Based on a play by Lord Byron, The Two Foscari, Verdi’s early opera delves into the dark underside of picture-postcard views of tourist Venice – a world of vendettas, denunciations, wrongful arrests, torture and exile.

The elderly Doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari, finds that he is powerless to defend his son Jacopo Foscari against the evil punishments falsely inflicted on him by their sworn enemy, Loredano, despite the passionate interventions of Jacopo’s wife Lucrezia.

Composed in 1844, Verdi’s opera builds on the earlier successes of Nabucco and Ernani  The 30-year-old composer is exploring new directions in dramatic structure, mood, characterisation and orchestral sonority, and even experimenting with the Leitmotif technique – a distinctive theme to depict each character in the drama – some years before Wagner.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Verdi’s rarely performed early masterpiece in all its brooding magnificence.

This is a concert performance sung in Italian with English surtitles.

5:15pm: Pre-concert talk (free to ticket holders)

Please note the venue doors will open at 5pm.