his betrothed, Violante, in a fit of
jealousy. He flees in panic - which does not prevent him from falling for Arminda, who then spurns her admirer Ramiro in favor of Belfiore. Violante, meanwhile, searches for her lover with her servant Roberto. Under a false name, she takes a post as gardener on the estate of Don Anchise; her servant passes himself off as her cousin. While Anchise pursues Violante, Roberto romances the maid. The labyrinth of pursuit and deception becomes completely entangled when Belfiore, his new conquest Arminda and her persistent admirer Ramiro turn up on the estate...

The Mozart 22 production of La finta giardiniera was placed in the hands of Doris Dorrie, a noted filmmaker and, more recently, director of controversial opera productions. Asked why she set the work in a garden center, Dorrie replied: "It's a market of emotions! The plants represent feelings, the garden is our little paradise. We all have the same dream, which is why we buy so much equipment, chemicals, even weapons to keep our garden under control. It must be kept in its boundaries, for just as an uncontrolled garden can mutate into a wild jungle, so can uncontrolled emotions, proliferating like wild plants, become dangerous to us."

The rousing musical underpinnings of this irreverent production are
provided by the Mozarteum Orchestra under its principal conductor Ivor
Bolton, who has made a name for himself as champion of authentic and
spirited interpretations of Handel, Monteverdi, Gluck and, of course,
Mozart. In this performance of La finta giardiniera, Bolton makes it clear that the real dramatic development in this early work is to be found in Mozart's music.