Last night (June 15), Barga’s own Sally Li earned standing ovations in Lucca with dazzling interpretations of Giacomo Pucccini, Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Trained in her native China and the United Kingdom, Ms. Li is an accomplished coloratura soprano, with the unusual vocal range and agility necessary to master opera’s most demanding roles. She demonstrated that range, as well as the crystal precision of her notes, with a heart-stopping rendition Puccini’s famous aria “O mio babbino caro” from “Gianni Schicchi,” a performance that opened a two-hour gala concert in the city’s ancient Basilica of San Giovanni.
Ms. Li followed up with an exuberant Violetta from Verdi’s “La Traviata,” in the Act One duet with Alfredo that launches Italian opera’s most memorable love affair, and a second celebrated love duet from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The backdrop — at least to her fellow residents of Barga – was a more personal duet with Riccardo Negri, proprietor of the immensely popular Osteria in Piazza Angelio. The two were married March 13 in the town’s “wedding of the year,” with a reception attended by several hundred of their many friends and admirers. Riccardo took the night off to videotape the concert.
Initially slotted for an open-air production in the Piazza Anfiteatro, the event was moved to San Giovanni when a ferocious storm struck the area. Notwithstanding the deluge, a wildly enthusiastic audience filled the basilica. The impressive Orchestra Sinfonica di Grossetto, under the baton of its entertaining conductor Andrea Colombini, accompanied the evening’s singers, who also included Nicola Simone Mugnaini and Riccardo Buoncristiani.
Article by Frank Viviano
