Name: Fidelio
Start: 2024-10-09T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2024-10-26T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Royal Opera House

Admin

Royal Ballet and Opera

Regie

Tobias Kratzer

Kostümbild

Rainer Sellmaier

Bühnenbild

Lichtgestaltung

Michael Bauer

Videogestaltung

Manuel Braun

Dramaturgie

Bettina Bartz

Dirigat

Alexander Soddy

Sopran

Jennifer Davis

Leonore

Tenor

Eric Cutler

Florestan

Bass

Dmitry Belosselskiy

Rocco

Christina Gansch

Marzelline

Michael Gibson

Jaquino

Bariton

Jochen Schmeckenbecher

Don Pizarro

Phillip Rhodes

Don Fernando

Siphe Kwani

Erster Gefangener

Jamie Woollard

Zweiter Gefangener

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Others

Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Chordirektion

William Spaulding

Konzertmeister

Sergey Levitin

Deutsch

Fidelio

London

Vereinigtes Königreich

Royal Opera House

Main Stage

Fidelio Beethoven

Public

Staged

Oper

Joshua Dos

Englisch

Genehmigt

Fidelio: Fidelio Beethoven

What begins as a domestic drama turns into a bold exploration of freedom, gender and the power of love. Tobias Kratzer’s production combines revolutionary flair with a sharp, contemporary edge, asking the question: when does political inaction turn into complicity? Former Jette Parker Young Artist Jennifer Davis stars as the bold and independent Leonore (‘Fidelio’). Davis is joined by Eric Cutler as Florestan and Dmitry Belosselskiy as Rocco, both making their debuts with The Royal Opera this Season, and Christina Gansch as Marzelline. Alexander Soddy returns to conduct. 

A REVOLUTIONARY TALE
When Fidelio had its premiere at the Theater an der Wien in 1805, Napoleon’s army was occupying the city. The aftershocks of the French Revolution were felt across Europe long after the 18th century, and questions of personal freedom, social justice and the rights of the individual continued to resonate.

KALEIDOSCOPIC MUSICAL FORMS
In Beethoven’s only opera, we witness the composer at his dramatic finest. The music is transcendent throughout and includes the famous Act I Quartet, the Prisoners’ Chorus and Florestan’s impassioned Act II cry in the darkness and vision of hope. The opening duet between Jaquino the jailor and his daughter Marzelline is sung in the style of Singspiel (song interspersed with spoken dialogue), while the hymn-like Prisoners’ Chorus at the finale of Act II recalls Beethoven's most transformative Oratorio (sacred) work. It took Beethoven 12 years to complete the score, and the result is a powerful drama which ambitiously challenges formal musical structure and grows in scope as the story progresses.

THE PRISONERS' CHORUS
At the end of Act I, the prisoners are released from the darkness of their cells. Under the penetrating rays of the sun, prisoners and audience alike are reminded of the transformative effect of freedom on the human spirit. ‘O welche Lust,’ the men cry out: ‘Oh what joy, to be in the open air, to breathe freely once more. Up here is life, down below in the dungeon is death.’ It is these steps into the light that imbue, if briefly, the imprisoned with hope, indeed joy – before they must soon return to the cold and fearful depths of their cells, and of the human mind.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY...
In 1803, just two years before the premiere of Fidelio, Beethoven composed his Eroica symphony, dedicating it to Napoleon Bonaparte. When in 1804 Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven withdrew the dedication in disgust. It should come as no surprise, then, that the theme of freedom is so important to Fidelio, whose plot follows a young, independent woman as she attempts to free her husband who has been wrongly imprisoned. Beethoven based his opera on a true story from the French Revolution, and a real-life rescue that took place in the city of Tours.

English

Aufführungskredite (Besetzung & Produktionsteam )

Besetzung

Produktionsteam

Ensemble