An unscrupulous king pressures a woman to marry him.  She resists, knowing her heart belongs to the man who truly loves her, the chief general in the king’s army. Into this love-triangle, toss in a scheming underling of the king, a sympathetic maid of the woman, a devoted best friend of the general, and you have all the ingredients for a gripping story.  Enhance the whole tale with a magnificent score, and you have a delightful opera, and, in fact, the first fully successful opera by the most prolific composer of the Bel Canto style, Gaetano Donizetti.  Though Donizetti composed 70 operas, only a small number of those are regularly staged these days.  We invite you to meet Zoraida di Granata, and enjoy an early work from a beloved composer.

Hosted by Pat and Janet