Our Opera Lovers Group met on Thursday 22 January 2026 for the three operas in Il Trittico composed by Giaccomo Puccini and which received their first performance in 1918. Puccini is believed to have started work on the set of three in 1904. The performance dates from 2012 and was staged by the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano.
The first piece takes place on a barge moored up on the River Seine in Paris where the barge owner has hired a group of dock workers to unload his barge. His wife has engaged in a secret affair with one of the crew and their aspirations for a happy life drives the plot forward. The barge owner has his suspicions and sets a trap for his wife which ends with disastrous consequences. To find for whom the consequences are disastrous, you will have to see the opera! The cast featured Lucio Gallo as Michele, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Giorgetta and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Luigi.
From Paris we moved to Siena in Central Italy for Suor Angelica, a sad tale about a nun, originally in a noble family, abandoned in a convent for 7 years for giving birth out of wedlock. The family hatches a plot to exclude her from her inheritance on the death of her parents, and the news is delivered to her by her aunt who is a princess. The cast featured Ermonela Jaho as Suor Angelica and Anna Larsson as the Princess.
The trio of pieces finishes with Gianni Schicchi and is set in Florence, Italy. A wealthy relative Buoso Donati is on his deathbed and passes at the start of the opera. All his relatives are at his beside hoping to share in the proceeds of his will. After a search of his house they discover his will and learn that all his wealth is to be donated to a monastery. The relatives hatch a plan to ensure that they receive the bulk of the estate rather than the monastery. One key aria in Gianni Schicchi is ‘O mio babbino caro” sung by Lauretta, Schicchi’s daughter. The cast featured Lucio Gallo as Gianni Schicchi, Ekaterina Siurina as Lauretta, and Francesco Demuro as Rinuccio (her would be fiancé).
Our next session will be on 26 March 2026 at 2pm and will feature The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet.