Video artist Franc Aleu, who belongs to the artists’ group La Fura dels Baus, sets the exciting Puccini opera Turandot into the future. With projection mapping and 3D technology in the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the play about the cruel princess is shown in a spectacular, visually striking new way. The great vocal cast including Irene Theorin, “a powerful-voiced Turandot, Jorge de Leon, a sovereign Calaf and Soprano Ermonela Jaho, who sings a touching Liu“ (Das Opernmagazin) is leaded by conductor Josep Pons “in great form“ (forumopera.com).
Anna Karenina – A ballet by John Neumeier
Thomas Mann once named Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina “the greatest social novel of world literature.” When reading the novel, John Neumeier was deeply fascinated by Tolstoy’s work: not only by the main characters and the plot, but also by the extraordinary variety of thematic connections. It is a story of three families. John Neumeier states: “Tolstoy himself wrote and published ‘Anna Karenina’ as a serial story over a number of years. The feeling in the novel of a developing contemporary narrative – similar to a television series of today – is underlined by the fact that the novel does not end with the death of the title character. My challenge was therefore to give true life and relevance to the story by selecting key emotional situations and essential characters to fit within the framework of an evening-long ballet.“
Il turco in Italia
The performance of Il turco in Italia at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro is presented as a totally renewed production. With references to films of the iconic film director Federico Fellini “Davide Livermore brought it all together adding the perfect physical comic schtick that matched up perfectly with the musical pace of Rossini’s masterpiece – it was spectacular” (Opera Today). “Obviously the brilliant outcome of the performance is also due to Speranza Scapucci’s conducting, well prepared and highly talented, …” (Il Resto del Carlino Pesaro). The cast featuring Erwin Schrott, “who manages the most intricate colloratura effortlessly with his agile, beautiful bass- baritone…” (General-Anzeiger) and Olga Peretyatko being “the ideal cast” (Das Opernglas) made it a marvellous performance.