Les Arts completes its cycle of Giuseppe Verdi's great operas with the premiere of 'Un ballo in maschera'

Les Arts és Òpera

• Antonino Fogliani conducts great names of the Verdi repertoire: Anna Pirozzi, Francesco Meli, Franco Vassallo, Agnieszka Rehlis and Marina Monzó

• Rafael R. Villalobos is behind this new co-production between Les Arts and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, with costumes by Lorenzo Caprile.

Valencia (16.04.24). The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía completes the cycle of great operas by Giuseppe Verdi performed at the Valencian opera house with the premiere this Sunday, April 21, of 'Un ballo in maschera'.

The artistic director of Les Arts, Jesús Iglesias Noriega, presented today this title with musical direction by Antonino Fogliani, which is offered in a new production, co-produced with the Staatsoper Unter den Linden of Berlin, with stage direction by Rafael R. Villalobos.

Iglesias Noriega has emphasized the artistic relevance of the performances of this Verdi work, with which Les Arts concludes a fundamental duty for an opera house with one of the essential composers of the genre.

“Les Arts is taking on this challenge with top-notch artistic resources: an expert musical director, a cast of renowned Verdi performers, the theater's resident companies, the Cor de la Generalitat and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, and a new production featuring leading creators,” he stated.

In this regard, the artistic director pointed out that 'Un ballo in maschera' also marks Les Arts' return to the major international circuit, "leading a co-production with one of the most prestigious theaters in the operatic world."

Antonino Fogliani returns to the podium of the Main Hall after his acclaimed performances of 'Madama Butterfly' in 2021. A renowned expert in the Italian repertoire, the maestro from Messina leads a cast of leading performers, headed by tenor Francesco Meli (Riccardo) and soprano Anna Pirozzi (Amelia), two of the most sought-after stars of Verdi opera today.

Alongside them, the Italian baritone Franco Vassallo (Renato), the Valencian soprano Marina Monzó (Oscar), and the Polish mezzo-soprano Agnieszka Rehlis (Ulrica) make up the quintet of protagonists. The cast of 'Un ballo in maschera' is completed by the voices of Toni Marsol (Silvano), Thomas Viñals (Un servo d'Amelia), Irakli Pkhaladze (Samuel), and Javier Castañeda (Tom).

Rafael R. Villalobos is the director of this new production, which will have its world premiere at Les Arts. The young Sevillian director, whose meteoric career has already established him as one of the rising stars of the European operatic scene, leads a creative team that includes Emanuele Sinisi (set design), the renowned and media-savvy designer Lorenzo Caprile (costume design), Felipe Ramos (lighting design), and Javier Pérez (movement design).

In 'Un ballo in maschera', Verdi addresses the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden, a story that, due to censorship restrictions, the composer from Busseto was eventually forced to move to Boston and transpose the figure of the monarch into the governor of the English colony (Riccardo).

As Rafael R. Villalobos explains, in this new production "we wanted to focus on how the political landscape of the U.S. changed radically at the end of the 1980s when the democratization of television allowed it to reach every home."

Les Arts premieres 'Un ballo in maschera' this coming Sunday, April 21, which will also be performed on the 25th and 28th of this month, as well as on May 2nd and 5th.