Organization

Singer

Soprano

Anita Rachvelishvili

Santuzza

Mezzo-soprano

Rihab Chaieb

Lola

Tenor

Brian Jagde

Turiddu

Baritone

Roman Burdenko

Alfio

Contralto

Elena Zilio

Lucia

Conductor

Lorenzo Viotti

Aldert Vermeulen

Stage director

Robert Carsen

Set designer

Radu Boruzescu

Costume designer

Annemarie Woods

Lighting designer

Peter van Praet

Chorus master

Chin-Lien Wu

Dramaturge

Ian Burton

De Nationale Opera

Italian

Cavalleria rusticana -  (Rustic Chivalry)

Amsterdam

Netherlands

Dutch National Opera & Ballet

Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana are probably the most famous double bill in the history of opera. Filled with love, infidelity, betrayal, jealousy and murder, these two pinnacles of the Italian opera repertoire have it all. Both are classic examples of “verismo”, telling so-called realistic stories about the lives of ordinary people. Here, impulsive southern temperaments spark rivalries and threaten relationships. While Pagliacci feeds on the tension between everyday life and the aesthetic world of the stage, Cavalleria rusticana juxtaposes unbridled passion with deep faith.

 

Robert Carsen upends tradition by opening with Pagliacci and plays a masterful game from theater to theater, questioning the nature of reality. Are the emotions we see on stage staged or real? And to what extent do we project ourselves onto the characters? When the masks are removed, truth becomes theater and theater truth.

Photos