After years of exile, the legendary but aging lover Casanova returns to Venice during the height of Carnival. Hoping to procure a dowry for his goddaughter, he attempts to swindle a rich old woman obsessed with the occult. A gender-bending subplot that puts Victor/Victoria to shame, a diabolical midnight ceremony in the lagoon during a terrifying thunderstorm, and the still potent exploits of the world’s most famous lover combine to create a whirlwind comic opera of zest, jests and fireworks!

Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winning composer Dominick Argento has been hailed by both Opera News and Time magazine as America’s most eminent creator of 20th century opera. Casanova’s Homecoming, written in 1984, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera, and subsequently enjoyed a triumphant two-year run at York City Opera. This production of Casanova’s Homecoming and recording, made during a performance of the opera on October 14, 2001, at the Moores Opera House, Houston, Texas, has been generously underwritten by the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, under the aegis of the Moores Opera Center’s Opera Discovery Project, the Edythe Bates Old Endowment, the University of Houston and the Rebecca and John Moores School of Music, David Ashley White, Director.

Moores Opera House is an 800 seat theatrical facility designed specifically for opera production. It is modeled after the acoustics of old European opera houses, but since it was costructed in 1997, it provides excellent, state of the art sound equipment. To enable productions using water, waterproof audio speakers and equipment are installed on stage. The facility is intimate, yet large enough for operatic performances on a grand scale and offers excellent acoustics for recording.

Dominick Argento, Casanova’s Homecoming – An Opera Buffa in Three Acts
Performed by Singers and Orchestra of the MOORES OPERA CENTER
Peter Jacoby, Conductor
NPD 85673/2