Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore ****
The Royal Opera, 27th May 2017
This was meant to be Pretty Yende’s night. The South African soprano, praised for her bel canto feats at houses like The Met and Paris, was making her much-anticipated Royal Opera debut as Adina, the beautiful landowner playing hard-to-get in Donizetti’s joyous comedy, L’elisir d’amore. In the end, it was the Armenian tenor singing country bumpkin Nemorino who stole hearts. Liparit Avetisyan wasn’t quite making his Royal Opera debut, having performed in a single La traviata earlier this season. His appearance here saw Avetisyan replace the originally scheduled Rolando Villazón.
Pretty Yende (Adina) and Liparit Avetisyan (Nemorino)
© ROH | Bill Cooper
Read the full review on Bachtrack.