Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci @ Operafest Lisboa 2024

	26/08/2024
	Oeiras
	Gardens of Palácio Marquês de Pombal

SINOPSE

Operafest kicks off with not one but two great classics, in the shape of “Cavalleria Rusticana” (1890) by Pietro Mascagni and “Pagliacci” (1892) by Ruggero Leoncavallo, which will be performed in the gardens of the Marquês de Pombal Palace, part of the new programme partnership in Oeiras. The 18th-century heritage site boasts extensive and arresting gardens that offer a dreamlike setting, right on the edge of Lisbon. Once the former residence of the man who invented modern, post-earthquake Lisbon (the Marquis of Pombal), the gardens offer various pedestrian and leisure areas, allowing for a unique operatic experience.

These one-act masterpieces and paradigms of the Italian verismo movement praise the authenticity of feeling and singing. This can be raw and aggressive, while direct, with real emotions, where tragedy, honour killings, domestic spats, human conflicts move into the popular sphere, with no mediation or pretty words.

Now it’s the inhabitants of a Sicilian village – poor people that work in the fields, who run a tavern, or clowns from a travelling circus – who are the heroes of the tragedy, usually resolved with knives in the public square, for all to see.

Stories of impossible loves, compulsive jealousy, abandonment, betrayal and codes of honour, moved by Basic (fatal) Instincts, with the most exciting and inspired music that develops like a film soundtrack, with arias for tenor that reached stratospheric levels of popularity. These are veritable pop songs, sung by ordinary mortals in the street at the beginning of the 20th century, such as the aria Viva o vinho espumejante in Portuguese versions. This is the aria that Turiddu sings cheerfully before being struck down in a duel. And then there’s the iconic aria of the clown whose sad fate is to make others laugh while he dies inside. Two operatic verismo pearls no to be missed!

After her acclaimed production of The Magic Flute at last year’s Operafest, actress and director Mónica Garnel oversees this double bill, ably assisted by musical director Osvaldo Ferreira. The cast is led by Spanish tenor Andeka Gorrotxategi and soprano Catarina Molder supported by great Portuguese talent, accompanied by the Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa (Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Coro do Operafest (Operafest Choir).

For the very first time, Palácio Marquês de Pombal Gardens will stage opera, dressed in the garb of an authentic Sicilian village to welcome Operafest with two operatic peals not to be missed!

 

PROGRAM

R. LEONCAVALLO
Pagliacci, Opera in Prologue and Two Acts

P. MASCAGNI
Cavalleria Rusticana, Opera in One Act

TECHNICAL RIDER

Osvaldo Ferreira, Music Director
Mónica Garnel, Stage Director
Patrícia Costa, Set Design and Costumes
Sérgio Moreira, Light Design

CAST

Andeka Gorrotxategi, Turiddu
Catarina Molder, Santuzza
Christian Luján, Alfio
Carolina Figueiredo, Mamma Lucia
Leila Moreso, Lola

Andeka Gorrotxategi, Canio
Catarina Molder, Nedda
Jorge Martins, Tonio
Rui Baeta, Silvio
Bruno Almeida, Beppe

Coro Operafest Lisboa

Osvaldo Ferreira, Conductor
Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa

 

Production Support OFP

André Lousada, Assistant Conductor

Paulo Alves, Stage manager

Carolina Frederico, Artistic Management