Elina

Rome Opera & Wine

30 July - 2 August 2009

Enjoy a performnce of Bizet’s Carmen, set amongst the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. This is a highly atmospheric, relatively small venue where productions are generally fairly traditional and performances are of high standard. 1st category tickets to Tosca are included.

We have a fascinating private guided walking tour of Rome in the morning. This will cover Medieval and Renaissance Rome, and the relationships between the Roman aristocracy, the Papacy and their architects and artists. The afternoon is free for you to visit the classical sights and museums or just to relax and enjoy this great city.

We spend a day in the hills outside Rome, visiting Tivoli for the gorgeous garden of Villa d’Este and continue to lunch at a leading Frascati domain, Casal Pilozzo. The wines here are a very high standard, indeed last year one of our regular clients thought that this was one of the best cellar visits he had ever done.

We know the restaurants of Rome very well and take you to a discreet restaurant serving classic Roman fare with one of the best wine lists in Rome. We also lunch the Lazio Regional wine bar where more selected local wines such as Est Est Est will be served with superb regional food.

The Opera on the first night of the tour will be Tosca, this is included in the tour price. You also have the option on the second night to purchase 1st category tickets to Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla.

About Carmen: This French Opera by Georges Bizet is set in the mid 19th century in Seville in Southern Spain and tells the tragic love story of Don José and his ensnarement by Carmen away from his fiancée Micaela. It features the superb overture as well as the rousing March of the Toreadors and the Habanera. We believe that this will be Elina Garanca’s first international outing as Carmen and we eagerly await her interpretation.

Hear Elina Granca sing the Habanera L’amour est un oiseau rebelle, on You Tube. Click here

The Cast

Elīna Garanča – Prolific Mezzo-Soprano from Latvia, very much a rising star. This spring Elina was triumphant at Covent Garden as Romeo in Bellini’s tragic masterpiece ‘I Capuleti e i Montecchi’ alongside Anna Netrebko as Juliet. (We saw her in this and she was as The Spectator described her – “beyond praise”!) Their recording of this superb but under-performed opera has just been released under the Deutche Gramaphon label. She seems to be an almost a permanent feature at the Vienna Staatsoper and has appeared as Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte at Covent Garden too. It has been said that Elina doesn’t look much like a Carmen, perhaps so, but she doen’t look much like a Romeo either! To read critical acclaim and hear recordings visit the website of Elīna Garanča

Marcelo Àlvarez – Internationally acclaimed tenor from Argentina whose past performances have included many of the great Operas of Verdi and Puccini. He is arguably the greatest singer of the heroic Verdi tenor repertoire on the operatic stage today. His Don Jose at Covent Garden in March last year quite superb. Visit the website of Marcelo Àlvarez