2nd Haydneum Eszterháza Festival – J. Haydn: L’isola disabitata

The Haydn opera marking the name-day of Nikolaus in 1779, the premiere of which not even a theatre fire could derail. Haydn composed such glorious music for the plot of L’isola disabitata (The Uninhabited Island), performed with just four characters and no major set changes, that he later sighed: if only Paris could hear my short work! Under the baton of György Vashegyi, the opera returns to its birthplace. In the concertante performance the two female roles are performed by the marvellous New Zealand soprano Ella Smith and great Norwegian mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland.