Don Carlos is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the tragedy of the same name by Friedrich Schiller.
The first performance of the work, in five acts and in French, took place on 11 March 1867 at the Salle Le Peletier of the Théâtre de l'Académie Impériale de Musique in Paris (at the time the home of the Opéra national de Paris).
A woman, Lydia Steier, who has already staged Les Indes galantes in Geneva in 2019, has been entrusted with the opening of the 23-24 season, devoted to the exploration of “Power games”. This time the director brings Don Carlos to the stage, a fresco on absolutism and the culture of secrecy, immersing us in the Spain of Philip II, dominated by the omnipresent Inquisition that forms the backdrop for characters drawn from the aesthetic ideal of Schiller's Sturm und Drang.
The exceptional conductor Marc Minkowski, who already opened the Grand Théâtre's 22-23 season with “La Juive” by Fromental Halévy, continues his exploration of French Grand Opéra with the musicians of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, presenting the original Paris version in French of Verdi's Don Carlos, with the opening scene in the forest of Fontainebleau. This version returns to Geneva for the first time since 1962.
The Grand Théâtre is delighted to bring together the leading Verdi performers of the moment: the Russian bass Dmitry Ulyanov as King Philip II, back on the same stage where he has already sung Guerra e Pace, La Juive and Lady Macbeth di Mtsensk, the famous French baritone Stéphane Degout (the Marquis of Posa), who turns into a politician whose opportunism appears to be his defining character trait, as well as the scheming Princess Eboli, played by the Swiss Romande Eve-Maud Hubeaux, a rising star among dramatic mezzo-sopranos in the operatic firmament.
The ill-fated couple Don Carlos and Elisabeth de Valois will be played by the Americans Charles Castronovo and Rachel Willis-Sorensen, invited to the greatest opera houses for this demanding repertoire. The latter is reunited with Marc Minkowski and the Grand Opéra cycle at the Grand Théâtre after her impressive Valentine in Les Huguenots in 2020.
Between emotions and ideologies, Verdi takes hold of these characters to throw open the wings of power and denounce religious fanaticism, making their contradictions and their actions more human. In a dystopian society where every gesture is recorded so that it can be used at any moment against anyone, the characters survive in opaque shades. Far from the truth and from any idealism, the characters are inhabited by fear, in this dark and claustrophobic universe that was the empire of Philip II. The counterpoint, however, is Verdi's music, visionary and idealistic, intended to inspire hope for a better and new world.
The opera will be staged from 15 to 28 September 2023
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Bd du Théâtre 11
1204 Genève
Phone: +41 22 322 50 50
Tickets available online here https://tuttoitalia.news/don-carlos
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