West Green House Opera – Puccini’s Le Villi

Orpheus Sinfonia return to West Green House Opera for a concert performance of Puccini’s first opera, Le Villi, conducted by John Andrews.

Le Villi was Puccini’s very first opera, written for a competition in Italy long before he became the operatic giant we all know and love. Sadly, his entry didn’t win and so he later returned to it, re-wrote certain parts and relaunched it to considerable acclaim in Milan. Unfortunately, being a relatively short opera, this early gem was soon eclipsed by the titanic successes of La Boheme, Tosca and Turandot. As a result, Le Villi – with its Gothic, Central European story of an unfaithful mortal who is forced to dance himself to death by vengeful fairies – all but disappeared, unjustly, from the verismo repertoire.

Orpheus Sinfonia
John Andrews Conductor

Programme:
Puccini: Le Villi
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Ferdinando Fontana