11, 12, 14 Sept. Young musicians of the S. Cecilia Opera Studio – Ensemble Novecento conducted by Carlo Rizzari and directed by Cesare Scarton, perform a double-bill in scenic form of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Ravel’s one-act comic opera is set in 18th-century Toledo.

The clockmaker Torquemada has to spend a day away servicing the town’s public clocks. This leaves the coast clear for his wife Concepcion to pursue her complicated love affairs. This witty, elegant and brilliantly orchestrated work, first performed in 1911, was an immediate success and has remained popular ever since. Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi is probably better known.

First performed in 1918, the libretto by Gioacchino Forzano is based on the Canto XXX of Dante’s L’Inferno. It is Puccini’s only comedy and a piece of great technical brilliance telling a story of greed, deception and friendship. Performances begin at 20.30.