The legendary tenor Enrico Caruso once said that all it takes to stage Il Trovatore are the four greatest singers in the world.

Utah Opera thinks it has gathered together a quartet of vocalists that are up to the challenges and demands of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1853 opera for its upcoming production, which begins Saturday in the Capitol Theatre. “I’m very excited about this group,” said conductor Robert Tweten. “We have some fantastic singers.”

Stage director Kevin Newbury concurred with Tweten’s assessment. “We have some amazing principals,” he said. “They are smart and great actors, and they’re up to the challenge.”

Scott Piper as Manrico and Jennifer Cheek as Leonora (Photo Courtesy of Utah Opera)

Tweten and Newbury met with Reichel Recommends in Utah Opera’s production studios before rehearsal recently to talk about this production. “These roles really are difficult for the singers,” Tweten added. “It’s a challenge because Verdi tailored these arias to individual singers.”

Caruso wasn’t exaggerating when he made his comments regarding the vocal abilities of the singers needed to successfully stage Il Trovatore, Tweten said. “Il Trovatore is much more difficult than Rigoletto or La Traviata. You can find more sopranos and mezzos who can sing Gilda or Maddalena than Leonora or Azucena. Even Manrico is more difficult” than many other tenor roles in Verdi operas from the same period.

Even given its vocal difficulty Il Trovatore ranks in the top 25 of the most performed operas world wide. “An interesting fact is that it was Verdi’s most popular opera in his lifetime,” Tweten said. “It had 200 performances in its first couple of years.”

Yet it also had its detractors. “It was criticized at the time for not being bel canto enough.” And today it does feel as if it’s old fashioned, Tweten added. However, “it really has one foot in Verdi’s old period and one in his new period.” It’s in this opera that one can see Verdi changing his style, notably in his orchestral writing and in the manner in which the orchestra accompanies the singers.

This will be the first time since 1985 that Utah Opera has staged Il Trovatore, and both soprano Jennifer Cheek (Leonora) and tenor Scott Piper (Manrico) are looking forward to it. “This will be my first Leonora,” Cheek told Reichel Recommends. “I love it. It’s a great role and the music is fantastic.” She added that when Utah Opera asked her about taking on the role she jumped at the chance. “I immediately said yes. It was a role I’ve always wanted to do.”

For Piper, this will be his second outing as Manrico. “I debuted in the role a year ago at Opera Roanoke,” he said. “I’m really excited to be doing it again.”

This will be Piper’s third appearance at Utah Opera. Previously he sang two Puccini roles: Cavaradossi in Tosca and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Also in the cast are mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop as Azucena; baritone Michael Chioldi as Count di Luna and bass Mark Schnaible as Ferrando. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

• PERFORMANCE DETAILS
• Venue: Capitol Theatre
• Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13, 15, 17, 19; 2 p.m. Oct. 21
• Tickets: $13-$78 ($5 higher when purchased on the day of performance)
• Phone: 801-355-2787 or 888-451-2787
• Web: www.utahopera.org