Tosca

ABOUT THE OPERA

The opera-thriller 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. 

In 1889, Puccini saw in Florence a performance of La Tosca, an acclaimed play by the French author Victorien Sardou, an engrossing melodrama about love and hate, passion and death, against the backdrop of political intrigues and the struggle for freedom and independence, written for the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, who, according to the period testimonies, dazzled in the lead role. Even though the critics castigated Sardou’s play for containing excessive violence, the audience loved it, and Puccini was no exception.

The premiere of the opera, on 14 January 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, was a resounding success. Although some scorned it, including Gustav Mahler, who refused to conduct it, referring to the work as a “Meistermachwerk” (sham masterpiece), and Richard Strauss, who dismissed it in even harsher terms, the opera was admired by Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schönberg.

Today, the opera-thriller 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. 

The renowned French director Arnaud Bernard has been invited to stage the new production of Tosca.

CAST AND CREATIVES

Conductor - Hilary Griffiths / Zuzana Kadlčíková
Floria Tosca - Petra Alvarez Šimková / Olga Busuioc / Ghiulnara Raileanu
Mario Cavaradossi - Atalla Ayan / Kyungho Kim / Stefano La Colla
Baron Scarpia - Daniel Luis de Vicente / Daniel Čapkovič
Cesare Angelotti - Pavel Švingr / František Zahradníček
Sacristan - Ivo Hrachovec / Oleg Korotkov / Jiří Sulženko
Spoletta - Zdeněk Haas / Michael Skalický
Sciarrone - Oldřich Kříž / Jaroslav Patočka
Jailer - Alexander Laptěv / Andrej Styrkul
Shepherd Boy - Joshua Alvarez
Children's chorus - Kühn Children's Choir

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa / Luigi Illica
Stage direction: Martin Otava
Set design: Josef Svoboda
Set design – 1999 reconstruction: Daniel Dvořák
Costumes: Josef Jelínek
Lighting design: Pavel Dautovský
Chorus master: Zuzana Kadlčíková
Kühn Children's Choir master: Jiří Chvála
Dramaturgy: Jitka Slavíková