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Grand Théâtre de Genève

Orchestra

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conductor

Conductor (+2)

Antonino Fogliani

Stage director

Stage director (+4)

Arnaud Bernard

Set designer

Set designer (+3)

Johannes Leiacker

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Fabrice Kebour

Chorusmaster

Répétiteur (+2)

Mark Biggins

Baritone (+3)

Simone Del Savio

De Siriex

Bass (+4)

Mark Kurmanbayev

Grech

Soprano (+1)

Yuliia Zasimova

Contessa Olga Sukarev

Baritone (+5)

Sebastià Peris

Lorek

Baritone (+2)

Vladimir Kazakov

Cirillo

Grand-Théâtre

Chorus

Chorus of the Grand Théâtre de Genève

Video

Paul-Henry Rouget de Conigliano

Tenor

David Webb

Desiré

Soprano (+2)

Céline Kot

Dimitri

Igor Gnidii

Boroff

Tenor (+1)

Louis Zaitoun

Il barone Rouvel

Bass (+1)

Rodrigo Garcia

Nicola

Georgi Sredkov

Sergio

Stage director (+3)

David Greilsammer

Boleslao Lazinski

Soprano (+3)

Aleksandra Kurzak

Principessa Fedora Romazoff

Tenor (+5)

Roberto Alagna

Conte Loris Ipanov

Elena Guseva

Najmiddin Mavlyanov

Conductor (+3)

Jean-Paul Pruna

Fedora, sister of Tosca? Like Puccini, Umberto Giordano was inspired by a flamboyant heroine of the theatre stage tailor- made by Victorien Sardou for the great Sarah Bernhardt.

These two twinned works also share the same explosive combination of tragic love against a backdrop of totalitarian power. In Saint Petersburg in 1881, Vladimir, fiancé of Princess Fedora Romanova, is assassinated by Loris Ipanov, a suspected anarchist. Drunk with revenge, Fedora pursues the murderer to Paris and denounces him to the imperial police. But Loris reveals to her that his wife was Vladimir’s mistress: victims of a common betrayal, he and Fedora fall in love.

Taking refuge in Gstaad, the couple learns that Ipanov’s relatives back in Russia are suffering reprisals following Fedora’s denunciation. In a final sacrificial gesture, she poisons herself and dies in her lover’s arms. Suspense, passion, twists and turns… This true operatic thriller has been a triumph ever since its 1898 premiere in Milan. In it, Umberto Giordano brings together all Italian art’s most ardent lyricism, whose verismo is adorned with an opulent orchestra.

With scenographer Johannes Leiacker, director Arnaud Bernard retains the plot’s luxurious decorum, from the Petersburg palace to Parisian gold, to the gleaming chic of a hotel lobby inspired by the famous Gstaad Palace. But he also accuses the excessive splendour, juxtaposing it with dark perspectives that reveal the underlying drama. For Fedora Romanova’s Russia is no longer that of the tsars, but of a post- glastnost era, where the secret services know how to use compromise to ruin the reputation of their victims. In 1881, the year of the assassination of Alexander II, Loris Ipanov was seen as a possible anarchist. A century later, under the merciless eye of spy cameras, surveillance has increased, and executive sanction takes a more technological and chilling turn.

From Enrico Caruso to José Carreras, including Plácido Domingo and Mirella Freni, Fedora has often constituted an exceptional showcase for the greatest opera singers. This production will mark the debut of Roberto Alagna and his wife Aleksandra Kurzak in an operatic work at the Grand Théâtre. Alternating with them, Fedora and Loris will be played by two of today’s great Russian voices, Elena Guseva and Najmiddin Mavlyanov. Returning to Place de Neuve after Turandot (2022) and Nabucco (2023), Antonino Fogliani will deliver a fresh lesson in Italianità at the head of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

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