Strong in character, with beautiful phrases and passionate reflection, the tenor Saimir Pirgu in the main role gives this “Ernani” the brilliance that a festival production needs. This is how European criticism describes the interpretation of the Albanian artist.

With the opera “Ernani”, which opened its new edition yesterday, the Bregenz Festival in Austria offers a relatively rare work performed by Giuseppe Verdi, the early opera overshadowed by his later masterpieces.

You didn’t want to take such a story seriously in 2023. Three men want the same woman. One, Don Carlo, is a man of brute and macho power and, like the later Emperor Charles V, makes his own rules anyway. The other, Duke Silva, is an old man, obsessed with his belief that, based on tradition, he has a right to the woman we don’t know much about. The third and youngest, Ernani, is the one she loves. As a rejected nobleman, he has turned into a bandit, a Robin Hood of her heart.In terms of its aggressive emotionality, the play in four acts is in no way inferior to that of domestic politics. The central motifs are revenge and power. 

Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu triumphs in the role of Ernan, say the critics. He convinces throughout the show with powerful high tones and heroic glamor.This year, the Bregenz Festival offers more than 70 artistic events until August 20, for which 215,000 tickets have been issued – at least 90 percent were booked before the start.

/k.s/