New Phil Launches New Season with Donizetti’s “Elixer of Love”
Under the baton of music director and conductor Kirk Muspratt, New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), opens 2025 with a concert presentation of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 25 and 3 p.m. Sunday, January 26. The Elixir of Love is one of opera’s best examples of bel canto, and the perfect opera to chase away a winter chill.
With no money, no confidence, and no hope of winning the hand of rich and alluring hotel owner Adina (Alisa Jordheim, soprano), the young and poor waiter Nemorino (James Judd, tenor) entrusts his chance of romance to a quack salesman, Dulcamara (David Govertsen, bass), and a dubious bottle of a magic elixir. Adina’s friend and town gossip Giannetta (AddieRose Brown, mezzo soprano), and the egocentric Sergeant Belcore (Jonathan Wilson, baritone) help stir the pot of humor and emotion in this entertaining bel canto opera, sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Throughout his lifetime, Italian-born Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797-1848) composed 70 operas, including Anna Bolena, The Elixir of Love (“L’elisir d’amore”) and Don Pasquale, plus 20 string quartets. The Elixir of Love became an instant classic and has remained continually in the international opera repertory. It is recognized as one of the finest examples of all bel canto opera, a style of opera where the primary focus of the music is on the beautiful vocal lines. Today it is one of the most frequently performed of all Donizetti’s operas and has been in the top 15 operas on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide multiple times.
New Philharmonic presents a concert performance of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love at McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., on the campus of College of DuPage, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 25 and 3 p.m. Sunday, January 26. Tickets are $67. For tickets visit AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000.
