Tosca by Puccini, Ó (2024/2025), Faoi stiúir Armin Petras, Seoltóir Alexander Merzyn, Staatstheater Cottbus, Cottbus, Germany

In times of constraints, no one can hide behind their art, not the painter Mario Cavaradossi and not his lover, the singer Floria Tosca. The opera's plot unfolds in just 24 hours against the backdrop of the conflict between Napoleon's revolutionary army and the Habsburg-papal troops in 1800. After the fall of the Roman Republic, police chief Scarpia has established a regime of terror that nips every sign of freedom in the bud. The diva, revered by all, who only wanted to live for art and love, gets caught up in the power machinery of the corrupt political system after her lover falls into Scarpia's hands because he gave shelter to a politically persecuted man. Scarpia combines his political power interests with an obsession for Tosca and spins a deadly intrigue. Puccini's operatic crime thriller about seduction, slander and the role of art in totalitarian regimes is one of the most popular operas in the repertoire. With "torture and death, bells and cannons," Puccini clearly wanted to shock the audience and created his most political and dramatic work with TOSCA. The breathlessly driven plot musically transports the listener into an overwhelming panorama of the Eternal City, in which Puccini also proves himself to be a master of melodic seduction and sweetness. House director and co-director of drama Armin Petras stages this milestone in opera history as a highly topical political thriller about the relationship between art and power.