L’Elisir d’Amore returns to Opera House

TIRANA, April 23 – L’Elisir D’Amore, an opera by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti returned to the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet this week eight years after making its premiere in Albania. Directed by Armand Bora, the comic opera brought at the Opera House stage Eriona Gjyzeli and Blerta Cina who replaced now internationally renowned Ermonela Jaho and Marjana Leka from the 2004 premiere.
The symphonic orchestra of the Opera House and its chorus are conducted by Italy’s Eddi De Nadai and Albania’s Dritan Lumshi.
The opera is staged again in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture in Albania and will be on at the Opera House also on April 28 and 29 at 19.00.
A comic opera in twp acts, L’elisir d’amore became a tremendous success after making its premiere in 1832 in Milan. Its amusing and witty plot describing relationships of a loving couple and beautiful, melodious and light music make L’elisir d’amore one of the most frequently performed 19th-century Italian operas.
The libretto of the opera, written after the French playwright Eugene Scribe’s comedy, is based on the legend about the magic love potion, taken from Gottfried von Strassburg’s courtly romance Tristan. The unexpected, mock interpretation of the medieval legend gives it a new meaning: people are capable of filling each other with the elixir of love and kindness without any magic potion. The feelings experienced by the opera’s characters – love, coquetry, rivalry, jealousy – are everlasting as life.