Donizetti was an enormously prolific composer – Don Pasquale is the 64th of his 66 operas, and was written only a year before the onset of the syphilis-induced dementia that was eventually to overwhelm him. In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that the diamond-bright wit and brilliance of this opera also has a distinctly dark side.

Don Pasquale is a man no longer in the first flush of youth who nonetheless hopes to marry and produce an heir, being dissatisfied with the current holder of that position, his nephew Ernesto. He intends to disinherit Ernesto, who has had the temerity to fall in love with Norina, an impoverished widow. The plot thickens, twists and turns from this point, as Pasquale’s supposed friend, Doctor Malatesta, assists Ernesto and Norina in a complex and increasingly vindictive deception.

Following her acclaimed debut as Adina in the 2011 Festival production of L’elisir d’amore, Danielle de Niese continues her exploration of Donizetti, performing the role of Norina.

The celebrated Italian baritone Alessandro Corbelli sings the title role.

When Mariame Clément’s production, designed by Julia Hansen, first appeared on the Glyndebourne Tour in 2011, The Daily Telegraph hailed it as an ‘astute and elegant staging […] depicting a bitter, poignant comedy of human folly’ and for The Independent on Sunday it was ‘a Don Pasquale with an edge; peppery and pungent’.

Live broadcast to cinemas and online on 6 August 2013, venues and booking details will be announced here in due course.

A revival of the 2011 Tour production
Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Property of Casa Ricordi, Milan (Universal Music Publishing Ricordi Srl) by arrangement with G. Ricordi & Co. (London) Ltd