Gozo’s Gaulitanus Choir has just returned from Sicily where it performed in Puccini’s opera ‘Manon Lescaut,’ at the Teatro Antico, Taormina. The opera was being presented at Taormina for the first time.

The choir said that the eye-catching production in the splendid open-air Sicilian stage was envisaged by Enrico Castiglione, and enfolded with the Etna spectacularly fuming very gently in the background.

The opera featured world-renowned soprano Martina Serafin in the title role flanked by top tenor Kristian Benedikt as her lover, De Grieux, with the Taormina Festival Orchestra directed by Dejan Savic accompanying. The production was also filmed for RAI 5.

The trip followed an invitation from the ‘Fondazione Festival Belliniano’ and its artistic director, Enrico Castiglione, who for several years has been responsible for the production, scenery and costumes for the Gaulitana’s annual operatic production, the choir said.

Led by its founder and musical director as well as Gaulitana: A Festival of Music Artistic Director, Colin Attard, this was the Gaulitanus Choir’s second appearance at Taormina, after its highly successful participation in ‘La Boheme’ in 2017 – when it made history by becoming the first Malta-based choir to participate in an operatic production abroad.

“Notwithstanding the taxing rehearsal schedule and the prevailing intense heat, the choir managed to visit several places in the eastern part of Sicily, namely Catania, Noto, Siracusa, Ortigia, Giardini Naxos, the Alcantara Gorges, Isola Bella and Taormina itself,” it said.

Photo: Gaulitanus Choir

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