Organization

Admin

Gran Teatre del Liceu

Opéra National de Paris

Stage director

Stage director (+1)

Jean-Claude Auvray

Choreographer

Choreographer (+3)

Terry John Bates

Set designer

Set designer (+1)

Alain Chambon

Costume designer

Maria Chiara Donato

Chorusmaster

Conductor (+2)

Pablo Assante

Conductor

Nicola Luisotti

Orchestra

Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Mezzo-soprano (+7)

Laura Vila

Curra

Lighting designer

Lighting designer (+2)

Laurent Castaingt

Revival Stage Director

Stage director (+2)

Leo Castaldi

Revival choreographer

Paolo Ferri

Assistant Conductor

Conductor (+1)

Luis Miguel Méndez

Tenor (+1)

Moisés Marín

Maestro Trabuco

Bass (+1)

Dimitar Darlev

Mayor

Baritone (+2)

Plamen Papazikov

Domingo Ramos

A surgeon

Bass

Lucas Groppo

Chorus

Choir of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Choreographer (+1)

Roberth Aramburo

Dancer

Anna Casasola

Kevin Donaire

Daniel Flores

Angel Gutierrez

Ariadna Jordan

Carla Pizarro

Irene Recio

Péter Zelei

Violinist

Gjorgi Dimčevski

Violin I

Olga Aleshinsky

Eva Pyrek

Joan Andreu Bella

Birgit Euler

Aleksandar Krapovski

Sergey Maiboroda

Oleg Shport

Raul Suárez

Enric Fernández

Oriol Algueró

Francina Moll

Ana Paula Banciu

Oleguer Beltran-Pallarés

Violin II

Rodica Monica Harda

Violinist (+1)

Liu Jing

Andrea Ceruti

Charles Courant

Piotr Jeczmyk

Magdalena Kostrzewska

Alexandre Polonski

Sergi Puente

Annick Puig

Kalina Macuta

Natalie Dentini

Violist

Alejandro Garrido

Viola

Fulgencio Sandoval

Josep Bracero

Bettina Brandkamp

Frank Tollini

Peter Bucknell

Sergio García

Violist (+1)

Nacho Gobbi

Salomé Osca

Cellist

Òscar Alabau

Cello

Guillaume Terrail

Andrea Amador

Esther Clara Braun

Matthias Weinmann

Daniel Claret

Albert Castan

Double Bass Player

João Seara

Double Bass

Enric Bassacoma

Javier Serrano

Cristian Sandu

Carlos Garcia Pupo

Flautist

Aleksandra Miletic

Flute

Sandra Luisa Batista

Oboist

Barbara Stegemann

Oboe

Enric Pellicer

Clarinettist

Dario Mariño

Clarinet

Laia Santamaria

Bassoonist

Guillermo Salcedo

Bassoon

María José Rielo

Hornist

Carles Chordà

Horn

Pablo Cadenas

Gerard Sánchez

Trumpeter

Josep Anton Casado

Trumpet

Javi Cantos

David Alcaraz

Francesc Colomina

Aitor Muñoz

Trombonist

Jordi Berbegal

Trombone

Antoni Duran

Luis Bellver

Cimbasso Player (+1)

José Miguel Bernabeu

Tuba

Timpanist (+1)

Manuel Martínez

Timpani

Percussionist

Enric Albiol

Percussion

Pere Cornudella

Vicent Catalán

La forza del destino is an opera from Verdi's heyday. Premiered four years after Un ballo in maschera, a very special moment in his production, it coincides with the prevailing taste for a glimpse of the exoticism of other worlds. 

Focusing on this fascination with Spanish culture, Verdi wrote Ernani (1844), Il trovatore (1853), Don Carlo (1867) and La forza del destino (1862). The action begins with the dream of two lovers, Don Alvaro and Leonora, preparing to elope, but the two lovers are surprised by the young woman's father. Misfortune follows them when Don Alvaro, while throwing his pistols on the ground, unintentionally fires one and kills the father: fortune is capricious and laughs at the fate of men. 

Only Verdi's talent could transform a convoluted plot, filled with clichés from the Spanish Romantic school, into an opera that is a quintessential example of the 19th century Italian repertoire and a true musical miracle.

La forza is an adaptation of the play Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino, a drama in five days in prose and verse by Ángel María de Saavedra y Ramírez de Baquedano, Duke of Rivas, first performed at the Teatro del Príncipe in Madrid in 1835. Verdi and Piave were enthusiastic about the work of this curious character, a great man of Spain, the most famous playwright of his time, a painter and politician who even became president of the government for two days in 1854. 

To complete the libretto, a scene adapted from the Wallensteins Lager by Friedrich Schiller, one of Giuseppe Verdi's favourite authors, was added. Verdi travelled to St. Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire at the time, in December 1861 to attend the première of his new opera, which had to be cancelled, but finally premiered the following November at the Bolshoi Kamenny (later Mariisnky) Theatre. 

It was the start of an anecdote charged with "bad luck" that has remained forever associated with this Verdian title, also known as "la Innominable", a so-called black legend because of its numerous problems both in production and staging, including real deaths on stage. A great Italian fresco full of plot twists in which the curse of the father hangs heavy and overshadows everything. 

La Forza, like Rigoletto and Il Trovatore, is also a work of its time. In 1861, Verdi agreed to become a member of parliament to pursue his political ideals. However, "Il Risorgimento" was more ambitious than Verdi wanted, and the composer fell prey to a degree of scepticism. That same dark melancholy pervades the entire score, where the motif of fate recurs throughout the idea of redemption. In this co-production between the Opéra de Paris and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, directed by Jean-Claude Auvray, the opera becomes a place where dreams shatter against the wall of reality while a faint but toxic song of hope emerges. 

An immense canvas for this opera with minimalist scenography, full of romantic details and a score that demands sublime performers like Maria Agresta and Saioa Hernández to find all the nuances of Leonora's emotion (from joy through to the resignation of the last broken heart). Accompanying these is a cast featuring Brian Jagde as Don Alvaro, the man she loves, and Artur Rucinski, Don Carlo, the dark instrument of her destiny. Maestro Nicola Luisotti's brilliant conducting is a lesson in Verdian style applied to scenes of grand lyricism and refinement, alternating with comic passages.

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