Opera aan de Schie

06/09/2026

Delcanto is een operastichting voor gevorderde amateurs en (semi)professionals in Delft en en omstreken en staat onder leiding Tamara Obreskova.

18/08/2025

De landelijke opening van Open Monumentendag (13 en 14 september) trapt al op vrijdagavond 12 september af in Schiedam. Ja, je leest het goed: we beginnen gewoon een dag te vroeg – omdat we er zóveel zin in hebben. Hier alvast een voorproefje met allerlei bijzondere plekjes in deze stad (en nee, we verklappen nog niet alles).

11/09/2024

26/08/2024

Giuseppe Verdi in Piazza della Scala, Milan, 1890

A documented and amusing anecdote about Giuseppe Verdi involves his opera *Un Ballo in Maschera* (A Masked Ball) and the censors in Naples.

When Verdi originally composed the opera in 1857, it was based on the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden during a masked ball. However, the Neapolitan censors were extremely nervous about portraying the assassination of a monarch on stage, fearing it might incite political unrest. They demanded that Verdi change the setting and characters to something less politically sensitive.

Frustrated by their interference, Verdi jokingly suggested the most absurd alternatives, proposing that the opera could be set in the ancient Roman Empire or even have the characters as cavemen to satisfy the censors' concerns. Eventually, the opera was set in colonial Boston, and the characters were given new identities. The assassination plot remained, but the setting and context were altered to appease the authorities.

Verdi's sarcastic suggestions highlighted his frustration with the censorship he faced, and the situation underscores the challenges composers of his time had to navigate when their art intersected with politics. Despite these obstacles, *Un Ballo in Maschera* became one of Verdi's enduring works, and the story of its creation is a testament to his resilience and wit.

14/08/2024

A chance discovery introduced me to the composer’s work with abandoned children. The more I learned, the more I wondered about the creative role they played in his music

07/08/2024

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s music director, will extend his contract and lead Wagner’s four-opera epic, in a production staged by Yuval Sharon.

02/07/2024

Only one copy survives of Carolina Uccelli’s 1835 opera “Anna di Resburgo.” The story behind it is a human one, touching and somewhat sad.

21/05/2024

The first Scarpia: Eugenio Giraldoni, who sang in the premiere of Tosca, was born in 1871. It was a family tradition - his father Leone Giraldoni was the lead baritone in the premieres of Boccanegra and Ballo, and his mother Carolina Ferni created Catalani’s Loreley.