Vivaldi’s Scanderbeg ready to make premiere

TIRANA, Nov. 14 – Vivaldi’s Skanderbeg, an opera in three acts first performed in the early 18th century in Italy, is coming to the Opera House in Tirana as Albanian-Italian cooperation on the centenary of independence. The opera will make its premiere on November 18, few months after the stage of the Skanderbeg opera by Albanian composer Prenk Jakova. Italian musicologists Quirino Principe and composer Francesco Venerucci assisted in the recovery of the opera whose original score has been missing. The opera a co-production by the Albanian Theatre of Opera and Ballet, the Verona Academy and the Italian Institute of Culture will also be performed on November 19 and 20 at 19:00.
Scanderbeg, an opera in three acts composed by Antonio Vivaldi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Salvi, was first performed at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on June 22, 1718 to mark the re-opening of the theatre to public performances. While the libretto has been preserved only fragments of the original score remain.
Last June, the Albanian version of Skanderbeg, an opera named after Albania’s national hero, made its comeback at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet 44 years after its premiere. American tenor Roy Stevens was selected to perform the lead role of Skanderbeg in the opera composed by Prenk Jakova on the national hero’s 500th death anniversary in 1968. Skanderbeg’s role at that time was performed by renowned Xhoni Athanas. A cast of 200 artists performed in this mega production which the Opera House staged on the 100th anniversary of Albania’s independence.