Organization

Singer

Tenor

Gregory Kunde

Otello

Soprano

Ermonela Jaho

Desdemona

Baritone

Carlos Álvarez

Iago

Freddie De Tommaso

Cassio

Andrés Presno

Roderigo

Mezzo-soprano

Catherine Carby

Emilia

Bass

Michael Mofidian

Montano

David Soar

Lodovico

Conductor

Antonio Pappano

Stage director

Keith Warner

Set designer

Boris Kudlička

Costume designer

Kaspar Glarner

Lighting designer

Bruno Poet

Choreographer

Michael Barry

Royal Opera House

Italian

Otello -  (Othello)

London

United Kingdom

Public

Othello

English

Approved

Otello Verdi

Verdi’s Shakespeare-inspired opera Otello plays out the fatal consequences of romantic jealousy. Jonas Kaufmann, Marco Vratogna, Thomas Atkins and the Royal Opera Chorus perform 'Dio fulgor...Esultate!'. To book tickets and find out more, head to https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-ev...
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Light and dark, good and evil: Keith Warner’s production focuses on the violent conflicts at the core of Otello’s story. Boris Kudlicka’s semi-abstract sets and Kaspar Glarner’s costumes mirror the contrasting innocence of Desdemona and malevolence of Iago. Warner sensitively examines the relationships between Moors, Turks and Westerners in Shakespeare’s time to highlight Otello feeling an outsider in his society, which contributes to his loss of confidence and gradual mental collapse.

Otello was Verdi’s penultimate opera. Although he had claimed to have retired after Aida in 1871, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to set a text by his favourite poet, Shakespeare. His publisher, Giulio Ricordi, suggested he use the writer and composer Arrigo Boito as his librettist. Verdi was delighted by Boito’s subtle and sensitive text, which drew from him some wonderful and varied music. Highlights include Otello and Desdemona’s beautiful Act I love duet, Iago’s nihilistic Act II ‘Credo’, the grandeur of the final scenes of Act III and the terrible intimacy of Act IV from Desdemona’s forebodings to Otello’s crime of passion. Otello had a triumphant premiere in 1887 at La Scala, Milan, and Verdi and Boito went on to collaborate on Verdi’s final operatic masterpiece, Falstaff.

Othello by Verdi, From (2019/2019), Directed by Keith Warner,, Conductor Antonio Pappano, Royal Opera House, London, United Kingdom

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