Sara Cortolezzis makes her debut at Covent Garden as Hélène in Stefan Herheim's production of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes conducted by Speranza Scappucci

Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes; Sara Cortolezzis, Valentyn Dytiuk, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Quinn Kelsey, director: Stefan Herheim/Dan Dooner, conductor: Speranza Scappucci; Royal Opera House
Reviewed 3 October 2025

Verdi's problem French grand opera returns with Herheim's grand staging lifted by some superb solo performances 

Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes was his second attempt to write a full grand opera for the Paris Opera. His first, Jérusalem from 1847 had been a major rewrite of I Lombardi but Les vêpres siciliennes was supposed to start with a new libretto. The 1848 revolutions slowed things down, and by 1853 librettist Eugène Scribe had missed deadlines. Verdi was keen to work with Scribe and to create a five-act grand opera in the tradition of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (1836) and Le prophète (1849). But times were a-changing; musical taste alongside the social changes wrought by the 1848 revolutions and the creation of Napoleon III's imperial monarchy meant that five-act grand opera was starting to look old-fashioned.

Shortly after the premiere of Les vêpres siciliennes, Verdi would set to and create a French version of Il trovatore, Le trouvère which included a ballet alongside other changes yet was still recognisably Verdi's Italian opera rather than a grand opera. When Les vêpres siciliennes fell out of the repertoire at the Paris Opera it was to be replaced by Le trouvère. And La traviata would be performed in Paris both in Italian and in a French version by by Édouard Duprez, older brother of the tenor Gilbert Duprez. Yet Verdi's fascination with French grand opera continued, and he would return for a third, successful go with Don Carlos.

Les vêpres siciliennes has problems because Scribe suggested solving the time-constraint issues by using a previous libretto Le duc d'Albe, written 20 years earlier for Halévy (who refused it) and then offered to Donizetti (who partly set it to music in 1839). Thus the libretto was pointing back to grand opera of another era. Another problem was that the original had only four acts whilst Verdi pressed for the full five acts. Scribe duly obliged, but the final act of Les vêpres siciliennes has never really hung together. Though Verdi only solved the 'grand opera problem' fully in Don Carlos, his experience of working with the Paris Opera would affect all of his later works which are larger in scale with greater amplitude. The particular issues with Les vêpres siciliennes would be returned to rather more successfully with Un ballo in maschera.

Thanks to its length and the fact that French grand opera is still a rather undervalued genre, Les vêpres siciliennes does not appear too often on stages. The only two major productions in recent memory in the UK being Stefan Herheim's 2013 production at the Royal Opera House [see my review] and David Pountney's 2022 production of Welsh National Opera [see my review]. Those with long memories might remember the production at ENO in 1984 with Rosalind Plowright, Kenneth Collins, Neil Howlett and Richard Van Allan [it is on YouTube]

Herheim sets his production in the theatre, the conflict is presented as a theatrical one. The locus for this is the Palais Garnier which post-dates the premier of Les vêpres siciliennes by at least 10 years by which time Les vêpres siciliennes had disappeared from Paris stages entirely!

Herheim's production returned to the Royal Opera House last month for its second revival (the production debuted in 2013 and was revived in 2017). Despite my reservations about the production, that the Royal Opera is persisting with this prime piece of French grand opera is admirable. This revival was in the hands of revival director Dan Dooner and conducted by Speranza Scappucci making her debut as principal guest conductor.

Casting was somewhat topsy turvy with both soprano Marina Rebeka and tenor SeongJong Baek dropping out. The role of Hélène was shared between Joyce El-Khoury and Sara Cortolezzis with Ukrainian tenor Valentyn Dytiuk as Henri. On Friday 3 October 2025 we caught the performance with Sara Cortolezzis making her sole appearance as Hélène, Cortolezzis having impressed as Amelia in Opera North's production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra [see my review]. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo was Procida and Quinn Kelsey was Guy de Montfort, with Blaise Malaba as Le Sire de Béthune, Thomas D Hopkinson as Le Comte de Vaudemont.

Philipp Fürhofer's complex scenery still looks handsome indeed and thankfully the problem with the creaking and stage noise has not reappeared. But it has to be admitted that some of the moves are less than smooth and you notice the moving scenery in ways that are not idea.

The drama rather took some time to get going. There were quite a few young people in the audience, which is admirable indeed, but at the first interval (after Act Two) we heard some discussing whether they were going to stay. It did not help that in Act Two, the crucial scenes between Hélène, Henri and Procida were a little too close to stand and sing. There was no doubt that the voices were superb. In the first two acts Sara Cortolezzis made Hélène something of a remote icon, it was difficult to believe her relationship with Henri, but this was not helped by Valentyn Dytiuk being a performer who relied more on his voice than his physicality. That said, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's account of O tu Palerme was fine indeed and an indication of the beauties to come.

The plot only really gets going in Act Three and this benefitted from a truly outstanding performance by Quinn Kelsey [a fine Rigoletto at ENO back in 2014, see my review]. He really caught the opera's theme of the conflict of public duty and private passion. When Valentyn Dytiuk's Henri joined him the results were musically vivid and compelling. The ball scene perhaps did not quite keep up the intensity, but it managed the balance between spectacle and personal commitment. It was in Act Four that the performance really came together. Valentyn Dytiuk made Henri's solo vividly intense and his voice more than made up for a certain stiffness of character, then the scene with Sara Cortolezzis's Hélène, leading into the trio with D'Arcangelo and the stand-off with Kelsey. This singers made this gripping stuff, and you forgave that the production itself was disappointing.

Sara Cortolezzis made Hélène's personal conflicts compelling. She had a very fine sense of Verdian line whilst giving the more intimate moments a special feel. This was a fine performance indeed and I do hope that she returns to the Covent Garden stage too. Valentyn Dytiuk showed that when he had the right material, he could really create a musical character and perhaps with a longer rehearsal period he would have embodied Henri more. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo managed to make Procida tell even though the character is rather under-written and a bit comic cut out. It was, however, Quinn Kelsey who matched Cortolezzis for the most expressive and sophisticated performance of the evening.

The dramatic level dropped in Act Five. For a start, has anyone ever worked out why Hélène celebrates he wedding day by singing a bolero? Fine though it was. Cortolezzis made her change of heart touching. They brought off the will they, won't they tension though this takes too long, despite Ildebrando D'Arcangelo's remarkable turn as a murderous figure in a frock!

The smaller roles were all well taken and a particular shout out to Blaise Malaba who made the relatively thankless role of Le Sire de Béthune into something a bit special. 

In the pit, Speranza Scappucci brought out the large-scale ceremonial sweep of the music, relishing the richness of Verdi's orchestration for the large Paris Opera orchestra, yet the more personal scenes had an intimacy too.

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