The Blind Gypsy

In The Blind Gypsy by Cezar Vercezzo a Vistana whose family is killed seeks to prevent future tragedies by trading his eyes to an evil hag for a pair of gems that can see the future. However, every future he sees depicts the subject being murdered by an unseen creature. The Vistana is soon cast out and forced to live among the giorgio, most of whom rashly try to use the “seer’s” visions for themselves. One by one, the giorgio fall to the curse, including a kind girl who has sheltered the Vistana. In the end, the Vistana races to save her, but discovers the girl dead in the hag’s arms. In the climactic aria, the hag chides him for tempting fate and gloats that her gems did show him the future: her own.

Whenever performers in Vercezzo’s operas plays a role for a few months, their real life slowly and subtly comes to mimic their characters' experiences. Sadly, the dominant themes in Vercezzo’s oeuvre are uncontrolled passion, romantic betrayal, scheming women, violent men, and third acts awash in blood.