The production of Otello at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa

– This is the first production of a Verdi opera that the Valencian arts center has exported to another theater

– Verdi's Otello , with Zubin Mehta as musical director, broke occupancy and box office records at its premiere at the VI Festival del Mediterrani

Valencia. The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía production of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello closes the 'Verdi Year' celebrations at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy.

The production, staged by Davide Livermore and directed by Zubin Mehta at the 6th Festival del Mediterrani, premieres in Italy on December 27th. The Italian theater will present a total of six performances of this play with the same three lead actors who performed it at the Palau de les Arts.

American tenor Gregory Kunde, who won the 2013 Campoamor Theater Lyric Prize for his performance of Otello in Valencia, leads the cast along with Italian soprano Maria Agresta (Desdemona) and Malaga-born baritone Carlos Álvarez (Iago).

Davide Livermore's Otello thus becomes the first Verdi production that the Valencian arts center exports to another theater and will soon be released as the first recording of a Verdi opera on DVD and Blu-ray in the Palau de les Arts catalog, which includes other in-house productions such as Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac , Beethoven's Fidelio , Berlioz 's Les Troyens , Falla's La vida breve , Puccini's Turandot and La Bohème , and the four DVDs that make up Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung , all of them released under the C-Major label.

The collaboration between Zubin Mehta and Davide Livermore in this production brought the Valencian arts center one of the greatest public and critical successes in its history, with an average occupancy of 98.7% in all its performances and ovations of more than twelve minutes, which exceeded fourteen in the last performance.

Excellent critical reception

The excellent reception from local, national and international critics has been the best calling card for this production in the circuit of productions of interest to other theaters.

The specialized press unanimously praised every aspect of this Otello , describing it as "luxurious," "extraordinary," "exceptional," "masterful," and a "musical monument," confirming Davide Livermore as one of Italy's most promising stage directors with this work. Il Corriere della Sera highlighted this, calling the production "his best work to date." National and international newspapers likened the director's work to the revolutionary productions of Wieland Wagner, grandson of the composer and founder of the Regietheater, for the Bayreuth Festival in the 1950s and 60s.

The Cor de la Generalitat and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana once again received top marks from critics. The resident ensembles of the Palau de les Arts “set themselves apart from other Spanish theaters,” as reported by La Razón . La Vanguardia refers to the OCV as “the best opera orchestra in Spain.” Even more emphatic is the Austrian newspaper Die Presse , which stated that the resident ensemble of the Valencian arts center “has become one of the leading opera orchestras in Europe,” an ensemble it describes as “ideal.”

Finally, Zubin Mehta received the highest praise for his interpretation of Verdi's opera, with many critics hailing him as "the great triumph of the evening." In this regard, the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera emphasized that "Mehta draws from the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana accents and nuances that are not only the fruit of his long experience, but even more so of his intelligence and taste..." "Despite the financial situation," the newspaper added, "Valencia is capable of presenting a first-rate theatrical production."