24 July, 2015 – In Genoa in 1339, at night, in a square with Palazzo Fieschi… The new Doge is about to be elected and the plebeian party, headed by Paolo Albiani, and the aristocratic party, linked to nobleman Jacopo Fiesco, are clashing. Albiani confesses to Pietro that he supports the accession of Simone Boccanegra, a corsair who rendered great services to the Republic of Genoa, and expects in return power and wealth. Thus begins “Simon Boccanegra,” an opera by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, from the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez. First staged on 12 March 1857 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, today “Simon Boccanegra” will make a stop in Beijing at the National Grand Theatre on August 20-23. Meanwhile, on Monday, August 3 at 6pm, the Theatre of the Italian Institute of Culture is planning a meeting with Giuseppe Cuccia, Artistic Advisor for Western Opera at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, aka the Beijing Opera. Cuccia will take the audience on a discovery of a melodrama that didn’t convince the audience back in the 19th century: more recent times and a more mature audience were fundamental pre-requisites to understand Verdi’s depth. “Simon Boccanegra” reveals a litigious world, corrupted and unfair, where patricians and plebeians are fighting each other. Amid all this, there is the old Doge and former privateer Boccanegra, forced to quell raging riots, stupidity and betrayal.
