Il bravo (The Assassin) by Saverio Mercadante

Conductor Jonathan Brandani; Direction and Design Barbe & Doucet

Often compared to Verdi in terms of musical style,

Saverio Mercadante’s Il bravo is one of the works in which his comparison to Verdi are most evident. Despite its quintessentially Italian title, the plot is originally drawn from a James Fennimore Cooper novel and thus qualifies as one of the first operas to have been based on American literature. It’s an old tale set in 16th-century Venice.

The Bravo, a colloquial name for an assassin, is a tormented character who had long ago killed his wife in a fit of jealousy. Unjustly accused of plotting against the state, he has been forced by the Council of Ten to become their secret hired assassin, while his father is held hostage to force his obedience. The story also involves Pisani, a young man under sentence of banishment and in love Violetta who has been under the protection of the Bravo since the murder of her guardian by a would-be abductor.

Teodora, a wealthy foreigner living in Venice turns out to be not only Violetta’s mother but also the Bravo’s wife, whom he had not killed after all.

Sunday, October 21 – 5 p.m.

Wednesday, October 24; Saturday, October 27; Tuesday, October 30; Friday, November 2.