Dates

20-30 Jan 2022

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage

Running time

1:45, no intermission

Tickets

Not available

Lacrime

Love and suffering at the origins of opera

Le lacrime di Eros can be seen again in season 2024-2025. Check here for tickets and more information. 

Eros cries, and in the glistening of his tears, the dark sides of love appear. For their brand-new production Le lacrime di Eros, theatre-maker Romeo Castellucci and conductor Raphaël Pichon go back to the roots of opera. They draw inspiration from the creativity and experimental freedom that reigned in Florence in the late 16th and early 17th centuries to explore the subject that has long been central to opera: love.

 

Love and suffering at the origins of opera

In the music of composers such as Monteverdi, Caccini and Peri, who were selected for this production, love is anything but sweet. The two opera innovators, Pichon and Castellucci, show love in all its ferocity. As a master at the intersection of opera, performance and visual art, Castellucci knows how to portray the tears of love with breathtaking beauty like no other.

 

Then and now

It was in the city of Florence at the time of the Renaissance, where artists and researchers joined forces to create a new art form: opera, an experimental collaboration between different disciplines, which looked at the past with contemporary eyes. In Le lacrime di Eros, Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion follow this example by bringing original Renaissance material into dialogue with the electronic music by Scott Gibbons. Once again, it is a look back at the past with a contemporary eye. Another renaissance, a new beginning.

Performance information

Musical direction, concept, arrangements  Raphaël Pichon

Stage direction, concept, set, costume and, lighting design  Romeo Castellucci

Dramaturgy  Piersandra di Matteo

Sound  Rémy Bréan

Singers

Mariana Flores

Huw Montague Rendall

Nahuel di Pierro

Lucile Richardot

Zachary Wilder

Orchestra & Chorus  Pygmalion

Florentine music from 1580 to 1620

Sung in Italian

Pygmalion

Pygmalion

Since its foundation by Raphaël Pichon in 2006, the French ensemble Pygmalion has acquired both national and international fame. The ensemble is in residence at the Opéra National de Bordeaux and regularly performs on the world’s most prestigious stages. With their distinctive identity as a chorus and orchestra playing historical instruments, Pygmalion strives to create original creations that underline their individuality. In January 2022, the acclaimed French ensemble will celebrate the richness of opera as an art form with Le Lacrime di Eros, conducted by their own Raphaël Pichon and directed by Romeo Castellucci.

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