Composer Béla Bartók’s fascinating and sombre double bill brings together, for the first time at the Teatro Real, two of his most mesmerising and profound works. This bold production features Christof Loy’s acclaimed stage direction, exploring the composer’s fantastical universe, underpinned by Gustavo Gimeno’s meticulous musical direction, which brings out the power of both scores.
This stirring production transports us to two tales of obsession born of the deepest desires of the human soul. In the ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, a gang of criminals use a young woman to seduce and lure men in order to assault and rob them, until a mysterious mandarin, capable of defying violence, appears. In the opera Bluebeard’s Castle, based on Perrault’s tale, the young Judith, driven by love and curiosity, unleashes tragedy by opening the seven forbidden doors of her beloved Bluebeard.
Title from the archive of Teatro Real, only available for subscribers.
The miraculous Mandarin
One act pantomime ballet, Op. 19, Sz. 73
After Menyhért Lengyel’s story (1917)
Music by Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Music by Béla Bartók
Bluebeard's castle
Opera in one act
Libretto by Béla Balázs, after a Charles Perrault’s fairy-tale La Barbe bleu (1697)
Music by Béla Bartók
Premiered at Oper Köln on 27 November 1926 (The Miraculous Mandarin) and at Royal Budapest Opera on 24 May 1918 (Bluebeard’s Castle)
Production by Teatro Real, in co-production with Theater Basel
Artistic team
Conductor: Gustavo Gimeno
Director and choreography: Christof Loy
Set design: Márton Ágh
Costume design: Barbara Drosihn
Lighting design: Thomas Kleinstück
Chorus master: José Luis Basso
Cast
The Miraculous Mandarin
Mandarin: Gorka Culebras
The girl: Carla Pérez Mora
First tramp: Nicky van Cleef
Second tramp: David Vento
Third tramp: Joni Österlund
A libertine: Mário Branco
The poet: Nicolas Franciscus
Bluebeard's Castle
Duke Bluebeard: Christoph Fischesser
Judit: Evelyn Herlitzius
Prologue: Nicolas Franciscus
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
RELATED CONTENT
