
Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo revives Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’ with period instruments
Verdi can be played on original instruments, too. Teatro Nuovo presented Verdi’s “Macbeth” using 19th-century period instruments in the composer’s original 1847 version. Will Crutchfield, the company’s head, notes that Verdi’s early work aligns with the Bel Canto tradition of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini. Strings use gut instead of metal and horns don’t have valves, providing a sound the composer would have been more familiar with than that from modern instruments. Last weekend, Teatro Nuovo presented “Macbeth” and Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” at Montclair State’s Kasser Theater in New Jersey. They repeated the performances this week at New York City Center; “La Sonnambula” will be performed Thursday. The cast and orchestra spent weeks preparing for these unique performances