Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale is one of Gaetano Donizetti’s final operas. Shortly before his full-blown syphilis outbreak, the composer wrote his dramma buffo about an elderly gentleman seeking happiness and hoping to marry a young woman. The illness left Donizetti – surrounded by interlopers hoping to get their hands on his estate – to die tragically in an insane asylum.
In the opera, Don Pasquale is the victim of a mean joke: the beautiful young Norina pretends to be an innocent young thing, but after her wedding to Don Pasquale she turns into a downright shrew who makes life hell for her unsuspecting groom. Pasquale wants nothing more than to be rid of his young bride. «Anyone who marries at an old age is pretty naive», Norina concludes laconically, now that she can finally marry Ernesto, Pasquale’s nephew. Pasquale had originally forbidden the union, and jealously threw Ernesto out of the house.
In spite of the audience’s delight in the lesson taught to Pasquale, Donizetti also manages to generate sympathy for the title character. Norina and her ally Dottore Malatesta, Pasquale’s supposed advisor, cut dubious figures in this opera.
We’re presenting Donizetti’s Don Pasquale – in Christof Loy’s successful production – with a new cast: Bowing in the title role is the accomplished Italian baritone Pietro Spagnoli. The much-sought-after soprano Olga Peretyatko is Norina, and French baritone Florian Sempey appears in Zurich as Malatesta. Ensemble member Andrew Owens lends his lilting tenor to Ernesto. Mexican director Iván López Reynoso leads them all through Donizetti’s multifaceted score.

(Text by Opernhaus Zürich)