The live broadcast of rarely performed Giuseppe Verdi's opera Luisa Miller from the New York's Metropolitan Opera, for the first time in HD, will be a real treat for music lovers around the world, especially for Polish ones. It is a rare situation that artists of such reputation as Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Beczała and Plácido Domingo debute in new roles in one performance. We will have a chance to admire these three on 14 April 2018 during the transmission at the Praha Cinema at 6.10 p.m.
In a remarkable career spanning six decades in the theater, Giuseppe Verdi composed 28 operas, at least half of which are at the core of today’s repertory. Luisa Miller represents a transitional moment in Verdi’s unparalleled career. While reminiscent of the youthful vitality that had made Verdi an international sensation, the opera also looks forward to the dramaturgical discipline and sophistication of the composer’s middle period. The story centers on the bond between a father and his daughter as they stand together against a hostile world, and much of the dramatic and psychological acumen that would define the mature Verdi is already fully apparent in this earlier work. It is an opera very much like its title character—one that impresses with genuine virtues rather than superficial flashiness.
The libretto, written by Salvadore Cammarano, is based on Schiller's drama Intrigue and love. The opera was originally set during the first half of the 17th century in the Tyrolean Alps (now part of Austria), which reflects the Germanic source of the drama. The non-Mediterranean setting is also typical of an interest in Northern Europe that was a hallmark of the Romantics and other artists of the early 19th century. The Met’s current production updates the setting to rural England in the era of the work’s composition. The resumption of the production of Elijah Moshinsky from 2001 in such an excellent cast gathered great reviews in New York. Alongside the celebrity trio, the performance will feature Olesya Petrov as the Duchess of Frederick, Alexander Vinogradov as Count Walter and Dmitry Belosselskiy as Wurm. Conducts Bertrand de Billy.
Presentation in the language of the original (Italian) with Polish subtitles takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes (including 2 breaks).
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Additional information at: www.kinopraha.pl