Heritage Opera presents Donizetti’s ‘Elixir of Love’
Professional touring company Heritage Opera makes its debut appearance at SJE with Donizetti’s comic masterpiece “The Elixir of Love”, semi-staged and sung in English, and accompanied by the Oxford-based Isis Chamber Orchestra. This wonderful opera is jam-packed with memorable tunes, including the famous tenor aria “Una furtiva lagrima”.
In rural England, early 1940s, land girl Adina is pursued by two would-be suitors: the simple-minded Home Guard volunteer Nemorino and the cocky Sergeant Belcore. When the spiv “doctor” Dulcamara visits the village with his miracle cures, Nemorino asks if he has an “Elixir of Love”. Ever the salesman, Dulcamara repurposes a bottle of cheap wine to the credulous Nemorino. But then, magically, the “Elixir of Love” seems to have its desired effect…