Credits:

Andrea Battistoni

Description:

The little theatre at Busseto brought to fever pitchAn Attila full of energy, led by a young castVerdi’s Attila is an opera first performed in Venice in March 1846. Attila, king of the Huns in the first half of the fifth century, is written for bass and has been sung by the great basses of every generation.This release documents a performance given at the Festival Verdi in October 2010 – not at the Teatro Regio in Parma, but at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto, the small town near Verdi’s native Roncole, in an intimate house seating roughly 300, where the young cast sing with wonderful freedom. The title role is taken by Giovanni Battista Parodi, an Italian bass born in Genoa in 1976. A graduate of La Scala’s academy, he was cast here after his success in the title role of Oberto at the 2007 Festival Verdi (BRD 720104, DVD 720008). Odabella is Susanna Branchini, a Roman-born soprano who made he