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OPERA NIGHT – OTELLO

It has one of the most arresting openings in all music and it simply never lets up after that: Verdi’s late masterpiece, Otello.

Verdi composed his towering penultimate opera when he was in his seventies. With a libretto brilliantly adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare’s tragedy of the Moor of Venice, this compelling work moves with alarming speed as Otello, the great general and statesman, is manipulated by his nihilistic ensign Iago into believing that his beloved young wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful with the officer Cassio.

Tonight’s production has a seasoned Verdi conductor in Myung Whun Chung but how will the three principal singers get on? Gregory Kunde, tenor, sings Otello; Leah Crocetto, soprano, sings Desdemona, his wife; whilst Lucio Gallo, baritone, sings Iago.

RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 13 July, 7pm-10pm