At 7pm, at the NationaTheater :

FIDELIO, by L. van Beethoven

Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayerische Staatsoper

Yoel Gamzou: Conductor
Calixto Bieito: Staging

Milan Siljanov: Don Fernando
Josef Wagner: Don Pizarro
Benjamin Bruns: Florestan
Johanni van Oostrum: Leonore
René Pape: Rocco
Mirjam Mesak: Marzelline
Caspar Singh: Jaquino
Dafydd Jones: 1st prisoner
Paweł Horodyski: 2nd prisoner

Fidelio is Beethoven’s only opera. At once a work of liberation and revolutionary art, an ode to faithful love and a dramatic utopia, the work fascinates by its universal scope and its ideal of justice and hope.
Beethoven took almost nine years to complete the work. The plot is strikingly modern: to free her fiancé, unjustly imprisoned by Don Pizarro, Leonore disguises herself as a man called Fidelio. Spanish director Calixto Bieito has created a spectacular scenography based on this breathless plot: two large labyrinths move through the space, in which the characters and musicians move to the point of vertigo. The young Israeli-American conductor Yoel Gamzou will be on hand to ignite this incandescent music. The dramatic roles of Léonore and Florestan will be played by the radiant Johanni van Oostrum and Benjamin Bruns, while René Pape‘s Rocco rounds off a magnificent cast.bution.

At 7pm, at the NationaTheater:

RIGOLETTO, by G. Verdi

Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayerische Staatsoper

Maurizio Benini: Conductor
Barbara Wysocka: Staging

Bekhzod Davronov: Duke of Mantoue
Igor Golovatenko: Rigoletto
Serena Sáenz: Gilda
Riccardo Fassi: Sparafucile
Elmina Hasan: Maddalena
Natalie Lewis: Giovanna
Martin Snell: The Earl of Monterone
Thomas Mole: The knight Marullo
Granit Musliu: Matteo Borsa
Roman Chabaranok: The Earl Ceprano
Nontobeko Bhengu: The Countess Ceprano
Daniel Vening: A bailif
Lucy Altus: The Duke’s equerry

A mature opera, Rigoletto is the first part of a so-called ‘popular’ trilogy that Giuseppe Verdi would continue with Le Trouvère and La Traviata. Who is not familiar with the Duke of Mantua’s famous aria ‘La donna è mobile’? Lyric art lovers will add to this unmissable ‘hit’ the famous quartet from the last act, ‘Bella figlia dell’amore’, a masterly example of polyphony that reconciles musical and dramatic success. Adapted from a play by Victor Hugo (Le Roi s’amuse), Rigoletto features some unforgettable characters, such as the main hero, a hunchbacked buffoon who, in trying to save his daughter, plunges her to her death. There is Shakespeare in this story, which blends the grotesque and the pathetic with such virtuosity that it foreshadows Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff. For this new production, Munich Opera has called on Polish director Barbara Wysocka, who has already produced a remarkable Lucia di Lammermoor at the same venue. In the pit, Maurizio Benini is one of the most renowned specialists in the Italian repertoire, but all eyes are of course on the sparkling cast. In the lead roles, Igor Golovatenko and Serena Sáenz form an exceptional Verdian couple, igniting passions and moving hearts.