L'ELISIR D'AMORE
Gaetano Donizetti
Event details
28 May - 21 July 2025
Donizetti’s most joyous and sparkling opera is packed with effervescent melodies and overflowing with warmth and humour. Returning after their vivid and opulent Il barbiere di Siviglia in 2023 are director Christopher Luscombe and designer Simon Higlett to bring this romantic comedy to life. We also welcome back Chloe Rooke to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra after conducting in our Gala Concert last summer.
When Nemorino despairs of winning Adina’s love, he is easy prey to Dr Dulcamara who sells him a bottle of elixir he can ill afford, and he swigs the entire contents in one go. Needless to say, it is not an elixir at all. However, the cheap alcohol has a powerful effect, enabling him to lose his inhibitions and enjoy a new-found confidence. Adina, who had been about to marry the swaggering soldier Captain Belcore, realises that her heart may belong elsewhere. The women of the village discover that Nemorino, unbeknownst to him, has inherited a fortune from his uncle and all of a sudden find him absolutely irresistible. Will these entanglements be resolved? Will the path of true love eventually be smoothed?
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
28 May - 21 July 2025
28 May - 21 July 2025
Cast & Creative Team
Cast
Adina
Madison Leonard
Nemorino
Oleksiy Palchykov
Belcore
Carles Pachon
Dulcamara
Richard Burkhard
Giannetta
Charlotte Jane Kennedy
Soldiers
Stephen Walker
Yonwaba Mbo
Creative Team
Conductor
Chloe Rooke
Director
Christopher Luscombe
Designer
Simon Higlett
Lighting Designer
Mark Jonathan
Movement Director
Rebecca Howell
Philharmonia Orchestra
Garsington Opera Chorus
Videos
Reviews
★★★★★
“Luscombe and his uniformly excellent cast understand that while comedy provides the surface appeal of Donizetti’s enduring piece, not far beneath lies an essential pathos”
George Hall, The Stage, 29 May
★★★★★
“As conductor, the excellent Chloe Rooke directed with all the verve, flexibility and passion the score demands. It goes without saying that the Philharmonia Orchestra were everything that international audiences have come to expect across the decades and that Garsington audiences have been privileged to enjoy for a good few years now”
Andrew Green, Opera Now, 29 May
★★★★★
“The outstanding director Christopher Luscombe relocates the action to post-World War II Italy, complete with smoky mopeds, military uniforms, and a piazza so inviting you half expect to see Sophia Loren saunter through it”
David Bulcher, Playstosee.com, 2 June
★★★★
“There’s a core of tender feeling at the heart of the comic froth, and the performers draw it out with some subtle acting”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, 29 May
★★★★
“In the opera’s hit number, Una furtiva lagrima, [Oleksiy Palchykov] … signed off with a beautiful pianissimo phrase that had the first night audience cooing”
Mark Pullinger, The Times, 29 May
★★★★
“Richard Burkhard ran the show as the quack Dulcamara, with a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye”
David Karlin, Bachtrack, 29 May
★★★★
“The imaginative direction of one of the finest opera directors around at the moment, Christopher Luscombe”
David Mellor, Mail on Sunday, 2 June