Giordano's Fedora back on stage

The season opens with the rarely heard complete opera Fedora by Giordano, with Lianna Haroutounian in the title role.

The opera after Andrea Chénier
No stranger to Matinee-goers: composer Umberto Giordano. His best-known work, the revolutionary opera Andrea Chénier, has already been performed at the Concertgebouw . This season, it is the turn of that other title from Giordano's Romantic-version repertoire: Fedora. The work is based on a play by Victorien Sardou, the author of Tosca. Both plays were intended for the actress Sarah Bernhardt.

In the footsteps of Bellincioni and Caruso
The demanding soprano role was sung at the premiere by Gemma Bellincioni, who specialised in the verbian repertoire, such as her creation of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, but she also sang the first Salome in Italy. The tenor role of the murderer-lover Loris Ipanov was sung for the first time by Enrico Caruso, who thus launched his great career in 1898. The Matinee chose two special soloists for both central roles: soprano Lianna Haroutounian, discovered by Antonio Pappano, sings Fedora and Luciani Ganci replaces Joseph Calleja as Loris Ipanov.