Don Pasquale at La Monnaie De Munt

'I like to shine; I love joking'. The words of the coquettish Norina, the female character at the heart of Don Pasquale, Donizetti's 64th opera, whose success has remained uninterrupted ever since it was premiered in 1843. Donizetti, an experienced man of the theatre, adapted an existing libretto based on a timehonoured comic theme: an old bachelor wants to marry so as to safeguard his estate and is opposed in this, sometimes quite hilariously, by a young couple who are in danger of being thwarted by his plan. Although Donizetti employed the familiar patterns of the opera buffa, he was able to raise this farce to a higher level thanks to a tight plot, credible human characters, and tuneful recitative. The director Laurent Pelly seasons this humour and wry tenderness with a dose of surrealism and takes this acclaimed production to La Monnaie - together with a new cast and our Music Director Alain Altinoglu - for the perfect apotheosis of 2018!