Production: Casts: Tosca<\/em> is again on the Liceu stage the place it was final seen in 2019. On this event, the performances have been accompanied by a sure scandal, centered on the staging particularly but in addition on the cancellations and corresponding substitutions, all of which has precipitated rivers of ink to move. The cancellations started with the defection of Roberto Alagna and his spouse, Aleksandra Kurzak, who weren’t receptive to the Rafael R. Villalobos manufacturing.<\/p>\n Liceu\u2019s Tosca <\/em>is a co-production with Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Royal de la Monnaie, Teatro de la Maestranza, Salas del Arenal and Op\u00e9ra Orchester National de Montpellier. The premiere passed off in June 2021 in Brussels, and it was subsequently seen on the Montpellier Festival final 12 months. Curiously, on neither event did the controversial manufacturing increase the slightest scandal, no matter whether or not it may need been kind of favored.<\/p>\n The motion has been introduced as much as trendy occasions and is characterised by the parallel that the manufacturing establishes between Cavaradossi and Pier Paolo Pasolini, the well-known Italian filmmaker who was assassinated in Rome. As the theater program mentions, this Tosca<\/em> manufacturing incorporates references to the movie Sal\u00f2 o le 120 giornate di Sodoma <\/em>by Pasolini.<\/p>\n Rafael Villalobos rightly says in an interview that any new manufacturing has to supply some new concept to justify it. But it’s a completely different factor when the director needs Pasolini to turn out to be the hero with additions or cuts to the unique opera. I’m saying this as a result of it doesn\u2019t appear acceptable to me {that a} spoken dialogue between the actors who play Pasolini and his assassin is given at first of Act II. If one thinks this provides one thing to the opera, I’ve nothing towards it being performed outdoors of the particular efficiency.<\/p>\n For the remainder, the manufacturing shouldn’t be actually scandalous, though there are some pointless excesses, such because the nude pictures and extras showing throughout a lot of Act II. There is a single, rotating stage to which some parts are added for every act such because the determine of the Madonna in Act I or Scarpia\u2019s desk within the second.<\/p>\n A couple of issues caught my consideration. For the Te Deum<\/em>, solely the determine of the Bishop seems on stage and, eradicating the mitre, it seems to be Floria Tosca. Scarpia washes Tosca\u2019s toes, the which means of which eludes me. Cavaradossi\u2019s loss of life shouldn’t be by firing squad however with a pistol shot by his executioner. Tosca doesn’t disappear right into a void however goes to an illuminated background.<\/p>\n The musical route was programmed with conductor Henrik N\u00e1n\u00e1si in thoughts, however he appears to have had some issues and sometimes was changed by conductor Giacomo Sagripanti. He led two of the three performances I attended, and his studying was fairly routine, with extreme sound on multiple event. There was effectivity nevertheless it lacked emotion. Nor was the Liceu Orchestra good \u2013 clearly under what it supplied just a few months in the past in Puccini\u2019s Il trittico<\/em>. The Chorus sang out effectively.<\/p>\n When N\u00e1n\u00e1si was within the pit his more-nuanced studying labored higher for me than Sagripanti\u2019s the day earlier than.<\/p>\n Among the quite a few performances of the opera programmed by the Liceu, there have been solely two with Sondra Radvanovsky as Tosca. She excelled within the half, and the viewers was delighted. Sagripanti supplied a extra convincing studying together with her than he had performed on my first day when Emily Magee was Tosca. Her voice is lower than the extent required to sing this character, and it left loads to be desired. There are indicators of maturity in her center voice, however she is strident and even out of tune within the excessive register, the place there may be additionally a large and annoying vibrato. Her Tosca shouldn’t be one to recollect.<\/p>\n The second Tosca was soprano Maria Agresta, who left me with the identical doubts I had had on earlier hearings. Ten years have handed since I noticed her for the primary time in Munich as Violetta, a efficiency that was adopted by others in numerous theaters together with the Liceu. However, my impression has modified lately, since she has determined to sing a repertoire for which her voice, a lyric soprano, doesn’t appear enough. She didn’t persuade me as Elisabetta in Don Carlo<\/em> nor as Norma, and the identical factor occurred together with her Tosca. Her voice has unquestionable high quality, however I don\u2019t suppose she has the fitting instrument for this character \u2013 she lacks weight and quantity. I’m afraid that her chosen path shouldn’t be essentially the most applicable one.<\/p>\n Sondra Radvanovsky as Tosca certainly triumphed. For me, she is among the most vital sopranos of current years, and particularly within the verismo repertoire. I’ll all the time keep in mind once I first heard her: it was in May 2000 on the Metropolitan Opera as Freia in Das Rheingold<\/em>. Since then, I’ve loved her singing some thirty occasions, and I hope to proceed. Her Tosca was that of a terrific star in each means, and her distinctive \u2018Vissi d\u2019arte\u2019 drew a two-minute ovation that pressured her to encore the aria. Radvanovsky warmed the ambiance of the theater in such a means that she additionally triumphed together with her Cavaradossi.<\/p>\n On my first night, Cavaradossi was sang by tenor Antonio Corian\u00f2, whom I had not had the prospect to see till now. His voice is that of a lyrical tenor, with a sexy and homogeneous timbre all through the vary, however his singing shouldn’t be very refined, and the excessive notes are invariably pushed which leads to some monotony.<\/p>\n Tenor Michael Fabiano was Cavaradossi on the following day. I’ve seen him on various events and have by no means been passionate about him: his voice could be very engaging, however it isn’t the identical on the high. Things labored effectively right here, and I’d say that he gave among the best performances I can keep in mind from him, making a Cavaradossi worthy of being highlighted.<\/p>\n Joseph Calleja was to have sung Cavaradossi on my third day, however he canceled and was changed by tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who as soon as once more supplied his stunning voice, projected in a really pure means. He additionally needed to encore an aria, \u2018E lucevan le stelle\u2019, though I feel that was because of the prior bis by Sondra Radvanovsky. Grigolo was good although a bit extreme, as is common for him, in an aria that could be very introverted.<\/p>\n Scarpia was performed by baritone George Gagnidze, who was fantastic however with none particular brilliance. His voice is broad and he has projection issues so shouldn’t be a Scarpia who stays in a single\u2019s reminiscence. Scarpia on my second and third days was \u017deljko Lu\u010di\u0107, who did effectively. For my style, he was higher than Gagnidze the day earlier than, though he can’t be thought of a terrific Scarpia both.<\/p>\n In the secondary characters, Felipe Bou was a considerably modest Angelotti, and one thing related might be mentioned of Jonathan Lemalu\u2019s Sacristan. impression was made by Mois\u00e9s Mar\u00edn as Spoletta, and Manel Esteve\u2019s Sciarrone was right.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 M. Irurzun<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n [ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] Spain Puccini, Tosca: Chorus and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu \/ Henrik N\u00e1n\u00e1si and Giacomo Sagripanti (conductors). Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 18, 19 and 20.1.2023. (JMI) Sondra Radvanovsky (Tosca) \u00a9 T. Bofill Production:Director \u2013 Rafael R. VillalobosSets \u2013 Emmanuele SinisiCostumes \u2013 Rafael R. VillalobosLighting \u2013 Felipe RamosPictures \u2013 Santiago Yd\u00e1\u00f1ez Casts:Tosca […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Spain\"](\"https:\/\/seenandheard-international.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/world-flags\/images\/flags\/24\/es.png\" "\\"Spain\\"\/")
Spain<\/span><\/span><\/span> Puccini, Tosca<\/em>: <\/span><\/strong>Chorus and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu \/ Henrik N\u00e1n\u00e1si and Giacomo Sagripanti (conductors). Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 18, 19 and 20.1.2023. (JMI)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seenandheard-international.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-26-e1674387033148-500x333.png\")
<\/strong>Director \u2013 <\/strong>Rafael R. Villalobos
Sets \u2013 Emmanuele Sinisi
Costumes \u2013 Rafael R. Villalobos
Lighting \u2013 Felipe Ramos
Pictures \u2013 Santiago Yd\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Tosca \u2013 Emily Magee \/ Maria Agresta \/ Sondra Radvanovsky
Cavaradossi \u2013 Antonio Corian\u00f2 \/ Michael Fabiano \/ Vittorio Grigolo
Scarpia \u2013 George Gagnidze \/ \u017deljko Lu\u010di\u0107
Angelotti \u2013 Felipe Bou
Sacristan \u2013 Jonathan Lemalu
Spoletta \u2013 Mois\u00e9s Mar\u00edn
Sciarrone \u2013 Manel Esteve
Jailer \u2013 Milan Peri\u0161ic
Shepherd \u2013 Hugo Bol\u00edvar<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seenandheard-international.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-27-500x333.png\")