In today’s operatic climate of cutbacks, it is difficult to imagine a time when a regional city like Hartford could attract a world-class line-up of singers such as this. One can easily envision scores of New York opera fans boarding the Metro North for the chance to attend this performance. Franco Corelli in the title role is legendary, singing with both beauty and power. Freed from the autocratic rule of Rudolf Bing, he even interpolates a few high Cs to the audience’s delight. Raina Kabaivanska as Elisabetta offers a silvery soprano fully equal to the role’s dramatic and vocal demands.

Louis Quilico, a world-class Verdi baritone whose era was crowded with voices of similar caliber, brings nobility and fervor to the part of Posa. Oralia Dominguez unleashes wild abandon as Eboli, while Nicolai Ghiaurov embodies the stoic suffering of Filippo with gravitas and resonance.