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Mercedes Arcuri stars in Georges Bizet's opera Ivan IV at the State Theatre Meiningen
February 21st, 2023 |
Soprano Mercedes Arcuri leads the cast of Georges Bizet's grand opera Ivan IV at the State Theatre in Meiningen (Germany)
Georges Bizet was inspired by the story of Tsar Ivan IV, nicknamed "the Terrible" for the cruelty of his actions, to develop an opera that has impressive Russian local colour and large crowd scenes, and in which religious and cultural conflicts are intertwined with conspiracies, passions and betrayals.
Bizet, who was not the first choice to compose the music for the libretto written by Francois-Hippolyte Leroy and Henri Trianon, as it had initially been offered to Charles Gounod, tried in vain, between 1864 and 1866, to have this opera premiered in its entirety, but the work was lost and it was not until 1951 that a first performance couldn't happen, albeit in a reduced form. Finally, in 1975, on the centenary of the composer's death, the complete edition of the work was recovered, albeit in concert version.
This is the first time that this operatic rarity by Bizet will be staged in its entirety, in a production in which Mercedes Arcuri will perform the lead role of Marie.
There will be 8 performances in total starting on 24 February. The musical direction is by Philippe Bach and the staging is by Hinrich Horstkotte.
Georges Bizet was inspired by the story of Tsar Ivan IV, nicknamed "the Terrible" for the cruelty of his actions, to develop an opera that has impressive Russian local colour and large crowd scenes, and in which religious and cultural conflicts are intertwined with conspiracies, passions and betrayals.
Bizet, who was not the first choice to compose the music for the libretto written by Francois-Hippolyte Leroy and Henri Trianon, as it had initially been offered to Charles Gounod, tried in vain, between 1864 and 1866, to have this opera premiered in its entirety, but the work was lost and it was not until 1951 that a first performance couldn't happen, albeit in a reduced form. Finally, in 1975, on the centenary of the composer's death, the complete edition of the work was recovered, albeit in concert version.
This is the first time that this operatic rarity by Bizet will be staged in its entirety, in a production in which Mercedes Arcuri will perform the lead role of Marie.
There will be 8 performances in total starting on 24 February. The musical direction is by Philippe Bach and the staging is by Hinrich Horstkotte.
