Dating from 1843, I Lombardi is Verdi's fourth opera; it was written only a bit more than three years after Oberto, his first one. It is preceded by only a single one of Verdi's "great" operas: Nabucco was written the previous year. It was then followed by a string of five relatively unknown pieces. The next true Verdian repertoire piece, Macbeth, would not be written until 1847. Verdi composed I Lombardi for Milan's La Scala, as was the case with all three of his previous operas. It is an interesting fact that the work's Hungarian première did not take place until 1974. This time, the four-act opera set to a libretto by Temistocle Solera will be performed by a cast of international stars. Portraying the brothers Arvino and Pagano, respectively, will be the Mexican-American tenor Galeano Salas, grand prize winner of the Third Éva Marton International Singing Competition, and the Italian bass Michele Pertusi, a regular guest at the world's top opera houses. The Sardinian-born Italian tenor Piero Pretty is a dedicated singer of Verdi, but he is no stranger to the bel canto repertoire or the world of Puccini, either. Giselda, the daughter of Arvino, will be sung by a superb Georgian soprano with an exciting personality: Nino Machaidze. The noted Croatian conductor Ivan Repušić worked in Hannover, Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin and Prague until 2017, when he took over the helm of the Munich Radio Orchestra, an ensemble that was established in 1952.

Artistic co-production of the Munich Radio Orchestra and Müpa Budapest.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest