Last performances of the operas Caterina Cornaro, Il furioso on the island of St. Domingo and the diptych Il campanello and Deux hommes et une femme along with the concluding events of the Donizetti OFF, including presentations, the debut of the family opera “Il furioso Gaetano” and the Donizetti Brunch

 

Donizetti Opera 2025 is heading into its final days with the third weekend featuring as its central day the celebration of Gaetano Donizetti‘ sDies Natalis , Saturday, Nov. 29, with a program spread among Bergamo’s Donizetti theaters and venues, with performances, meetings and music for all ages around the last three performances of the scheduled operas.

Friday, Nov. 28, the day is dedicated to appointments outside the theater of the widespread exhibition Caterina Cornaro experience. A queen to remember: at 4 p.m., at the Gaetano Donizetti Music Library (Via Arena 9), which holds the composer’s precious musical and documentary collection, Fabrizio Capitanio, curator of the Donizetti Music Library, and Paolo Fabbri, director of the Centro Studi Donizettiani, will lead the public on a special tour, Caterina Cornaro in the Library, to discover the materials on display among the autograph sources and the history of the opera’s reception. Admission is free and free of charge.
At 5 p.m., in the nearby Donizettiano Museum, also located at 9 Arena Street, the public will be able to participate in the visit Donizetti, standing portrait, curated by Paolo Fabbri, to explore the figure of Donizetti through autograph scores, musical instruments, paintings, statues and personal objects. A journey that brings out the man and the artist in his most intimate and human dimension (guided tour €5.00, reservations required on Ticketlandia and for information info@museodellestorie.bergamo.it).
Finally, at 8 p.m., the diptych formed by The Bell and Deux hommes et une femme at the Social Theater.

On Saturday, November 29, Dies Natalis day, the city pays tribute to Donizetti with a full day of events that will open, as per tradition, in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore at 11:15 a.m. with Best Wishes Gaetano!, musical elevation by the ensemble of the Politecnico delle Arti of Bergamo interspersed with Our Letter for Gaetano, public reading of letters from high school children in Bergamo, the result of the creative writing workshop held by trainer Maria Teresa Galati (free admission). In addition, from the morning Donizetti’s Birthplace will be extraordinarily open to the public for individual tours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with guided tours by Clelia Epis at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (tickets on sale at donizettiopera.org).

At 3:30 p.m., the Donizetti Theater will host theparticipatory opera for families The furious Gaetano on the island of St. Domingo. Or rather the astonishing memoirs of a visionary musician. , preceded by a musical workshop at 2:30 p.m. Direction and dramaturgy are by Manuel Renga, musical dramaturgy by Alberto Zanardi created in collaboration with Mariagrazia Mercaldo, conducting by Giulio Arnofi, sets and costumes by Aurelio Colombo. In the pit the Ensemble Donizetti Opera will play the instruments of the Orchestra del Mare, made in the Opera prison lutherie from the wood of migrants’ boats. In the cast, actors Lorenzo Gatto (Gaetano Donizetti) and Michelangelo Canzi (Sancho, Donizetti’s special assistant) will join the voices of Matteo Mollica (Cardenio), Erica Artina (Eleonora), Camilla Vitaletti (Marcella), Lorenzo Liberali (Kaidamà and Bartolomeo) and Manuel Caputo (Fernando).
A story about acceptance and fantasy, the dangers of being alone, and how love and friendship can heal every wound. The play kicks off with a scene in which Maestro Gaetano Donizetti, aged and stricken by madness, is in a nursing home in a small French village; an Italian servant named Sancho has been assigned to his care. By now he is hardly involved in music; he lives alone, isolated and has a dull look in his eyes. When he regains some strength he locks himself in his room and reads, writes, talks to himself–no one knows how to help him anymore! Sancho, one spring day, takes advantage of the door left open by the Maestro and listens to him: Donizetti talks about his operas, his stories, his music. And as he does so, for a moment, his eyes shine again. Then an idea makes its way into Sancho’s head: why not retrieve one of the Maestro’s operas, written long before, and try with it to bring him back to his former vitality? The Furious in the Island of St. Domingo is just the thing. Recommended for ages 8 and up; tickets from €5.00 to €10.00 on sale at donizettiopera.org.

Also on Saturday, November 29, at 5:30 p.m. at the Feltrinelli Bookstore in Bergamo (Via XX Settembre), the last appointment of the Opera Stories review with the presentation of the volume Richard Wagner. The Ring of the Nibelung (Carocci) by musicologist Luca Zoppelli, who offers a reflection and insight into one of the cornerstones of romantic musical theater (free admission with reservations at donizettiopera.org). The day will conclude with a performance of Il furioso in the island of S. Domingo at 8 p.m. at the Donizetti Theater.

On Sunday, November 30 at 10 a.m., the appointment is renewed with. Breakfast with Gaetano: music, milk and imagination! at Gaetano Donizetti’s Birthplace on Borgo Canale Street: a singing workshop for families with children ages 6 and up, curated by Mariagrazia Mercaldo, with a small breakfast catered by the Nuna social cooperative. The workshop will end with a guided tour of the house where the composer was born, curated by Clelia Epis (admission with breakfast €12.00).

At 11 a.m., at the Ridotto Gavazzeni of the Donizetti Theater, the final concert of The Donizetti Brunch review will be held, titled Donizetti Songs featuring the six artists of the Bottega Donizetti – sopranos Lucrezia Tacchi and Cristina De Carolis, tenor Cristóbal Campos Marín, mezzo-soprano Eleonora de Prez and baritones Francesco Bossi and Pierpaolo Martella – accompanied on piano by Giulio Zappa, project coordinator. The proposal continues the collaboration with Opera Rara, a British cultural institution whose aim is to rediscover, study and popularize with recordings and live performances little performed or forgotten compositions, and will be an opportunity to hear new songs, arias, barcarole, cantatas for voice and piano composed by Gaetano Donizetti, some in world premiere, which Opera Rara has been bringing to light since 2023. After the concert there will be an exclusive brunch in the scenic Allianz Hall, curated by Tassino Eventi (single seat with brunch € 28.00, concert only € 15.00).

Finally, in the afternoon from 2:30 pm, at the nearby Puppet Museum, thanks to the collaboration with the Ravasio Foundation, it will be possible for children to participate in the creative workshop Puppets at the Opera, dedicated to Figure Theater inspired by Caterina Cornaro (admission €25.00 purchasable at the Museum); meanwhile, parents will be able to attend the last performance of Caterina Cornaro, at 3:30 p.m. at the Donizetti Theater, which closes the 2025 edition of the Donizetti Opera festival.