Leonore
Giselle
One of Mozart’s most enchanting works, Die Zauberflöte is a fairy tale that uses familiar archetypes to ask provocative and difficult questions about religion, the nature of power, the bonds of family, and of course love.
Premiered just months before Mozart’s death, Die Zauberflöte in many ways represents a new departure for the composer. Catching the spirit of revolution in the air, Mozart turned his attention for the first time from court opera to popular opera, writing this singspiel (‘sung-play’) for a new and much broader audience.
Celebrated Canadian directing duo Barbe & Doucet make both their British and Glyndebourne debuts here with their new Die Zauberflöte,
a veritable “theatrical feast of eccentricity.” (The Guardian). Ryan Wigglesworth conducts an outstanding cast including Russian
soprano Sofia Fomina as Pamina, David Portillo as her beloved Tamino, Brindley Sherratt as Sarastro, and the ebullient Björn Bürger as Papageno.
Con la colaboración de Naxos
White swan by day, human by night, the beautiful Odette awaits an oath of true love to break the curse. The great legend of the enigmatic swan/woman is one of the most romantic classical ballets, appropriately set in the era of courtly romance and characterised by elegance, style and harmony.
With Tchaikovsky’s famous, lyrical score, ‘’Swan Lake’’ depicts the tragic love between Princess Odette and Prince Siegfried, and will no doubt be performed to perfection by the unparalleled virtuosity of Russia’s great Bolshoi Ballet. This universal and enchanting masterpiece of love, deception and drama is a must.
With wonderful ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, one of the most beautiful Odette / Odile of the time, Denis Rodkin, Artemy Belyakov and Bolshoi Ballet.
With the collaboration of Naxos
Accused of racism and antisemitism (although the latter was never proved), Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) was the creator of the world’s largest animation studio, whose films have achieved universal fame.
The creatures of the Disney factory are animals which are systematically anthropomorphised, their human dimension contributed decisively to the image of the anodyne 'American Dream' in the interwar period.
Philip Glass has composed 24 operas and is one of the creators of American minimalism, together with La Monte Young, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Over time, he gradually distanced himself from this aesthetic in search of simpler writing and a less complex form. The pulsing music of Glass, with its strong and insistent rhythms, has obvious correlations to rock and pop. Not surprisingly, the composer from Baltimore often works with artists like Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega or Laurie Anderson.
The encounter between Glass and Disney seemed inevitable: both are American creators who represent the best of their respective aesthetics.
Giacomo Puccini’s last opera needs no introduction. After a 20 year absence, Turandot returns to the Teatro Real in a new production by one of the greatest stage directors of the 20th and 21st centuries: Robert Wilson, the creator of unforgettable images in The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic and Pelléas et Mélisande. In a cast led by Nina Stemme, Gregory Kunde and Yolanda Auyanet, the Associate Musical Director of the Teatro Real, Nicola Luisotti, conducts one of the greatest operas of Italian repertory.
The Teatro Real opened its 2018/19 season with a new production of Faust by Charles Gounod, the version of the German legend in a grand opera format. Piotr Beczala as protagonist - the figure of relentless ambition par excellence - and Marina Rebeka sing the role of Marguerite. Àlex Ollé directs this captivating opera after his recent success of The Flying Dutchman in this theatre It will be the third time that La Fura dels Baus stages the Faustian legend.
Celebrating Semana de la Ópera (Opera week), the Teatro Real broadcasted Lucia di Lammermoor live. We present it now in our Video Library
Daniel Oren, in the musical direction, and David Alden, in the stage direction, will transport us to the cold and humid Scotland together with a cast that includes Lisette Oropesa, Venera Gimadieva, Javier Camarena, Ismael Jordi and Roberto Tagliavini, among others .
A true paradigm of romantic Italian opera, Lucia di Lammermoor, the most accomplished and famous of Gaetano Donizetti's extensive list of lyrical dramas, aroused admiration from the beginning for making singing a vehicle to move, and not a mere succession of fireworks vowels. The work opened the doors of Paris to the Bergamasco, and it was the only one that was lit up that remained in the repertoire before the Donizetti Renaissance that, from the 1950s on, would definitively consecrate the composer.
The plot revolves around a young woman in love who falls into the deepest despair when she is accused by her lover of treason for having married another man against her will. What the lover does not know is that the nuptials were celebrated under a false presumption of infidelity. The pain that floods the young woman overwhelms her to the point of making her go crazy, giving rise to one of the most famous scenes in the history of opera, both for its musical genius and for the level of psychological introspection it reveals. The inescapable tragic denouement initiates a work that, without a hint of doubt, today maintains its capacity to move intact.
Marius Petipa’s decisive work La Bayadère was first performed at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St-Petersburg in 1877 in a grandiose production portraying a mysterious India and the impossible love between the sacred dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor.
A scene from the ballet, known as The Kingdom of the Shades, is one of the most celebrated excerpts in all of classical ballet, and is considered to be one of the first examples of abstract ballet.
Living ballet legend, Yuri Grigorovich, created this version for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1991.
Nikiya, a temple dancer, has secretly sworn her eternal love to Solor, a noble warrior.
When she rejects the attentions of the High Brahmin, he is furious and determines to have Solor killed...
With the collaboration of Naxos
The conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, solidarity ambassador for Ayuda en Acción, is leading the Acordes con Solidaridad initiative for the sixth consecutive year to support the most vulnerable children in Spain in the face of the consequences of COVID-19.
On this occasion, Orquesta titular del Teatro Real conducted by the main guest conductor of the Teatro Real, will perform the Coriolano Overture and the Symphony No. 7, by Ludwig van Beethoven.
The proceeds of the concert will go entirely to the response that Ayuda en Acción is giving to the emergency caused by COVID-19 in Spain. Through the program Aquí también, the NGO fights to reduce the educational gap that has been accentuated after the closure of educational centers last school year, supporting more than 11,000 children and adolescents who are at risk of social exclusion in Spain.
Set in 1940s Spain, this production by Lluis Pasqual for the Teatro Real, with sets by Ezio Frigerio and costumes by Franca Squarciapino, has an illustrious cast, headed by the Malaga-born baritone Carlos Álvarez in the leading role. Sonia Ganassi as Donna Elvira, the splendid María Bayo in the difficult role of Donna Ana, and José Bros as Don Ottavio, a role for which he was awarded the 2006 Teatro Campoamor prize for Best Opera Singer, complete the starry line-up in this staging of this Mozart and Da Ponte opera. Directed by the masterly Victor Pablo Pérez, it was recorded in high definition in the Teatro Real’s 2005-2006 season.
Vittorio Grigòlo in the lead role leads an excellent cast that includes Thomas Hampson, Sonya Yoncheva, Christine Rice and Sofia Fomina in Offenbach's fantastic operatic drama.
With the collaboration of Naxos
For the first time in modern times, Festival della Valle d'Itria stages the Neapolitan version of Handel's Rinaldo, a pastiche with a mediterranean allure which Leonardo Leo assembled in 1718 and which was considered lost until a few years ago.
The story behind this most rare opera is captivating: the score of Handel’s masterpiece was illegally brought to Naples by the castrato singer Nicolò Grimaldi, who first interpreted Rinaldo in London. Once in Italy, the work was rehashed by Leo as well as other local composers, who adapted it to the taste of the local neapolitan public, adding some intermezzos and amusing characters.
Director Giorgio Sangati turns this work into a “ba-rock” opera set in the 1980’s, where the struggle between Christians and Turks becomes a battle between pop-rock singers (the Christians) and dark-metal ones (the Turks). These two factions represent two opposite perspectives on love and life.
Conductor Fabio Luisi is at the head of the baroque Ensemble La Scintilla, a group of specialists in the baroque repertoire.
With the collaboration of Naxos
This live recording of the performance marking the 10th anniversary of the NCPA, presented by the NCPA orchestra and choir under the baton of Mr. LÜ Jia, the music director of the NCPA.
El barbero de Sevilla ha sido aclamada una y otra vez como la ópera buffa por excelencia. Es una de las últimas óperas clásicas y una de las primeras románticas; es una obra que mira al pasado y a la vez abre las puertas al bel canto. El barbero de Sevilla fue interpretada en todo Europa poco después de su estreno y, tras casi doscientos años, sigue resultando tan cómica como en sus inicios, en gran parte por la riqueza musical que Rossini imprimiera a su composición.
Sus personajes están llenos de vida, problemas e ideas, que se presentan rápidamente en una seguidilla de números, cada uno más famoso e icónico que el anterior, como “Largo al factótum”, “Una voce poco fa”y “La calunnia”.
La versión de Fabio Sparvoli es una propuesta que toma elementos de la modernidad y los combina perfectamente con el vestuario de época y que, junto a la dirección musical del experto rossiniano José Miguel Pérez-Sierra, son claramente una buena oportunidad para apreciar la obra maestra del genio de Pésaro.
El monasterio franciscano de Santo Toribio, situado en la comarca cántabra de la Liébana, en las estribaciones de los Picos de Europa, es uno de los principales lugares santos del catolicismo junto con Roma, Santiago, Caravaca y Asís y, como ellos, es un importante centro de peregrinación. El lignum crucis que custodia está considerado por la Iglesia como el fragmento más grande que se conserva de la cruz de Jesucristo. El monasterio alberga además obras del Beato de Liébana, autor de los célebres manuscritos miniados del Comentario del Apocalipsis. Cada siete años, cuando la festividad de Santo Toribio coincide en domingo, como ocurrió en 2017, se celebra el Año Jubilar Lebaniego, que comprende multitud de iniciativas de tipo cultural. Una de ellas fue este concierto especial en celebración del Año Jubilar que se celebró el 13 de julio de ese año con el patrocinio de Viesgo. El concierto fue interpretado por la Camerata Viesgo bajo la dirección del maestro Péter Csaba. El programa consistía en un recorrido por la música instrumental del siglo XVIII. Sonó el segundo de los Conciertos op. 6 de Arcangelo Corelli, que vienen a ser el acta de nacimiento de una forma musical clave del periodo barroco: el concerto grosso. De Georg Philipp Telemann, se tocó uno de los muchísimos conciertos que escribió con esta misma forma. De Georg Friedrich Händel se incluyó un ejemplo de otra de las formas musicales más importantes de ese periodo: la sonata en trío. Se programó también una sonata de Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, que mira ya a un tiempo nuevo, el mismo al que el padre Antonio Soler abrió las puertas del madrileño monasterio de el Escorial. De Soler se oyó una de sus obras maestras: el Fandango para clave. Un detalle interesante de este concierto es que las obras están ordenadas en orden cronológico inverso, empezando por el Soler postbarroco y terminando con el pionero Corelli.
Very much in keeping with the spirit of his age, Jean-Philippe Rameau measures the European culture of being lucky or unlucky in love against the image of the noble savage and takes the audience on a journey to four exotic realms. Given that, in the mythical land of Arcadia, people are walking away from Love and choosing to follow the god of war, Amor encourages Love to seek new followers on other continents. Regardless of whether the portrayals of distant lands are accurate representations of reality as conveyed by geographers, or simply a propagation of colonial clichés, Europeans are reflected just as much in the sultan who declines to take advantage of the highly desirable prisoner; in the self-destructively jealous Inka priest; in the love games of Persian princes; and in the prairie Indians who love faithfully and peacefully, as Rameau's furiously portrayed storms and volcanic eruptions stand for their emotional turbulence.
Recollecting the origins of French music theatre within a culture of dance, Rameau plays with a genre which was enjoying a high degree of popularity among his contemporaries, but which today classifies as terra incognita, ripe for rediscovery: the Opéra-ballet. Using a balanced mix of music, drama and dance, and with multiple long-distance location changes, the focus alternates between four couples and their handling of fidelity, trust and jealousy - variations on the increasingly pertinent question: How do we love right?
With the collaboration of Naxos
Norma (1831), con libreto de Felice Romani, habitual colaborador de Bellini, se basa en la tragedia de Alexandre Soumet Norma ou L’Infanticide de Louis, representada poco antes en París con éxito. Se trata de una actualización, en clave romántica, de algunos temas de la tradición clásica, como el de la sacerdotisa que rompe sus votos por amor (La Vestale de Spontini, 1807) y el infanticidio como venganza (Medea de Cherubini, 1797). La ambientación en el mundo de los druidas de la Galia y los amores de una sacerdotisa con un militar romano tienen el referente de un episodio de Les Martyrs (1809) de Chateaubriand.
La acción se concentra en la unidad de tiempo que exige el teatro clásico y las formas tradicionales del melodrama italiano se integran en un gran cuadro colectivo. La figura de Norma, de una gran complejidad psicológica, se levanta por encima de todos,con una belleza melódica inaudita.
Teresa Lloret
Filóloga
Known as a masterpiece of Romantic opera, it was staged for the first time in the Teatro Real in June 2016, with an exceptional cast including Diana Damrau, Javier Camarena, Venera Gimadieva and Celso Albelo, with the Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus.
This is the last opera by Bellini, who died at the young age of 34 after having triumphed in Parisian high society, and finally —in a music scene dominated by Italians, from Rossini to Donizetti, his great rival— having been commissioned to write a piece which would be first performed at the Théâtre Italien in 1835. The Sicilian composer chose a historical subject, set during the English Civil War when Cromwell and the Puritans clashed with the Royalists. He created an exciting love story featuring plenty of passion, treachery and madness. The opera centres on a typical Romantic heroine, Elvira, who finds herself inexplicably abandoned by her betrothed on her wedding day. The pain this causes her is so unbearable that she goes insane. Madness was characteristic of the Romantic era: the physical fragility and social marginalisation of the characters was a way to make the irrepressible force of their emotions more expressive. In the stylised staging by Emilio Sagi, the characters appear to be overcome by melancholy.