Giuseppe Verdi — La forza del destino (1862/69) opera in four acts on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Gianandrea Noseda — musical direction
Valentina Carrasco — director
Carles Berga — set
Mariangela Mazzeo — set assistant
Silvia Aymonino — costumes
Massimiliano Volpini — video
Klaas-Jan de Groot — choirmaster
Fabio Dietsche — dramaturgy
Fabrice Kébour — lighting
Il Marchese di Calatrava — Stanislav Vorobyov
Donna Leonora — Anna Netrebko, Elena Guseva
Don Carlo di Vargas — George Petean
Don Alvaro — Yusif Eyvazov, Riccardo Massi
Preziosilla — Annalisa Stroppa
Padre Guardiano — Michele Pertusi
Fra Melitone — Roberto Frontali
Curra — Natália Tuznik
Un alcade — Lobel Barun
Mastro Trabuco — Tomislav Jukic
Un chirurgo — Max Bell
Chor der Oper Zürich
SoprAlti der Oper Zürich
Kinderchor
Orchester der Oper Zürich
Statistenverein am Opernhaus Zürich
War, refuge, hatred and revenge characterise this grand reflection on life that Giuseppe Verdi created with La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny). Whilst wars of independence were raging in Italy, Verdi thematises conflict in this opera by taking up a romantic Spanish drama and enriching it with scenes from Schiller's war epic Wallenstein. Today, Verdi's monumental opera on fate can hardly be separated from contemporary events. The Argentine director Valentina Carrasco, former member of the Catalan collective La Fura dels Baus, directs the opera in Zurich. It combines iconic Swiss locations with images known through media coverage of worldwide conflicts, raising the question: how does it feel when war breaks out in your own country? The dramaturgy of war is the formative force of this opera: its destructive power and unpredictability make it understandable why lovers Leonora and Alvaro lose each other, only to find each other again at the moment of death.