A Masked Ball
Giuseppe Verdi
Opera in 3 Acts
Sung in Italian
Subtitles in Portuguese and English
Length: 2h20
Inspired by the assassination of liberal Swedish King, Richard III, by political conspirators during a masked ball which Verdi had over numerous censorships to dissimulate and transform, into a harmless count, transferring the action to a distant colonialist Boston, this opera focus on a love triangle, culminating in the assassination of count Riccardo of Warwick at the hand of his best friend, during a masked ball.
One of the big hits of popular great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, dealing with recurrent themes of his operas, such as fatality of destiny, racism, conspiracy, forbidden love, betrayal and obsessive vengeance. Evoking mask’s hidden identity artifice, in its double side of amusement and as instrument of conspirancy and crime.
With very intense staging, exposing without artifices the truthful tragedy of each character the hand of actress and director Sandra Faleiro, after her remarkable premiere as opera director in Operafest’s last Editions, acclaimed by international critic and audience, under the inspiring musical direction of conductor Jan Wierzba.
A Masked Ball
How does one reinvent an opera that already resides in our imagination? A Masked Ball, brilliantly composed by Giuseppe Verdi, and text written by Antonio Somma, tells the story of a fate laid out and tragically interrupted, accompanying us with its lyrical and epic, and at the same time subtle, virtuosity, represented by the ethereal and so typically human delicateness that is love and hate.
Riccardo (the Count in this version) is the protagonist of this contrast, divided between being loved for his conquests and hated for their consequences.
The characters in this story are entangled in their own condition of love and justice, of hate and treachery. It is a frail line that not only weakens them, but also transforms them into beings that are profoundly human and sensitive. This ambiguity arouses in us a feeling of compassion for Riccardo and Amelia, and for Renato also, who ends up carrying out Riccardo’s fate.
The tragedy of the mask is the tragedy of life between what is visible and perceptible (the conscious) and what is hidden and mysterious (the unconscious). The chorus is the ceremony master and the ball is its catharsis, where the fate of these characters is finally consummated and revealed. Like in a tale in which fable and life are intertwined, we imagine the hidden and ethereal, here in the form of a dark angel, forcing us to accept the presence of death as an emotionally expressive being, hovering over our unconscious and inevitable destiny.
- Joana Campelo
Musical Direction: Jan Wierzba
Stage Direction: Sandra Faleir
Orchestral arrangment: Francisco Lima da Silva
Set Design and Costumes: Ana Paula Rocha
Light Design: Pedro Santos
Cast
Riccardo: Carlos Cardoso
Amelia: Catarina Molder
Renato: Christian Luján
Ulrica: Cátia Moreso
Oscar: Filipa Portela
Samuele: Ricardo Rebelo Silva
Tom: Leandro Moreso
Operafest Lisboa Choir
Catarina Mouro, soprano
Laura Martins, soprano
Margarida Vieira, soprano
Margarida Mercês, mezzo-soprano
Inês Sobreda, mezzo-soprano
Rita Abrunhosa, mezzo-soprano
João Valido Vaz, tenor
João Barbas, tenor
Gabriel dos Santos, tenor
Luis Beirão, tenor
Carlos Flores Baltazar, baritone
Gabriel Formigo, baritone
Rodrigo Calais, bass
A Masked Ball
Giuseppe Verdi
Opera in 3 Acts
Sung in Italian
Subtitles in Portuguese and English
Length: 2h20
Inspired by the assassination of liberal Swedish King, Richard III, by political conspirators during a masked ball which Verdi had over numerous censorships to dissimulate and transform, into a harmless count, transferring the action to a distant colonialist Boston, this opera focus on a love triangle, culminating in the assassination of count Riccardo of Warwick at the hand of his best friend, during a masked ball.
One of the big hits of popular great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, dealing with recurrent themes of his operas, such as fatality of destiny, racism, conspiracy, forbidden love, betrayal and obsessive vengeance. Evoking mask’s hidden identity artifice, in its double side of amusement and as instrument of conspirancy and crime.
With very intense staging, exposing without artifices the truthful tragedy of each character the hand of actress and director Sandra Faleiro, after her remarkable premiere as opera director in Operafest’s last Editions, acclaimed by international critic and audience, under the inspiring musical direction of conductor Jan Wierzba.
A Masked Ball
How does one reinvent an opera that already resides in our imagination? A Masked Ball, brilliantly composed by Giuseppe Verdi, and text written by Antonio Somma, tells the story of a fate laid out and tragically interrupted, accompanying us with its lyrical and epic, and at the same time subtle, virtuosity, represented by the ethereal and so typically human delicateness that is love and hate.
Riccardo (the Count in this version) is the protagonist of this contrast, divided between being loved for his conquests and hated for their consequences.
The characters in this story are entangled in their own condition of love and justice, of hate and treachery. It is a frail line that not only weakens them, but also transforms them into beings that are profoundly human and sensitive. This ambiguity arouses in us a feeling of compassion for Riccardo and Amelia, and for Renato also, who ends up carrying out Riccardo’s fate.
The tragedy of the mask is the tragedy of life between what is visible and perceptible (the conscious) and what is hidden and mysterious (the unconscious). The chorus is the ceremony master and the ball is its catharsis, where the fate of these characters is finally consummated and revealed. Like in a tale in which fable and life are intertwined, we imagine the hidden and ethereal, here in the form of a dark angel, forcing us to accept the presence of death as an emotionally expressive being, hovering over our unconscious and inevitable destiny.
- Joana Campelo
Musical Direction: Jan Wierzba
Stage Direction: Sandra Faleir
Orchestral arrangment: Francisco Lima da Silva
Set Design and Costumes: Ana Paula Rocha
Light Design: Pedro Santos
Cast
Riccardo: Carlos Cardoso
Amelia: Catarina Molder
Renato: Christian Luján
Ulrica: Cátia Moreso
Oscar: Filipa Portela
Samuele: Ricardo Rebelo Silva
Tom: Leandro Moreso
Operafest Lisboa Choir
Catarina Mouro, soprano
Laura Martins, soprano
Margarida Vieira, soprano
Margarida Mercês, mezzo-soprano
Inês Sobreda, mezzo-soprano
Rita Abrunhosa, mezzo-soprano
João Valido Vaz, tenor
João Barbas, tenor
Gabriel dos Santos, tenor
Luis Beirão, tenor
Carlos Flores Baltazar, baritone
Gabriel Formigo, baritone
Rodrigo Calais, bass
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