Director
Don Kent

Stage Director
Ermanno Olmi

Stage and costume designer
Arnaldo Pomodoro

Performers
Massimiliano Pisapia
Franco Vassallo
Chiara Taigi
Annamaria Chiuri
Eun Yee You
Herman Wallén

The Leipzig Ballet
The Choir of the Leipzig Opera
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly (conductor)


Recorded live at the Leipzig Opera in November 2005, this production of Verdi's celebrated Un Ballo in Maschera is a lively musical evening. Riccardo Chailly, who made a critically acclaimed start in his position as General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera with this staging, directs the Gewandhaus Orchestra and a cast of experienced Verdi singers in a collaboration between the Zurich and Leipzig Operas.

Un Ballo in Maschera - that ever-popular tale of love, power and political murder is set in 19th century America, and is as exciting as a thriller, but with a passion that can only be experienced in a Verdi opera, and Italian film director Ermanno Olmi (known for films such as The Legend of the Holy Drinker and The Tree of Wooden Clogs) staged it accordingly. The amazing visual effects in this production were created by the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodore who designed the fantastic colourful set and costumes a true masked ball that captures that Verdi magic.