Puccini Centenary Concert

perform three of Giacomo Puccini’s early works to mark the centenary of his death (1858-1924). The main item is Le villi, Puccini’s first opera, written to a libretto based on the same legend as the ballet Giselle. Entered in 1883 into a competition for one-act operas and rejected by the judges, Le villi was staged in Milan the following year and brought Puccini to the attention of Ricordi, the influential publisher, setting him on the path to fa...