Meli & Salsi Opera Recital
Taking place at Venice's Gran Teatro La Fenice, the Meli and Salsi opera recital features two illustrious male operatic performers and a highly respected pianist. The concert, performed by the tenor Francesco Meli and the baritone Luca Salsi, features a carefully selected programme of works by the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt as well as some much-loved music by Giuseppe Verdi. This intimate recital in a world-class opera house offers audiences a chance to hear some great music performed in a stripped-down manner, with the talent of both singers truly able to shine through.
The programme opens with a selection of arias from Verdi's Don Carlos, first performed at the Paris Opéra on 11 March 1867. The recital commences with a rendition of 'Io la vidi e al suo sorriso', an aria Verdi scored for the opera's title character in which he expresses his love. This is followed by 'È lui!… desso… l’Infante!' and 'Son io, mio Carlo… Per me giunto è il dì supremo… Io morrò ma lieto in core', sometimes also known as 'Per me giunto è il dì supremo'. The latter is an emotive duet for tenor and baritone, the perfect choice to showcase the vocal talents of both Meli and Salsi.
The programme then shifts to Franz Liszt with Widmung S.566, a piano piece the composer transcribed from a prior work by Robert Schumann. A Romantic interpretation of Schumann's song of the same name, this instrumental section of the concert highlights the musicianship of Nelson Calzi, the accompanist for the recital. Calzi has been a master collaborator at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan since 2002.
Several excerpts from Verdi's La forza del destino – The Power of Fate – an opera that premiered on 10 November 1862 at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg, follow. Among them are 'La vita è inferno all’infelice… O tu che in seno agli angeli', a tenor aria in which Alvaro prays for Leonora, believing her to be dead. Another is 'Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo', a baritone aria sung in the opera's third act, in which Don Carlo confronts Alvaro.
The recital is rounded off with a further piano piece, Liszt's Rigoletto. Paraphrase de concert, S.434, followed by more music by Verdi, this time from Otello, an opera first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Both singers provide dramatic and musically nuanced interpretations of all the chosen arias. Meli, a highly regarded recital singer, has sung solo at La Scala before, as well as in numerous other locations around the world. His Italian countryman, Salsi, has also performed as a solo recitalist and taken on many roles in operatic productions internationally.
With three such esteemed performers and such an interesting selection of operatic excerpts plus spellbinding piano music, this concert is sure to delight from start to finish.