Italian Passions: An Evening of Bel Canto
Get tickets. Concessions: Students with valid ID; Over 65s; Unwaged; MU Alumni.
More about the festival including the full programme
Irish National Opera returns to Arts and Minds with a concert that celebrates the timeless beauty of bel canto singing. Expect soaring arias and heartfelt expressions of operatic masters such as Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini from singers Anna Devin and Gianluca Margheri.
Duration: 90 minutes, with interval
Venue: Aula Maxima (#29 on this map)
Widely admired for her “vocal control, artistry and musico-dramatic intelligence” (Opera News) Irish soprano Anna Devin has gained recognition for her interpretations of baroque and classical repertoire. Previous Irish National Opera roles include Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Elisabetta in Rossini’s Willian Tell, Musetta in a concert performance of Puccini’s La bohème, Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Anna’s 2024-25 season comprises of a full calendar of concert work, she will join Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra to sing Haydn’s Paukenmesse and will sing Handel’s Messiah in Benjamin Appl’s conducting debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Anna continues her affinity for the baroque with a new programme with the Academy of Ancient Music under Bojan Čičić in London and Cambridge. She will also sing Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Hill, Haydn’s Creation at the National Concert Hall under Peter Whelan and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra under Marios Papadopoulos.
Recordings include Puccini’s La bohème for Signum with Irish National Opera; Handel’s Arminio and Faramondo for Accent from the International Händel Festspiele Gottingen; Mozart’s Il re Pastore and Mitridate, re di Ponto with Classical Opera for Signum Classics; and Arias for Benucci with Arcangelo for Hyperion.
Anna is an alumna of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist program, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the National Opera Studio.
Gianluca Margheri - Bass-baritone
Born in Florence, Gianluca Margheri began to study music dramaturgy before studying singing at the Cherubini Conservatory of Music in Florence. In 2009 he won the Toti dal Monte International Competition in Treviso, and debuted as Villotto in Haydn’s La vera costanza under Jesús López-Cobos at Teatro Real Madrid, at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège and the theatres of Saint-Étienne, Rouen and Reggio Emilia. Recent highlights include his debut in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Hungarian State Opera), Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Opera Firenze), Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Teatro Massimo, Palermo), Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (Hungarian State Opera), the title role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Theater St Gallen), Asdrubale in Rossini’s La pietra del paragone and the Count in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari), and Talbot in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in Riga. He sang Asdrubale under Daniele Rustioni for his Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro debut, and Garibaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda for his Gran Teatre del Liceu debut in Barcelona. He made his INO debut in the title role of Vivaldi’s Bajazet and the production’s run at the Royal Opera House in London was nominated for two Olivier awards and won one. He is an enthusiastic concert singer with a repertoire encompassing works by Charpentier, Handel, Mozart, Fauré and Brahms. Conductors he has collaborated with include James Conlon, Zubin Mehta, Marco Armiliato, Friedrich Haider, Riccardo Frizza, Andrea Battistoni, Roland Böer, Alan Curtis, Jonathan Webb and Gabriele Ferro.