Arrigo Boito is remembered today for his only completed opera Mefistofele. The score for Nerone was left unfinished at the composer’s death – a performing version was completed by the composers Vincenzo Tommasini and Antonio Smareglia, along with Arturo Toscanini who conducted the world premiere at Teatro alla Scala in 1924. The narrative focuses on Emperor Nero during a time of conflict between beliefs in Imperial Roman gods and Christianity, and ends with tragic dramas amidst the Great Fire of Rome. With influences that include Wagner and Sibelius, Boito’s rarely performed Nerone uses a truly exciting harmonic palette delivered through a masterly handling of huge orchestral forces.

This recording is a disc edition from Dynamic label released in November 2024 (DYN38047 [DVD] and 58047 [Blu-ray]).

Conductor Francesco Cilluffo describes Nerone as the summation of Boito’s 60 years of life as an artist, and as ‘an opera sustained by a harmonic imagination that I would define as unique and without any direct precedent, but also destined to have no equals in the future’.

‘Francesco Cilluffo… is a splendid advocate for Boito’s complex score, drawing out the opera’s sombre harmonies and brassy monumentalism, and the chorus of the Teatro Lirico make splendid contributions’ – Gramophone

Cast:
- Nerone: Mikheil Sheshaberidze (tenor)
- Simon Mago: Franco Vassallo (baritone)
- Fanuèl: Roberto Frontali (baritone)
- Asteria: Valentina Boi (soprano)
- Rubria: Deniz Uzun (mezzo-soprano)
- Tigellino: Dongho Kim (bass)
- Gobrias: Vassily Solodkyy (tenor)