Gianni Schicchi, the third of the three one-act operas that make up the Triptych, was composed in the spring of 1918 and premiered at the New York Metropolitan on December 14 of that year. It is Giacomo Puccini's only opera comic opera. The libretto tells of a hoax enacted against the family of the wealthy merchant Buoso Donati from Gianni Schicchi, a character known in 14th-century Florence for his acumen and wit. Upon the merchant's death, it is discovered with disappointment that Buoso, disinheriting all his relatives, has left his possessions to the friars of a convent; it is decided to resort to Gianni Schicchi to find an expedient with which to circumvent the will. Gianni Schicchi orders the deceased to be hidden in another room and takes his place to Buoso pretending to still be dying, and summons the notary to dictate his last will. Contrary to to what the Donati family expects, he names himself heir to the most conspicuous properties, intending to procure to his daughter a dowry that will enable her to marry Rinuccio, a young relative of Buoso. The mocked heirs would like to object, but the law punishes in the same way, with exile and the cutting off of the hand, those who substitute to a third person and his accomplices. They are then forced into silence, and the 'opera ends with a happy ending for the two young lovers.

Woody Allen, making his debut in directing an 'opera opera, debuted to Los Angeles where his original and ironic interpretation of Gianni Schicchi was received by the audience with great enthusiasm and enjoyment.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, but incompetence has never stopped me from jumping into things with enthusiasm."
Woody Allen

"Gianni Schicchi can be considered the masterpiece of Puccini's mature years. It seems no coincidence that after a life spent to composing melodramas, when the only challenge he had left from to face was writing a great play, he sought inspiration in the giant of the 19th century: Schicchi is to Puccini what Falstaff was to Verdi. A perfect marriage of libretto, music and theatricality, framed from a virtuosic orchestral fabric."
James Conlon

Woody Allen
A writer, director, actor, screenwriter and musician, Allen has written and directed 40 films in less than 45 years, including The Dictator of the Free State of Bananas, Annie and I, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Husbands and Wives, Bullets on Broadway, Everyone Says I Love You, Arrangements and Disagreements, Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He is the author of many plays and several collections of short stories.

James Conlon

One of the world's most distinguished conductors, he has conducted a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire with the most prestigious symphony orchestras in the United States and Europe. In addition to being music director of the Los Angeles Opera he is also music director of the Ravinia Festival (summer home of the Chicago Symphony Opera) and will celebrate his 30th season as music director of the Cincinnati May Festival, America's oldest choral festival. From 1995 to 2004 he was principal conductor of theOpera National in Paris, from 1989 to 2002 he was general music director of the city of Cologne, and from 1983 to 1991 music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. He has conducted more than 250 performances at the New York Metropolitan.
In the 2008-09 season at the Los Angeles Opera, Conlon conducted his first Wagner Ring in the United States, opening this season with L'Oro del Reno and La Valchiria. He is also pursuing, including with the outright debut of Walter Braunfels' company The Birds, the multi-year "Recovered Voices" project by which he seeks to bring to the Los Angeles Opera stages the music of composers who were victims of the Nazi regime. To this end, he has undertaken to include in the programs of both the Ravinia Festival and the Los Angeles Opera, the works of composers including Alexander von Zemlinsky, Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas, Kurt Weill, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Karl-Amadeus Hartmann, Erwin Schulhoff and Ernest Krenek.
Conlon, has conducted Mozart's The Magic Flute , Puccini's Triptych directed by Woody Allen and William Friedkin, and Madama Butterfly produced from Robert Wilson.
Also dedicated to teaching, Conlon continues his two-year residency at the Juilliard School, where he works with young artists at the school on a training project consisting of performances, symposia, and master classes. He will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and, as guest conductor, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the United States, as well as in Europe the NDR Sinfonie Orchester in Hamburg, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the National Philharmonic of Russia to Moscow.
Conlon has made numerous recordings for EMI, SONY Classical, ERATO, CAPRICCIO, and TELARC; participated in a DVD music column produced by DECCA; and appeared in several television series on PBS. In 2009 he also won two Grammy Awards, Best Classical Recording and Best Opera Album, for directing, with the Los Angeles production Opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, by Kurt Weill on the EuroArts label.
Recent awards include the American Liszt Society's medal for his special performances of scores, the 2000 Galileo Prize for his contributions to music, peace and art to Florence, and the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Crystal Globe Award for his efforts to on behalf of composers killed by the Third Reicht. Conlon is one of the first five recipients of theOpera News Award given to him for brilliant achievements in conducting works and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Juilliard School. He received the Zemlinsky Prize and was appointed, in 1996, Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government and, in 2004, was named "Commandeur." In 2002, James Conlon received France's highest honor, the Légion d'Honneur.

Sir Thomas Allen

is an internationally recognized star by the world's leadingopera theaters; he has been particularly acclaimed for his Billy Budd, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin, Ulysses and Beckmesser, as well as in the great Mozartian roles, the Count of Almaviva, Don Alfonso, Papageno, Guglielmo and, of course, Don Giovanni. His recent engagements include the title role in Gianni Schicchi at the Los Angeles Opera; that of the title role in Sweeney Todd; of the music master inAriadne to Naxos; and of the father in Hänsel und Gretel at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the New York Metropolitan; Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Don Alfonso, Ulysses and Don Giovanni at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Eisenstein at the Glyndebourne Festival; Don Alfonso at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals; Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen at the San Francisco Opera and Beckmesser in The Master Singers of Nuremberg, Don Alfonso at the Metropolitan in New York.

His next engagements include the from title role in Gianni Schicchi at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Don Alfonso for the Dallas Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Beckmesser at the Cincinnati Opera and a return to the New York Metropolitan as Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier.
He has been unanimously applauded on stages all over the world, in Europe, Australia and America, under the direction of the most prestigious batons and with major international orchestras.
Much of his repertoire has been recorded under the direction of such conductors as Solti, Levine, Marriner, Haitink, Rattle, Sawallisch and Muti.

Santo Loquasto

Designer for theater, film, dance and opera has won 3 Tony Awards and has been nominated 14 times. He has worked with Woody Allen on 24 films, as costume designer for Zelig, as production designer for Radio Days and Bullets on Broadway, for which he received Academy Award nominations. His are the recent set designs for Inherit the Wind, 110 in the shade, Uncle Vania, A Man for All Seasons and Waiting for Godot. For the Metropolitan Opera House he designed the sets for to View from the Bridge and Salome. He earned the Merritt Award for "Excellence in Design and Collaboration" in 2002 and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2004, received the Arts Award from the Governor of Pennsylvania in 2006 and the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007.

StephenCostello
Stephen Costello's debut on opening night of the Metropolitan's 2007-08 season Opera, heralds the arrival of a great new tenor. His performance as Arturo in the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor under the baton of James Levine brings him to singing the role of Edgardo in the same season.
Companies all over the world have mobilized quickly to engage this 27-year-old Philadelphia native. His most recent appearances include Cassio in a new production of Otello at the Salzburg Festival directed from Ricardo Muti, the Duke in Rigoletto with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Camille in The Merry Widow with the Lyric Opera in Chicago and the Dallas Opera, Nadir in The Pearl Fisherman at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with the Baltimore Opera, Alfredo in La traviata with the Florida Grand Opera, the title role in Roberto Devereux with the Dallas Opera, the title role in Faust with theOpera Carolina, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Fort Worth Opera and the Montreal Opera, and Christian in David DiChiera's new opera : Cyrano with theOpera Company of Philadelphia. In the 2009 season he will perform at Covent Garden to London in Chamounix's Linda and in Gianni Schicchi directed from Antonio Pappano.
Still a student, Costello made his professional debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème with the Fort Worth Opera in March 2006, and his European debut with the Opèra National in Bordeaux as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore in September 2006. He also debuts with the Dallas Opera as Leicester in Mary Stuart and with theOpera Orchestra of New York as the Fisherman in William Tell. He sang his first recital to London at the Rosenblatt Recital Series in January 2006 and also appeared in concert at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Boston Pops and as a guest with Federica von Stade to San Antonio.
Costello is a 2007 graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. He then won a scholarship from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and in 2006 a scholarship from Sara Tucker. First prize in the 2006 George London Foundation For Singers Competition, Audience Award in the Giargiari Competition, and first prize in the Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition. He also receives theOpera Club Award at the Academy of Vocal Arts and is a finalist in the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition. Stephen Costello holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance degree from "University of the Arts" in Philadelphia. He studies with maestro Bill Schuman.

Laura Tatulescu

Laura Tatulescu was born in the United States and began her musical career as a violinist. She attended the Master of Music program at the National Music University to Bucharest, Romania, where she graduated Opera in 2005. Since 1999, she has participated to recitals, operas and concerts throughout Europe.

Laura Tatulescu made her operatic debut in 2004 as Margherita in Faust at the Romanian National Opera and soon after was cast as soloist by the Vienna State Opera for the roles of Gianetta in L' Elisir d'Amore, Tebaldo in Don Carlo, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Bastienne in Basien and Bastienne, and Papagena in Il Flauto magico; in 2005, she won the Vienna Uli Märkle Prize for most promising talent. Only two years later she made her debut as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of conductor Philippe Jordan.The next season of the Wiener Staatsoper will see her performing as Pamina, Magic Flute, Despina in Cosi fan tutte (with Riccardo Muti), Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, and Nanetta in Falstaff.

In concert halls, L.Tatulescu sings both repertoire pieces by Bach and Mozart, and Mendelssohn's Elijah as well as those as diverse as Gorecki's Symphony No 3. , Pergolesi's Stabat Mater , Faurè's Requiem , Poulenc's Gloria and Vivaldi's. He enumerates numerous roles as soloist. Conductors he has worked with include Riccardo Muti, Marco Armiliato, Phillipe Jordan, Adam Fischer, Danielle Gatti, Sebastian Weigle, Andris Nelsons and Peter Schneider.

Her recent engagements include Cosi fan tutte at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Vienna State Opera, concerts in opera galas with the Vienna Philharmonic in Japan (Tokyo and Nagoya); a tour also in Japan with the Vienna State production of Cosi fan tutte Opera, under the baton of Riccardo Muti, in which she will play the role of Despina.

In the 2009/10 season, she will join the company and make her debut with the Bavarian State Opera as Susanna.

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