The premiere of Alvjas Hermanis’ production took place in October 2014 and Tosca proved to be the director’s most successful opera production: it is staged every season in Berlin. In general, this Tosca shown to the public forty-one times in eight years.
The first in 2014 was conducted by Daniel Barenboim, musical director of the Berlin State Opera (it was the first Tosca in her life), then the lead role was sung by the German soprano Anja Kampe, who has now devoted herself to heavier dramatic soprano roles and has just played Brynhilde for the first time in her career as Richard Wagner Ring of the Nibelungs in a new production at the Berlin State Opera. Tosca reviews of the premiere harshly criticized the performance of both the director and the conductor.
“Tosca cartoon “, which illustrates the most important scenes of the plot with the watercolor technique. In these drawings, Toska has the appearance of Inga Alsiņa, her lover Kavaradosi is similar to Kaspars Znotiņš, while the evil Baron Skarpija sometimes resembles in a way suspect to Andri Keiša.
Tosca is a repertoire performance and, over the years, the main role in Alvia Hermani’s production has been sung by Yelena Stikhina, Sonia Joncheva and Angela Georgiou.
Angela Georgiu is preparing for Tosca’s appearance at the Berlin State Opera. Advertising photo
On October 28 and November 1 and 4, Angela Georgiu returned to the Berlin State Opera to embody her favorite character. Temperamental diva in her essence is Tosca – she on stage she naturally combines the comic and the tragic, she can be polite, playful, self-deprecating, overly emotional and utterly true – and at the same time. Angela Georgiu is gifted with one of the most beautiful voices that cannot be confused with any other. She is one of the latest divas, if not the last, to represent the golden age of opera. Therefore, Angela Georgiou’s performance is encoded not only with intensity and drama, but also with nostalgia: there are no more stars like her and Tosca proves it. The performance is precious as it allows us to glimpse the great relationship between the artist and the character she plays.
In this Tosca in the series directed by the Italian maestro Marco Armillato, Angela Georgiu’s companions were the Argentine tenor Marcelo Alvarez (Cavaradosi; unfortunately his health prevented him from singing fully) and the French baritone Ludovic Tezier (Scarpia). There was a special magic and tension between Tosca and Scarpia: Ludovic Tezier is not only an excellent singer, but also a good actor. You should have seen how he flexed his fingers after holding Toska’s hands between his, and everything was immediately clear. All tickets for tosk they were sold out and the audience awarded Angela Georgi with a standing ovation.
