LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

Central city opera

June 2009

SET DESIGN | Wilson Chin

COSTUME DESIGN | Terese Wadden

LIGHTING DESIGN | Duane Schuler

CONDUCTOR | John Baril

PHOTOGRAPHY | Mark Kiryluk | Wilson Chin

The Denver Post | Kyle MacMillan | June 2009

“Considerably enhancing the scene is director Catherine Malfitano’s bold staging, in which a castle tower at the back of the stage slowly rotates and fills with light, dramatically revealing the blood-stained Lucia. Malfitano adds two further imaginative twists, beginning with directing Petrova to perform nearly the entire scene on an open, curved stairway that runs down the side of the tower. In addition, she has Lucia kiss her brother, Enrico, on the lips, mistaking him in her hallucinatory state for her lover, Edgardo. This not only injects a welcome dose of ickiness to the story’s gothic quality but also drives home the brother’s shame.”

Boulder Daily Camera | Wes Blomster | June 2009

“...Central City Opera has combined the talents of veteran soprano Catherine Malfitano as director and youthful Russian-born coloratura Lyubov Petrova in the title role to give the world a whole new ‘take’ on the work. The result, seen Saturday in the performance that opened theCCO’s 2009 season in its historic mountain home, is stupendous, and the ovation shouted by the audience at its conclusion was the greatest heard here in years- indeed, perhaps in decades. For Malfitano it’s the psychological machinations behind the melodramatic events of the story that are of primary interest. She digs beneath the skin to make these characters human, not mere singing mannequins.”

Colorado Spring’s Gazette | T.D. Mobley-Martinez | July 2009

“I admit it. I’d never been a fan of Donizetti’s blockbuster opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’...[but] if any production could turn my feelings around about the ‘Lucia,’ it has to be the one I saw opening night at the Central City Opera House. In the hands of the spectacular cast and director Catherine Malfitano (who has played Lucia herself), ‘Lucia’ emerges as an evening of stellar vocal performances backed by an adept orchestra and real, bona fide acting. The total effect is gloriously engaging, as it was with the visceral jolt of the chorus thundering through the audience to the stage. In every movement and every phrase, you are immediately made complicit in the action.”

Topix.com | July 2009

“I attended Central City Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor on June 29 and was absolutely blown away by the intensity and excitement of the production, which is as memorable an evening (or afternoon) as I have ever spent in the opera house. The concept is almost Goth- vacillating between realism and melodrama and this makes the performance so special- and so apt in this most romantic of operas. Catherine Malfitano has done brilliant work with the principals: it is clear from the first note that we are dealing with a set of highly charged (or dare I say, insane) characters; driven relentlessly by their passions. ...Enrico is no stereotype: he brings to life a man who sacrifices his sister to political and dynastic imperatives and then pays a terrible price- evident in his anguished role as bystander in the Mad Scene. ...I had a totally engrossing, unforgettable night. ... ‘Great opera, up close.’”