In Benjamin Britten’s fascinating opera Gloriana, Ivor Bolton and David McVicar transport us to the lavish yet hostile court of 16th-century England, offering a historical portrait of Queen Elizabeth I that is as intimate as it is relentless. At the heart of this intense drama, the magnetic soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci brings the monarch to life alongside a stellar cast featuring great singers such as Leigh Melrose and Paula Murrihy.
The plot plunges us deep into the psyche of a queen caught between the weight of the crown and her stormy relationship with the ambitious Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, culminating in a crisis when the sovereign must choose between reasons of state and the dictates of her own heart.
Opera in three acts
Music by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Libretto by William Plomer, based on the book Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History (1928), by Lytton Strachey
Premiered at the Royal Opera House de Londres, on June 8, 1953
Premiere at the Teatro Real
New production of the Teatro Real
Artistic team
Conductor | Ivor Bolton
Stage director | David McVicar
Set designer | Robert Jones
Costumes designer | Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting designer | Adam Silverman
Choreographer | Colm Seery
Chorus master | Andrés Máspero
Children's chorus master | Ana González
Assistant to the conductor | Francesc Prat
Assistants to the stage director | Simon Iorio, Marco Berriel
Assistant to the costumes designer | Anuschka Braun
Stage fight | Jesús Esperanza, Kike Inchausti
Répétiteur | Bernard Robertson
Diction coach | Olivier Dumait
Cast
Queen Elisabeth | Anna Caterina Antonacci
Robert Devereux | Leonardo Capalbo
Frances | Paula Murrihy
Lord Mountjoy | Duncan Rock
Penelope | Sophie Bevan
Sir Robert | Cecil Leigh Melrose
Sir Walter Raleigh | David Soar
Henry Cuffe | Benedict Nelson
A lady in-waiting | Elena Copons
A blind ballad singer | James Creswell
The spirit of the masque | Sam Furness
The city crier | Álex Sanmartí
The recorder of Norwich | Scott Wilde
A housewife | Itxaro Mentxaka
The master of ceremonies | Gerardo López
Vihuela player | Dan Thomas
Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
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