PRESS RELEASE
“DON CHISCIOTTE“
by Giovanni Battista Martini directed by Lollo Franco
Sat 5 and Sun 6 of April in Sala ONU
Palermo, April 5 2025.
Don Chisciotte is back on stage in Teatro Massimo’s production, directed by Lollo Franco.
The show is based on the hilarious musical divertissement of 1746 ‘Don Quixote’ by Franciscan Father Giovanni Battista Martini, erudite composer and Mozart’s teacher.
Martini’s Don Quixote, on a libretto by Tommaso Mariani, was originally composed as a musical intermezzo for Il castello di Atlante – an opera based on Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. The piece offers an unprecedented literary crossover, as Cervantes’ famous characters Don Quixote and Sancho Panza meet the sorceress Alcina narrated by Ariosto, in an original mixture of epic worlds.
On stage, Lollo Franco takes on the role of Miguel de Cervantes, who, enraptured by the charm of chivalric tales and animated by his fervid imagination, narrates a new adventure of his characters to the music of the intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Martini. He is joined by a talented cast of young singers who alternate in the performances: tenors Simone Fenotti and Luciano Giambra play Don Quixote, while mezzo-sopranos Michela Guarrera and Marta Di Stefano give voice to Nerina, and Nicola Franco, who also signs the dramaturgy together with Lollo Franco, is Sancho Panza.
Maestro Luca Quintavalle conducts the Teatro Massimo Orchestra, and as harpsichord soloist extraordinaire, described by Le Monde as ‘a revelation’. The sets and costumes are by Emilia Gagliardotto, the lighting by Antonio Giunta.
Runs until April 12. Tickets: Full price 10 €; Concession 8 €; Students4 €.
PRESS RELEASE (in Italian) here here
PHOTOGRAPHS here
Press Office
Fondazione Teatro Massimo
Giovannella Brancato
stampa@teatromassimo.it