Jointly released by The NBR New Zealand Opera and the New Zealand International Arts Festival
MEDIA RELEASE
18 December 2003
NEW CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM MEMBERS FOR 2004 OPERA
The NBR New Zealand Opera and the New Zealand International Arts Festival announced today two amendments to cast and
creative team members previously announced, for next year's Telecom Opera The Elixir of Love:
* Italian tenor, Riccardo Botta, will now perform the role of Nemorino replacing American Richard Troxell. Mr Troxell
has recently withdrawn from the role for personal reasons.
* British lighting designer Jenny Kagan joins the creative team of distinguished conductor, Graeme Jenkins, British
director Daniel Slater and set and costume designer, Laura Hopkins. Ms Kagan replaces Rory Dempster.
Botta has performed Nemorino on a number of occasions with European opera companies including Netherlands Opera, Zurich
Opera and Teatro alla Scala. In this new New Zealand production he will perform the role alongside Canadian soprano,
Rebecca Caine (Adina), and fellow Italian, Riccardo Novaro (Belcore). New Zealanders, Paul Whelan and Katherine Wiles
currently based in the UK, return home to perform as Doctor Dulcamara and Giannetta, respectively.
Botta started his career at a young age, with a repertoire ranging from Mozart's Don Giovanni to Rimsky Korsakov's Sadko
to Verdi's Falstaff. In recent seasons Botta has made debuts in a wide range of roles including Ernesto in Don Pasquale,
Adolar in Euryanthe, the Italian tenor in Capriccio, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Ottavio in Don Giovanni and
Tamino on The Magic Flute, with conductors such as Gerard Korsten, Daniel Oren and Rafael Frubeck de Burgos. He has
worked widely in the opera houses of Italy, but has also appeared at the Semperoper Dresden, Staatsheater Stuttgart and
Opera Monte Carlo. Future engagements include Falstaff at Canadian Opera Company, Don Pasquale in Madrid, Les Troyens in
Leipzig, Gianni Schicchi and II Signor Bruschino at Lausanne, II viaggio a Reims at the Opera Narotdova of Warsaw.
Kagan brings a wealth of technical and design experience to the production. Recent designs have included lighting for
Oklahoma, Oliver and Les Miserable in the West End, and Pan, the lavish production immortalizing the antics of Peter
Pan, at Sydney's Capitol Theatre.
The Telecom Opera The Elixir of Love opens at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington on March 6 2004 through to March 14,
and then at Auckland's Aotea Centre, The Edge from March 25-31.
Ends.