Name: Tosca
Start: 2004-01-14T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2004-01-31T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Teatro Real

Organization

Singer

Soprano

Daniela Dessì

Floria Tosca

Ana María Sánchez

Raina Kabaivanska

Tenor

Fabio Armiliato

Mario Cavaradossi

Mario Malagnini

Valter Borin

Baritone

Ruggero Raimondi

Baron Scarpia

Enrique Baquerizo

Bass

Marco Spotti

Cesare Angelotti

Miguel Sola

The sacristan

Emilio Sánchez

Spoletta

Conductor

Maurizio Benini

Stage director

Nuria Espert

Set designer

Ezio Frigerio

Costume designer

Franca Squarciapino

Lighting designer

Vinicio Cheli

Chorus master

Martin Merry

Teatro Real de Madrid

Tosca

Madrid

Spain

Teatro Real

A magnificent production by Nuria Espert, in which Daniela Dessí plays Puccini’s heroine, with Fabio Armiliato as Cavaradossi and Ruggero Raimondi as the villainous Scarpia.

A newspaper once asked, in reference to Rinaldo, why anti-heroes were so fascinating to audiences. We might ask the same about Scarpia, who thrills opera fans the world over when he sings “Più forte! Più forte!” while he tortures Cavaradossi. Or when we hear Tosca sing beside his corpse, “E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma!”, we feel she could have loved this villain had she not met her painter. But Tosca lives for art and love, so she tells Cavaradossi to give his painting of Mary Magdalene black eyes. She also wants the Virgin as witness when she kisses her lover. It’s hard to imagine a more assured tearjerker than in these scenes by Sardou, accompanied by the sweeping score of the great Giacomo Puccini.

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading