a bel canto masterpiece

Bellini's final work, a rousing bel canto set during the tumult of the English Civil War concerns a secret love that goes against the social and political divide that drives one of the lovers to the very edge of madness, a universal theme throughout his career. Diana Damrau and Javier Camarena star, as Maurizio Benini conducts.

Considered a lyrical jewel, I Puritani depends on its lead in Elvira, the young puritan woman who falls for a Catholic man Arturo, but is devastated when she realises her father, the general has other ideas.