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UNITEL and CLASSICA presentASSASSINIONELLA CATTEDRALEILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI

RUGGERO RAIMONDIASSASSINIONELLA CATTEDRALEAll rights reserved • credits not contractual • Different territoriesMusic by Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968)Libretto by Thomas Stears EliotConducted byChorusChorus MasterChorusChorus MasterOrchestraThomas BecketPrima CorifeaSeconda CorifeaUn AraldoStaged byDirected byLength 85'Piergiorgio MorandiCoro A.T.E.R.Martino FaggianiCoro di voci bianche delConservatorio Piccinni di BariEmanuela AymoneOrchestra Sinfonica dellaProvincia di BariRuggero RaimondiPaoletta MarrocuSonia ZaramellaLuca CasalinDaniele D’OnofrioMétis FilmRecorded from the Basilicadi San Nicola, BariA production of UNITEL and Fondazione Lirico SinfonicaPetruzzelli e Teatri di Bariin co-operation with IME International Music Eventswith kind support of Basilica San Nicola, Barishot in HDTV 1080What more appropriate venue for Ildebrando Pizzetti‘s operaticmasterwork of 1958 “Assassinio nella Cattedrale“ thanthe austere, Romanic Basilica di San Nicola in the southernItalian port city of Bari. A striking coincidence: the action of T.S. Eliot‘s stage play “Murder in the Cathedral“, on which theopera is based, takes place in December 1170; the Basilicadi San Nicola also dates from the 12th century and was consecratedin 1197...Pizzetti, one of Italy‘s leading lyrical composers of the first halfof the 20th century, composed several operas, of which “Assassinionella Cattedrale“ is one of his most famous. It unitesall the elements of his lyrical style, such as a supple ariosotreatment of the text that bears echoes of Debussy‘s “Pelléaset Mélisande“ as well as of Monteverdi and the Florentinemonodists; and powerful, surging choral movements that areeven more breathtaking when performed in a church.Pizzetti‘s religiosity also manifests itself in his choice of T.S.Eliot‘s modern-day miracle play about St. Thomas Becket, theArchbishop of Canterbury, who returns from a seven-year-exileonly to be confronted by various torments, including FourTemptations; he succumbs to the fourth, the temptation of martyrdom...Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi,at home on all of the world‘s major stages and unforgotten asDon Giovanni in Joseph Losey‘s celebrated 1979 film, bringsthe firmness and authority of his vocal artistry to this role, elevatingit to one of the most passionate and intriguing portrayalsof a 20 th -century operatic hero.Photos: © Vito Mastrolonardo