I Lombardi (Dec. 21, 1993)

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist: Temistocle Solera

Levine; Flanigan, Pavarotti, Beccaria, Ramey

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Approximate running time: 2 hrs. 21 min.

James Levine’s love for this seldom-heard score infuses every measure of Verdi’s music. Superstar Luciano Pavarotti heads the cast as the Muslim warrior prince Oronte who converts to Christianity out of love for the Italian Giselda (Lauren Flanigan)—before dying of the wounds he received in battling the Crusaders. Samuel Ramey is the Crusader-turned-hermit Pagano. Mark Lamos’s striking production has sets by John Conklin and costumes by Dunya Ramicova.