Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball)

Censored in the wake of the attempted assassination of Napoleon III and based on the story of Gustav III, the Swedish king who was murdered during a masked ball, Un ballo in maschera sets a tense love triangle against the background of a murderous conspiracy.

Reason and superstition vie for supremacy as Amelia struggles to remain faithful to her husband in an opera that was dubbed ‘Verdi’s Tristan’. Vivid choral writing – the closing hymn perhaps Verdi’s finest – and glittering dance music provide counterpoint to an intimate portrait of three people whose conflicted loyalties are tested in public and private.