Amica
Poème dramatique in Two Acts
Libretto by Francesco Paul Bérel
Filmed at the Palazzo Ducale, Martina France, Italy, 4–6 August 2007

Amica . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Anna Malavasi
Giorgio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David Sotgiu
Rinaldo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pierluigi Dilengite
Maître Camoine . . . . . . . . . . . .Marcello Rosiello
Magdelone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Francesca De Giorgi

Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia
Slovak Chamber Choir
Conductor: Manlio Benzi
Director: Pavel Procházka
Chorus Master: Alessio Pizzech

A rarely performed or recorded opera, Amica’s extravagant scenic and vocal demands contributed to the opera’s neglect until now.

Set in the Savoy mountains around 1900, Amica is a ‘dramatic poem in two acts’ involving two brothers, Giorgio and Rinaldo, whose love for the eponymous Amica culminates in tragedy.

While today numbering amongst his least performed works, Amica was initially a triumph, praised for its ‘passionate accent’ and ‘impulsive sincerity’ by a contemporary critic, and deemed ‘most worthy of re-revaluation’ according to the composer’s biographer.