Verdi was justifiably pleased with Macbeth, his tenth opera and his first on a Shakesperean subject. He conducted its triumphant première in Florence in 1847, taking thirty calls at the final curtain, and it would long remain his own favourite among his ‘early period’ operas.

Eighteen years later, at the invitation of the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, he substantially revised the score, and it is this version (sung in Italian) which has prevailed and is presented on this DVD by the forces of La Fenice, Venice.

Driven to bloody regicide by supernatural prophecies and his wife’s obsessive ambition, Macbeth is one of Verdi’s most profoundly modern anti-heroes – a political animal doomed by his very success.


Filmed at the Sferisterio Opera Festival, Macerata, Italy, 2–5 August 2007

Macbeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Giuseppe Altomare
Lady Macbeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olha Zhuravel
Banco . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pavel Kudinov
Macduff . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rubens Pelizzari
Malcolm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marco Voleri

Fondazione Orchestra Regionale delle Marche
Coro Lirico Marchigiano ‘V. Bellini’
Daniele Callegari
Director, set and costume designer: Pier Luigi Pizzi
Choreographer: Gheorghe Iancu