Organization

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Emilia Rukavina

Stephano

Tenor

Aljaž Farasin

Romeo

Soprano

Anamarija Knego

Juliet

Bass

Slavko Sekulić

Friar Laurent

Marko Fortunato

Tybalt

Ivana Srbljan

The Duke

Sofija Cingula

Gertrude

Bass-baritone

Luka Ortar

Count Capulet

Stage director

Marin Blažević

Conductor

Ariane Matiakh

Baritone

Ivan Šimatović

Gregory

Croatian National Theatre “Ivan PL. Zajc” Rijeka

Teatro Comunale Alighieri di Ravenna

Orchestra

Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc Opera Orchestra

Roméo et Juliette -  (Romeo and Juliet)

Rijeka

Croatia

HNK Zajc

Roméo et Juliette Gounod

Public

Romeo and Juliet

Approved

Koprodukcija: Opera HNK Ivana pl. Zajca, Teatro Alighieri i Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioniopera u pet činova Dirigent: Paolo OlmiRedatelj: Marin Blaževićh...

HNK Zajc: Charles Gounod / Romeo i Julija /

In an era in which love appears at the same time as a sentimental object of irony and cynicism, and yet as a trigger for the unstoppable drive of utopian literary and philosophical production (not to mention its trivialized media and market exploits), Romeo and Juliet still shines as mythical, destined and abruptly ended love, ready to play its delight and suffering in unpredictable social, cultural and political contexts.

Contrary to the possible compulsion to take on the challenges of actualization, we were more interested in what happens to the story in unimaginable theatrical and musical conditions such as Gounod and his librettists provided the famous couple with an astonishing sense of Shakespeare's mix of tones and moods. Beyond defiance of the centuries-old hatred that tears apart two quarreling families, these operas Romeo and Juliet, in our opinion, are primarily looking for a "free place where they can take off their masks for a moment" (Mercuzio, Act I). that time - only the place and time of the spider's veil of Queen Mab. So much so that the event that unites them is something from the second-order ontology, at the same time a complete coincidence, and a "radical change of perspective" (Badiou), or the birth of a new being and a new world: “(Romeo, Act II)

What did Romeo see in Julia? Certainly not a reason for stereotypical clicks about beauty as the reckless choir honors it and as it is vain, the preoccupied father introduces the preoccupied father to the social stage, preparing the girl for marital sale. Neither the playful and hearty Mercuzio, nor the blinded Gregorio, nor the pale Paris, nor Tebaldo, full of noise and rage, can discover the secret of the magnetic connection between the two Verona lovers. Even Brother Lorenzo protects his lovers from some other, foreign, "higher" motives of social peace. However, the "dark" Romeo in "heavenly" Julia recognizes exactly what Gounod's score in Shakespeare's footsteps will continue to touch touchingly and gradually after their fateful encounter: readiness for absolute risk and unreserved surrender, as a result of which Julia will mature in an instant from the chirping of Stefano's "dove" to the authentic heroine who does not snort before the resistance to her father, clan and city, nor before poison or dagger. Therefore, her second, dramatic aria "Amour Ranime Mon Courage", in which she doubts whether or not she will become She in their equal love, will end with a firm decision that the poison, regardless of the possible tragic outcome, must be tested. Contrary to Hamlet's temporarily silenced suspicion at the end of the monologue of all the monologues "To be or not to be", Julia comes before her father and the choir (ie the community) who intended her the role of good / goods, only to be imprisoned alive tombs. in which he doubts whether or not she will become the One in their equal love, and end up with a firm decision that the poison, regardless of the possible tragic outcome, must be tested. Contrary to Hamlet's temporarily silenced suspicion at the end of the monologue of all the monologues "To be or not to be", Julia comes before her father and the choir (ie the community) who intended her the role of good / goods, only to be imprisoned alive tombs. in which he doubts whether or not she will become the One in their equal love, and end up with a firm decision that the poison, regardless of the possible tragic outcome, must be tested. Contrary to Hamlet's temporarily silenced suspicion at the end of the monologue of all the monologues "To be or not to be", Julia comes before her father and the choir (ie the community) who intended her the role of good / goods, only to be imprisoned alive tombs.

Romeo and Juliet, or Juliet and Romeo, are primarily two, not fatally fused, mystical One: they see each other dying and thus reach the peak of mutual subjectivation, on which other tragic characters of Shakespeare's legacy, mostly immersed in solipsistic obsessions, can just envy.

The play therefore begins with the end, the scene of their death. What follows is a funeral rite, both a dark and comic ballo in maschera in a pulsating cage, a scenographic-light installation — the heart of our show. The spiral, inverted marche funèbre unwinds the play until a new beginning open only to Julia and Romeo, at the end of their performance. Sandra Dekanić as a costume designer, Mila Čuljak as a choreographer, and Alan Vukelić as a set designer and lighting designer equally contributed to such a conceptual, visual and physical experience of the play.

And the dramaturgical and directorial dedication of this play to all her artistic, acting and singing beings was deserved by Anamarija Knego, who with Julia completes her trilogy of exceptional female characters in operas based on Shakespeare's templates. In Desdemona from Vedi's "Othello", she, unexpectedly for many, aroused defiance and rebellion; as Alice Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff" she took on the role of director (Alice-Direttrice in the theater in the theater where she will outwit all the male characters); and now in Julia, again defying prejudice, Anamarija Knego recognized and won the strength of a woman. In her arias and co-plays with Aljaž Farasin, Romeo of Werther's deep vivacity, a complex female character is born who continues to affirm that Shakespeare will be our contemporary as long as the artist has performances that insist on it.

English

Romeo and Juliet by Gounod, From (2022/2022), Directed by Marin Blažević,, Conductor Ariane Matiakh, HNK Zajc, Rijeka, Croatia

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