Verdi, Falstaff – Wolf Trap Opera Company August 9, 2013

New production, sung in Italian with English supertitles. Approximate running time 3 hours

Verdi’s comic masterpiece of outsized ambitions and thwarted plots comes to The Barns for the first time in a sumptuous period production directed by Tomer Zvulun. Windsor’s wily wives rewrite the roadmap of trickery and teach the amorous knight a lesson in humility. Dean Williamson conduct’s Jonathan Dove’s brilliant soloistic orchestral reduction.

Verdi only wrote two comedies: one at the beginning of his career (King for a Day, seen at The Barns in 2008), and this one, which received its premiere in Milan in 1893 at the very end of his illustrious life. In addition to the gorgeous vocal solo writing and thrilling ensembles, Falstaff embodies that most important Verdian quality: tremendous heart.