Thank you all for joining us for
the 2024 Bel Canto season

We hope you enjoyed our performances of Anna di Resburgo
and I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

What the critics are saying about Carolina Uccelli and her ANNA DI RESBURGO

The New York Times (Joshua Barone) 
…a fantastic showing. If you’re an opera lover, get a ticket. Most important is the revelation that Uccelli never deserved to be overlooked; she may have been a beginner, but she was good.

The New Yorker (Alex Ross) 
"...a formidable achievement for a composer in her mid-twenties. It feels like the slightly overstuffed but hugely promising early work of a major voice [...] a wide-ranging musical mind that possesses historical consciousness and experimental intelligence in equal measure. “Anna” holds its own against many well-travelled bel-canto operas of its era […] The performance was an outright triumph […] Above all, there was a sense of justice being done. The present kept its appointment with the past, and an overlooked talent stepped into the light.

Musical America (George Loomis)
It is still possible to discover high-quality work that has never had a modern revival. Teatro Nuovo demonstrated this decisively with Anna di Resburgo…a work of strong passions and even psychological depth…an opera one can hope, and expect, to see again. 

Opera Today (Andrew Moravcsik)
Anna is an extraordinary, full-scale bel canto melodrama. It holds the audience’s attention for three hours with music that is technically confident, often distinctive, and occasionally brilliant. Its climax—a graveyard ghost scene with an aria for baritone and chorus, accompanied by an overpowering funeral march—reveals the unmistakable traces of genius.

The Wall Street Journal (Heidi Waleson)
…a tantalizing glimpse of what Uccelli might have become. She skillfully embraced and embellished the bel canto conventions, and the opera displays melodic facility and intriguing orchestration.

Broadway World (Richard Sasanow)
Could it possibly be any good? It could and it is. It was an eye-opener, a welcome addition to the opera scene at first hearing. It certainly sounded wonderful with the cast of first-class singers and the marvelous musicians of the Teatro Nuovo Chorus and Orchestra.

Opera Lounge [Germany] (Charles Jernigan)
The score bore out all the enthusiasm manifested by Maestro Crutchfield beforehand. The music is remarkable, unfailingly melodic and appropriate to the dramatic situation. It is an astonishing feat for an almost untried composer of around 23 or 24 years. The TN cast was superb throughout. 

Operawire (Francisco Salazar)
It was a minor miracle of sorts…brimming with invention, a strong grasp of form, and a solid and clear libretto (the composer herself revised the original). The score is full of glorious melodic moments…a strong sense of pacing...the orchestration is quite beautiful as well, feeling rather lush and in many instances more involved than what one would customarily hear... In all, there’s no denying that Anna di Resburgo is a very good opera. Who knows how much more she would have done with more opportunities? 

Observer (Christopher Corwin)
…music of startling immediacy…Uccelli has indelibly shown us the great potential she had.

Parterre Box (John Yohalem)
For lovers of bel canto, insatiable fans of sumptuous voices warbling (and ornamenting) intoxicating tunes, Anna di Resburgo is a delightful new kid on the block…

Inside Higher Education (Steven Mintz)
Recovered by Teatro Nuovo, an opera company founded in 2018 to revive classic Italian opera and showcase young talent, Anna is a gem. [The company’s] mission statement cites Giuseppe Verdi’s counsel: “Tornate all’antico e sarà un progresso”—moving forward requires relearning the past. We in the humanities should take that sentiment to heart.

Opera/Opera News (David Shengold)
The claims Crutchfield made for this extant stage work seemed justified by the performance. Uccelli understood the demands of writing for theatrical voices, pacing and building ensembles. Nothing failed to please on the musical level. In addition, the score reveals some effective and original choices of harmonies and instrumentation. 

OperaClick (Francesco Zanibellato)
One feels Rossini and early Donizetti as the most important influences, but the personality of the composer prevails, […] capable of using traditional forms in original ways to render the dramatic action, [...] inventive harmonies, and orchestral experiments that make her “a born opera composer” (as Crutchfield says). The cast was first-rate. The packed theater paid unhesitating tribute to the success of opera and interpreters alike. 

Please be on the lookout for our 2025 season announcement,
and we hope you’ll join us for another thrilling Bel Canto festival.

Learn more about how Teatro Nuovo restores a lost masterwork:

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