Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, hailed by Muti as “the greatest mezzo-soprano of today,” as Santuzza; baritone Luca Salsi as Alfio; mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller as Lucia, Alfio’s mother; mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Lola, Alfio’s wife, and Alessandra Visconti as a villager.
Read MoreBeloved by opera audiences around the world, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana is an impassioned story of tormented love wrapped in music of fervent vibrancy. Riccardo Muti, whose command of 19th-century Italian opera is “virtually without peer” (Bachtrack), leads concert performances of the complete one-act opera with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and an international cast.
Read MoreThe second part of the evening was also on a very high level: Anita Rachvelishvili unveils the drama of a betrayed and disgraced woman, who had lost everything just because she had been in love with a man. The way she controls her voice is very impressive: powerful like a storm which destroys everything on its way, but also capable of light and caressing notes, as in "Inneggiamo il Signor non é morto."
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