Giuseppe Verdi's Masked Ball at the Cluj Napoca Opera House

Giuseppe Verdi's Masked Ball was composed in 1859 and its premiere was held at the Apollo Theatre in Rome on February 17th, 1859. The opera is inspired by the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden in 1792, but it lacks accuracy for two important reasons. On the one hand, the source of inspiration itself was a romanticized presentation of the events, respectively, during the composition of his work, Verdi was imposed by censorship to make changes in the action because of political sensitivity of the subject and / or suggestions of anarchic nature could be suggested.

In 1833, French playwright Eugene Scribe described the events that led to the assassination of King Gustav III in the homonymous play Gustave III. The only real things that Scribe has kept are some historical names that were involved, and the murder conspiracy itself from the masquerade. The rest, characterization, characters, romantic story, fortune telling, betrayal of friendship, etc. are the results of fiction of the French author.

Verdi's opera is based on the play of Scribe and not on historical facts. Yet it was considered by the royal censorship as being too much, and so the action will take place in the New World in Boston, instead of Europe, the period will be loosely suggested as the early 1700s, so the North Americans British colonial character assassination rank will be dropped from the monarch to the colonial governor, and the character itself will be none other than Riccardo (Richard), Count (or Earl) of Warwick.

The Cluj Napoca Opera House will present a new staging of Verdi's masterpiece, under the artistic direction of mezosoprano / director Roberta Mattelli. A graduate of the F. Vlach Conservatory from Perugia, Roberta Mattelli directed so far more opera titles such as Carmen by G. Bizet, Nabucco by G. Verdi at "Le Pin Galant" La Traviata and Masked Ball by G. Verdi, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute by WA Mozart at the "Opera de Massy".

The cast consists of experienced soloists of the Cluj Napoca Opera, known throughout the country. Tenor Marius Vlad Budoiu will sing the role of Riccardo, soprano Carmen Gurban will perform the role of Amelia, baritone Florin Estefan, manager of the Cluj Opera House, will resume one of its favourite roles, Renato and mezosoprano Ioana Andrada Roșu will sing the difficult part of Ulrica.

In other roles I remind Oana Trîmbițaș (Oscar), Beniamin Pop (Samuel), Simonfi Sandor (Tom), Horațiu Ruști (Silvano).

The conductor will be the italian David Crescenzi, known for  his professionalism and the high level of each performance under his baton.