With DON CARLO, Verdi created one of his great political operas. However, in his adaptation of Schiller's drama of freedom, he also emphasised the individual fate of the characters, their loves, passions, friendship, desire and disappointment. Marco Arturo Marelli's austere production deepens these conflicts in its visually powerful stage architecture reminiscent of the Escorial ... Conductor: Sir Donald Runnicles; Director: Marco Arturo Marelli; With Alex Esposito, Jonathan Tetelman, Gihoon Kim, Patrick Guetti, Federica Lombardi, Irene Roberts and others.
About the workIt is common knowledge that Giuseppe Verdi, by nature a critical man, not only found much to disapprove of in the trends of his day but also subjected his own work to a continuous process of editing and revision.
None of his operas did he alter, abridge, rearrange or rewrite more intensely than his grimmest work of all – DON CARLO -, whose web of political, religious and social constraints is most reminiscent of the inescapability of destiny associated with Greek drama.
Verdi began writing the opera in 1865, and twenty years were to pass before the premiere in Milan of the four-act version that we are most familiar with today. The composer not only wrestled with the two languages of the piece, each with its distinctive form of expression. He was also at pains to achieve the best possible result by repeatedly cutting, reducing and rearranging. The opera, extensive sections of which are faithful to Schiller’s play, went through no less than seven versions.
In none of the opera’s characters does the light of reason sparkle. Prisoners of their situations, prisoners of their own reins of control and of their own making, above all prisoners of a deadly, ever-looming spiritual power greater even than secular hegemony… Verdi captures the essential helplessness of human beings entangled in this network of terror: at best, death brings release.
About the productionMarco Arturo Marelli brings Verdi's epic opera classic to the stage in a visually stunning way. The struggle for freedom and independence under the rule of the absolutist King Philip II is emphasised as a central theme. The unshakeable power of the church, which is chiselled into the foundations of this society, is always present behind everything. Embodied in the Inquisition, it makes short work of anything that could pose a threat to it by attempting to shake up the existing conditions.
Artists/Collaborators: Sir Donald Runnicles (Musikalische Leitung), Marco Arturo Marelli (Inszenierung, Bühne, Licht), Dagmar Niefind (Kostüme), Jeremy Bines (Chöre), Alex Esposito (Philipp II.), Jonathan Tetelman (Don Carlo), Gihoon Kim (Rodrigo, Marquis von Posa), Kangyoon Shine Lee (Graf von Lerma / Herold), Patrick Guetti (Der Großinquisitor), Gerard Farreras (Ein Mönch), Federica Lombardi (Elisabeth von Valois), Irene Roberts (Prinzessin Eboli), Maria Vasilevskaya (Tebaldo), Lilit Davtyan (Stimme von oben), Stephen Marsh (1. Flandrischer Deputierter), Gerard Farreras (2. Flandrischer Deputierter), Joel Allison (3. Flandrischer Deputierter), Michael Bachtadze (4. Flandrischer Deputierter), Jared Werlein (5. Flandrischer Deputierter), Geon Kim (6. Flandrischer Deputierter), Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Chöre), Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchester)
Runtime: Sat, 17/05/2025 to Thu, 29/05/2025
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance