CATERINA CORNARO

Cast

Conductor Riccardo Frizza
Director Francesco Micheli
Set designer Matteo Paoletti Franzato
Costume designer Alessio Rosati
Lighting designer Alessandro Andreoli
Dramaturge Alberto Mattioli
Visual designer Matteo Castiglioni
Assistant director Paola Brunello
Assistant costume designer Stefania Coretti

Characters and performers

Caterina Cornaro Carmela Remigio
Andrea Cornaro Fulvio Valenti
Gerardo Enea Scala
Lusignano Vito Priante
Strozzi Francesco Lucii
Mocenigo Riccardo Fassi
A Knight of the King Francesco Lucii
Matilde Vittoria Vimercati

Donizetti Opera Orchestra
Accademia Teatro alla Scala Chorus
Chorus Master Salvo Sgrò

New production by Fondazione Teatro Donizetti in
co-production with Teatro Real in Madrid

Synopsis

In Venice, the ambassador Mocenigo bursts into the ceremonial hall where the wedding between Caterina and Gerardo, a young Frenchman, is being prepared and causes the ceremony to be suspended. In a private conversation with Andrea Cornaro, Caterina's father, Mocenigo reveals that the Council of Ten has authoritatively assigned Caterina to the King of Cyprus, Lusignan. After the annulment of the marriage, Caterina and Gerardo plan to elope, but Mocenigo prevents them and warns Caterina that any attempt to evade the decision of the Venetian government would result in Gerardo's murder: she will have to make him understand that she no longer loves him and will have to send him away forever. Caterina receives her beloved while Mocenigo's soldiers, hidden, spy on the meeting. Gerardo endures Caterina's false confession with disarmed consternation.

Some time later, in Cyprus, Mocenigo plots to stir up an uprising to make Venice master of the island, and to eliminate Gerardo, who is there to meet Catherine and force her to confess the true reasons for her sudden refusal. Lusignan, the legitimate king of the island, now aware that his marriage to Caterina is part of a Venetian plot, nevertheless manages to foil the ambush set by Mocenigo against Gerardo, not yet knowing, among other things, the sentimental relationship between him and Caterina. For his part, Gerardo, knowing the identity of the man who saved his life (and stole his betrothed), puts aside his resentment: the two swear mutual support against the common enemy Mocenigo, the expression of Venetian power.

Gerardo asks the queen for an audience and is recognised by her. The still living love makes the meeting very intense and painful, but both know they must sacrifice it to the moral obligations they are bound to towards Lusignan. Gerardo reveals to Caterina the plot to eliminate the king, but is interrupted by Mocenigo, who tries to involve Caterina in the revolt, on pain of being accused of betrayal of her husband; Lusignano himself intervenes in defence of the bride: by now the games are exposed, war with Venice inevitable.

While a battle rages, the ladies of the court, in desperate consternation, describe the turmoil around them. Catherine prays for her husband, and rejoices when she is joined by the victorious inhabitants and warriors of Cyprus; but her joy is short-lived: Lusignan, mortally wounded, drags himself towards her supported by Gerard. He came, dying, to entrust her with the fate of her people, in the name of regained freedom. Catherine does not back down: she asks the people of Cyprus, gathered around her as their new queen, for a pledge of allegiance.