Acting
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Anna Netrebko is the diva Floria Tosca in this 2020 performance of Puccini's evergreen operatic thriller from the Wiener Staatsoper. She follows in the footsteps of all the legendary sopranos to have sung the role in Margarethe Wallmann's classic production, unveiled as far back as 1958. Netrebko is joined by tenor Yusif Eyvazov as Tosca's lover, the hot-headed political revolutionary Cavaradossi, while baritone Wolfgang Koch is Baron Scarpia, the evil chief of police who brings their romance to a dramatic end from beyond the grave.
Andrea Chénier, Umberto Giordano's masterpiece, a title that opens the Piermarini's 2017/2018 opera season, returns to La Scala in Milan after a 32-year absence. A highly anticipated event, not only because of the debut in the role of Magdalena by superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (thus marking her third season opener at La Scala, following 2011's Don Giovanni and 2015's Giovanna d'Arco) but also because of the La Scala debut of Yusif Eyvazov (Mrs. Netrebko's spouse, who has been keeping the Piermarini's gallery apprehensive for months now) and for the new direction signed by Mario Martone, who with Margherita Palli (composer of the sets) return to La Scala's handling of an opera by Umberto Giordano, after the success in May 2016 of their Cena delle Beffe.
Passions run high as Manrico and the Count di Luna compete for the affections of Leonora. Little do they know, Manrico’s mother Azucena has been keeping a terrible secret for decades. Soon a curse from the past will rise up from the ashes with devastating implications for them all. Starring Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Yusif Eyvazov, Gregory Kunde, Ludovic Tézier and Jamie Barton, Adele Thomas’s energetic staging sets Verdi’s tale in a Hieronymus Bosch-inspired universe of medieval superstition. On the podium, Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s dramatic score, featuring the famous Anvil chorus.
Verdi’s life-long love affair with Shakespeare’s works began with Macbeth, a play he considered to be ‘one of the greatest creations of man’. With his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, Verdi set out to create ‘something out of the ordinary’. Their success is borne out in every bar of a score that sees Verdi at his most theatrical: it bristles with demonic energy.
It's an event that draws many thousands of music lovers to one of the most beautiful cities in the world every summer: the opera season at the ancient Arena di Verona. The 2,000-year-old roman amphiteatre with its gigantic stage dimensions is one of the largest and best preserved Roman construction of its kind, and with over 22,000 seats it is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular open-air venues of the world! The revered master of opera Franco Zeffirelli, who died shortly before the premiere of Il Trovatore, created a legendary scenery with groups of giant sized armoured knights, a fortress turning into a luminous cathedral, an enormous choir, horses, breathtaking fights: “his perhaps best arena production” (Opernglas). It brings Anna Netrebko to the Arena of Verona where she is giving her much-anticipated debut in one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most popular operas.
Christine Goerke has wowed audiences as Turandot, the icy princess at the heart of Puccini’s grand final masterpiece. In this performance from the 2019–20 Live in HD season, Goerke stars alongside tenor Yusif Eyvazov (as Calàf) and soprano Eleonora Buratto (as Liù) in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic staging, which dazzles with its opulent visions of mythic China. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is on the podium, drawing a vivid array of musical colors from the incomparable Met Orchestra and Chorus.
In its most ambitious effort yet to bring the joy and artistry of opera to audiences everywhere during the Met’s closure, the company presented an unprecedented virtual At-Home Gala, featuring more than 40 leading artists performing in a live stream from their homes all around the world.