LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Gaetano Donizetti
Dramma tragico in three acts.
Sung in Italian with English surtitles

23, 27, 29, 31 August

Director         Thomas Guthrie
Conductor     Oliver Gooch
Designer        Ruth Paton

With the Bristol Ensemble and If Opera chorus

Madly in love…
One of the most revered of 19th century operas, Lucia di Lammermoor follows the fortunes of Lucia (Lucy Ashton) sister of the Lord of Lammermoor, and the enmity they have for the Ravenswood family. Lucia is in love with Edgardo of the Ravenswoods, but her brother Enrico, has other plans for her matrimony.

The opera is a gothic thriller, complete with ghostly apparitions, duels and acts of revenge. But it has become most famous for the elongated, so-called ‘mad scene’ in which Lucia, having murdered her imposed husband Arturo, embarks on one of the most challenging and thrilling arias in the entire repertoire, ‘Il dolce suono’.

To project Donizetti’s beautiful music to full advantage, we have reconfigured the seating so that the audience surrounds the stage, creating an immersive experience for this most powerful of dramas.

With a stellar cast directed by Thomas Guthrie, an innovative and award-winning British director, and conducted by Oliver Gooch, Lucia di Lammermoor is the magnificent centrepiece of the If Opera 2024 season.

Join us and enjoy Belcombe Court’s beautiful gardens with your picnic and a drink at our pop-up bar.

This is an immersive in the round performance and you will have a great view wherever you sit