Organization

Stage director

Martin Otava

Singer

Tenor

Rodrigo Porras Garulo

Mario Cavaradossi

Soprano

Petra Šimková

Floria Tosca

Ewa Vesin

Fabián Lara

Pavel Černoch

Baritone

Claudio Sgura

Baron Scarpia

Krzysztof Szumanski

Alexander Krasnov

Ivo Hrachovec

The sacristan

Oleg Korotkov

Bass

Pavel Švingr

Cesare Angelotti

František Zahradníček

Amir Khan

Spoletta

Václav Sibera

Oldřich Kříž

Sciarrone

Alexander Laptěv

A jailer

Andrey Styrkul

Child vocalist

Gabriela Pešinová

A shepherd

Petra Břicháčová

Soňa Koczianová

Conductor

Karl Heinz Steffens

Ondrej Olos

Lighting designer

Pavel Dautovský

Costume designer

Josef Jelínek

Set designer

Josef Svoboda

Dramaturge

Jitka Slavíková

Chorus master

Adolf Melichar

Jiří Chvála

Sets (reconstruction)

Daniel Dvořák

National Theatre Prague

Others

State Opera Chorus

Orchestra

State Opera Orchestra

Kühn Children's Choir

Prague Philharmonic Children´s Choir

Italian

Tosca

Prague

Czech Republic

Státní Opera Praha (The State Opera)

Tosca Puccini

Public

Czech

English

Approved

The State Opera production features Josef Svoboda’s legendary scenery dating from the era of the May the Fifth Grand Opera (today the State Opera). This Tosca production premiered on 4 May 1947, six days prior to the designer’s 27th birthday.  In June 1999, Svoboda’s sets, ranking among the most accomplished in Czech post-war theatre, were reproduced by Daniel Dvořák, a pupil of Svoboda’s and the then director of the State Opera Prague. The faithful copy, made by means of modern technologies, contributed to the great popularity of the production.

Giacomo Puccini had mulled over Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca ever since 1889, when he saw in Milan a performance of the drama, starring the feted actress Sarah Bernhardt. Yet owing to the complicated negotiations between his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and Sardou, and due to Puccini’s working on Manon Lescaut and La bohème, the composition was delayed and Tosca was only completed in 1899. The world premiere of the opera, on 14 January 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, was a resounding success, even though some scorned it, including Gustav Mahler, who referred to the work as a “Meistermachwerk” (sham masterpiece), and Richard Strauss, who dismissed it in even harsher terms. Today, the opera about the diva Tosca, her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, and the malicious police chief Baron Scarpia, set in 1800 in Italy during the time of Napoleon’s war against Austria, is one of the most popular operas worldwide.

Tosca by Puccini, From (2021/2022), Directed by Martin Otava,, Conductor Karl Heinz Steffens, Ondrej Olos, Státní Opera Praha (The State Opera), Prague, Czech Republic

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues