Organization

Hong Kong Arts Festival

Zanger

Mezzo-soprano

Furio Zanasi

L'humana fragilità

Tenor

Ulisse

Dirigent

Philippe Pierlot

Regisseur

William Kentridge

Set designer

Adrian Kohler

Herman Sorgeloos

Video ontwerper

Catherine Meyburgh

Assistant Director

Luc de Wit

Licht ontwerper

Wesley France

Kristina Hammarström

Penelope

Jean-François Novelli

Telemaco

Pisandro

Bass

Antonio Abete

Il Tempo

Nettuno

Antinoo

Soprano

Hanna Bayodi-Hirt

Minerva

Amore

Anna Zander

La Fortuna

Countertenor

Anfinomo

Melanto

Víctor Sordo

Eurimaco

Eumete

Giove

Orchestra

Ricercar Consort

Italiaans

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria -  (De terugkeer van Odysseus naar zijn vaderland)

Hong Kong

China

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

Public

De terugkeer van Odysseus naar zijn vaderland

Chinees

Engels

Approved

The battle-scarred Ulysses returns from an epic voyage to find a home he barely recognises—a place where his face is no longer known, and his waiting wife Penelope beset by those who stand to gain if he never returns. Homer’s Odyssey is a story of exile and longing, of love, deception and revenge, and it has been retold in almost every conceivable artform, from epic poetry to Hollywood movies; from experimental novels to animé. And, of course, opera. Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse is more than one of the oldest operas in the repertory. It is also a gripping human drama, told through energetic Renaissance dance music and passionate song, bristling with all the emotion, energy and wit of what was—when it was first performed in 1639—state-of-the-art blockbuster entertainment.

Now, visionary director William Kentridge, early music specialists the Ricercar Consort and vocalists specialised in baroque singing, including mezzo-soprano Kristina Hammarström and tenor Jeffrey Thompson, join South Africa’s world-famous Handspring Puppet Company to share their version of Monteverdi’s opera. In a 20th-century Johannesburg hospital, an elderly Ulysses looks back on the events of his life. Through video animation, the power of Monteverdi’s music performed live and Handspring’s extraordinary, life-size puppets, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse blurs the boundaries between human reality and artifice, memory and actuality, to create a powerful, universal and unforgettable operatic experience—like Homer’s original, a timeless epic of absence and adventure, of yearning, love and human fragility, and how fidelity and courage ultimately triumph over deception and greed.

English

Voorstellingscredits (Cast & Productieteam )

Cast

Productieteam

Ensemble