Opera in three acts (1859) 

Screening direct from Paris, an all-star new performance of Verdi’s lush and gripping drama.

A masquerade ball may seem like the place to be for a party, but its costumes and disguises can also encourage intrigue. Verdi’s opera was inspired by the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden at a ball in 1792. But to avoid the scandal of representing a regicide on stage, Verdi set the story in America, focusing on the impossible love between Riccardo (Matthew Polenzani), the governor of Boston, and Amelia (Anna Netrebko), the wife of his unforgiving best friend, Renato (Ludovic Tézier).

Blending lightness and seriousness, Verdi's music was a hit from the moment it premiered in Rome in 1859. Director Gilbert Deflo keeps the American setting but moves it to the time of Lincoln to better confront the world of reason and morality with that of intuition and belief. Speranza Scappucci conducts.