Mark Milhofer Mark Milhofer Mark Milhofer is an English operatic tenor, who has performed at major international opera houses, beginning his career in Italy. Besides the standard repertoire, the singer has appeared in historically informed performances such as Monterverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea", in 20th-century operas by Benjamin Britten and Gian Carlo Menotti, and in premieres of new operas. Born in England, Milhofer studied voice as a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He studied further at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He appeared as Giannetto in Rossini's "La gazza ladra" with the British Youth Opera, and was then invited to
La casa disabitata in Dresden. The story is not original. The opera's title, plot, setting, and characters are the same as those of Giovanni Giraud's one-act farce "La casa disabitata", first performed in 1808 and published in 1825. Giraud's play was also the basis of the two-act opera "La casa disabitata", composed by Lauro Rossi to a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti. Rossi's opera premiered at La Scala to great success in 1834, a year before Princess Amalie's version, and was subsequently performed throughout Italy and in Paris. Princess Amalie's "La casa disabitata" was performed in the small court theatre of Pillnitz Castle on