Time is running out for Violetta. Her illness is relentless, as are her feelings for her young admirer. As her past as a Parisian courtesan catches up with her, his provincial family is determined to break up their scandalous affair. Verdi’s La traviata is without a doubt one of the most moving stories in the operatic canon. Teatro Real’s semi-staged concert version recorded in July was one of the first productions to be put on worldwide after the lockdown. The ambitious undertaking weaves reality into its staging concept and features a spectacular cast led by Marina Rebeka, Michael Fabiano and Artur Ruciński.
Pâris
Arthur Jones
Danieli
This Wagner opera is rarely performed because of the scandals that engulfed the Magdeburg Theatre when it was performed in 1836 under the title The Novice of Palermo, and became known as a cursed opera from which the composer had to distance himself. Wagner's adaptation of the story reflects the rebellious mood of a Revolutionary Germany, vindicating sensual love and attack the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritanical and hypocritical authority. As the prose says, "Shame to him whose cruel striking/Kills for faults of his own liking!". One of the most extraordinary musicals based on a text by Shakespeare, especially worthy of a new performance as it is four hundred years since the death of the Bard.
Manuel
La vida breve, an Andalusian opera in two acts written by Manuel de Falla on a libretto by Carlos Fernández Shaw, staged by Giancarlo del Monaco at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, in Valencia.