OPERA AT NEW HEIGHTS
The magical world of opera returns to ignite the prestigious stages of the Teatro dell’opera in Rome and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan with two new lineups full of surprises.
The season promises lots of Italian opera sprinkled with international masterpieces. The Eternal City’s 2018-2019 operatic season offers a good dose of classics with a few strokes of modernity. The first title on the bill is “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. An opera in three acts staged for eight nights from December 2 - 18. It will be a completely new production, directed by Daniele Abbado and conducted by Daniele Gatti. Scheduled for January another much loved Verdi opera, “La Traviata” directed by Sofia Coppola. Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca”, a melodrama whose premiere was held in 1900 at Rome’s Teatro Costanzi, is the intermezzo. After its winter debut, it will return again in June. Not to be missed is the Mozart-da Ponte opera “Don Giovanni” or Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel” (23 May-1 June), a real jewel in the Roman season.
A host of new productions are scheduled between February and April 2019, with more traditional titles yielding to surprising revivals like Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice”. Missing from the Roman stage for 50 years Orpheus is co-produced with the Théatre des Champs-elysées, Château de Versailles Spectacles and Canadian Opera Company. “The Merry Widow” by Franz Lehár, conducted by Constantin Trinks and directed by Damiano Michieletto, has not been mounted since 2007. Lastly, the debut in November of Teatro dell’opera di Roma composing-award winner “Un Romano a Marte” for three performances. The quality of the ballet offerings is also elevated this season. Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” with choreography by Benjamin Pech, continuing on to Bizet’s “Carmen” and “Hearts & Arrows” by the Frenchman Benjamin Millepied. Hearts & Arrows debuts at the Teatro Costanzi, whose 2014 international premiere was at the Olympia Theater in Miami. The music is American composer Philip Glass’ string quartet n. 3 and the performance is part of a more general event called “Serata Philip Glass”. Performances are from March 29 to April 2, with a program of four titles: “Danzo”, in three movements by
The Teatro dell’opera di Roma interweaves well-loved works with less frequented titles such as “The Fiery Angel” by Prokof’ev, a visionary work directed by Emma Dante.
Giorgio Mancini, “Creation”, whose costumes were conceived by Maria Grazia Chiuri of the Maison Dior and conceived for the star couple Eleonora Abbagnato and Friedemann Vogel.
To close is “Glass Pieces”, another new piece at the Teatro Costanzi.
The Teatro alla Scala in Milan has an equally breathtaking opera lineup. The Verdi opera undoubtedly dominates. Starting with “Attila”, which will preview for young people on December 4th and remain in the theater until January 8th. Then “Rigoletto”, “I Masnadieri” and “La Traviata”. Twelve nights of “La Traviata” are planned with two starring casts: in the role of Violetta, Marina Rebeka and Sonya Yoncheva, in that of Giorgio Germont Leo Nucci and
Placido Domingo, while as Alfredo, Francesco Meli and Benjamin Bernheinm. The Milanese season will have a tribute to Puccini, with a new production of “Manon Lescaut”, directed by Riccardo Chailly. The Rossini opera “La Cenerentola”, among the emblematic operas of the Rossini Renaissance promoted to La Scala by Claudio Abbado, which closes the celebrations for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the master’s death. The season continues with Musorgsky, Mozart’s “Idomeneo, re di Creta” and ending the season at La Scala, a new production of Strauss’ “The Egyptian Helen”. The symphonic season begins with some extraordinary concerts such as the Verdi Gala on December 31st. Then Maestro Maurizio Pollini, will perform music by Chopin and Debussy, and a performance of the Wiener Philharmoniker. This season also includes singing recitals, ballet performances, the charity galas, La Scala Academy of the Lyric Opera concerts of soloists and ensembles of opera for young people. In short, two rich and varied seasons, filled with contemporary works and new productions, grandiose staging and timeless masterpieces that have made the history of opera intending to bring even the most doubtful to the world of opera.
At the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, an opera season to take your breath away, where Verdi’s opera undoubtedly dominates.
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