Don Pasquale is the last of Gaetano Donizetti’s great trio of comic operas which includes L’elisir d’amore and La fille du régiment. And it was to this classic that Opera Hong Kong turned for a lighter entry for this summer’s semi-staged production at Hong Kong City Hall.

This was, relative to the modernist settings making the rounds of, especially Europe, a traditional Don Pasquale, set more or less in the original period, with vaguely mid-19th century costumes and furniture, and played largely for laughs, of which it elicited many.

The semi-staged summer productions are deliberated designed as vehicles for up-and-coming local singers. Opening night on 13 June starred a sparky Candice Chung as Norina and a sonorous Apollo Wong as Don Pasquale. Tenor Henry Ng sang Ernesto and Albert Lim was Dr Malatesta. Anna Jingdang Zhang (in her Opera Hong Kong debut) sang the second performance, with Alexander Chen alternating as Dr Malatesta.

Peter Gordon is the editor of the Asian Review of Books. He contributed surtitles and programme notes to this production.