Organization

Singer

Tenor

Fabio Sartori

Don Carlo

Soprano

Anja Harteros

Elisabeth of Valois

Bass

Matti Salminen

Philip II

Baritone

Massimo Cavalletti

Rodrigo

Mezzo-soprano

Vesselina Kasarova

Princess Eboli

Alfred Muff

The Grand Inquisitor

Bettina Schneebeli

Thibault

Sen Guo

A Voice from Heaven

Benjamin Bernheim

The Count of Lerma

Conductor

Zubin Mehta

Stage director

Sven-Eric Bechtolf

Set designer

Rolf Glittenberg

Costume designer

Marianne Glittenberg

Lighting designer

Jürgen Hoffmann

Chorus master

Ernst Raffelsberger

Opernhaus Zürich

Italian

Don Carlo (Italian version)

Zurich

Switzerland

Opernhaus

German

English

Approved

With the support of the "Freundeskreis Dr. Josef Ackermann, René Braginsky, Herbert and Evelyn Axelrod" Production - Sven-Eric Bechtolf Stage design - Rolf Glittenberg Costumes - Marianne Glittenberg Choir master - Ernst Raffelsberger Orchestra - Orchestra of the Zurich Opera With Anja Harteros (Elisabetta di Valois), Vesselina Kasarova (La Principessa d'Eboli), Bettina Schneebeli (Tebaldo, Paggio di Elisabetta), Sen Guo (Una voce dal cielo); Matti Salminen (Fillippo II), Fabio Sartori (Don Carlos), Massimo Cavalletti (Rodrigo, marchese di Posa), Alfred Muff (Il Grande Inquisitore), Pavel Daniluk (Un frate), Benjamin Bernheim (Il conte di Lerma / un araldo reale ) Hardly any other Verdi opera has such a complicated history of genesis as "Don Carlo". On the way from Schiller's ideological drama to opera, in which the personal conflicts of the characters are more in the foreground than the political-philosophical level, the score went through various stages; so every new staging is faced with the question of which work form one should approach the piece in. Ten years earlier, with his «Vêpres siciliennes», the composer had experienced the possibilities, but also the difficulties, a commissioned work for the Paris Opéra could bring with it. The material of "Don Carlos" inspired him from the start. Originally composed in French, the opera has gained worldwide acceptance in Italian translation. The deletion of the first act in 1884 for the first performance of the Italian version in Milan, in which the history of the drama becomes apparent, was reversed by Verdi in 1886 for Modena. This act, which takes place in Fontainebleau and describes the encounter between the Spanish Infante Carlos and the French king's daughter Elisabeth von Valois, will also be performed in the new Zurich production. The concatenation of great power politics and private pursuit of happiness becomes particularly clear here: The young people who have just fallen in love must find out that King Philip II wants to take Elisabeth as his wife himself and thus make her the stepmother of his son Carlos. The Marquis Posa tries in vain to interest Carlos in the fight for freedom in the province of Flanders and thus to help him over his unhappy love. The intrigue of Princess Eboli, which Elisabeth blackens the king out of her disappointed love for Carlo, contributes to the tragic outcome as well as the brutal action of the Inquisition, against which Philip is powerless despite his abundance of power.

DON CARLO - VERDI

Don Carlo (Italian version) by Verdi, From (2012/2012), Directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf,, Conductor Zubin Mehta, Opernhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

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