OPERA SHOWS IN THE NATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL

One of the new entries in the 2009 National Theater Festival is the Opera Revival module, consisting of five productions from Bucharest and Cluj, staged by renowned theater directors: Mihai Măniuţiu, Alexandru Darie and Ion Caramitru. The productions of the other two directors, Petrică Ionescu and Gigi Căciuleanu, represent instances of successful cooperation with the National Opera in Bucharest, the chief host of these productions.

“It has been an obvious fact for over twenty years that opera has found great support in theater directors whose massive intervention instilled more theatricality in opera, helping this genre draw again public attention. As this trend has luckily been felt on Romanian stages as well, this year the National Theater Festival opened a section dedicated to operatic shows created by theater directors,” NTF selector Cristina Modreanu says.

The series of opera shows begins in the first two days of the festival at Bulandra Theater (Toma Caragiu hall), with Orpheus and Eurydice, in Adrian Enescu’s version with variations on themes by Gluck, stage director Alexandru Darie. It is a production of L. S. Bulandra Theater in Bucharest in partnership with the Ludovic Spiess Opera and Ballet Experimental Studio of the National Opera in Bucharest. The two performances are scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 31, at 19.00, and Sunday, November 1, at 19.00.

Also on Sunday, November 1, at 18.30, the National Opera in Bucharest has scheduled Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, directed by Petrică Ionescu. An opera show and a dance show come next in the program of the National Opera in Bucharest: Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, directed by Ion Caramitru, Conductor: Iurie Florea, Choirmaster: Stelian Olariu, Friday, November 6, at 18.30; and Sunday, November 8, at 18.30, Fantastic Symphony, directed by Gigi Căciuleanu: music by Hector Berlioz and texts by Moliere, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rostand; Conductor: Tiberiu Soare, and Răzvan Mazilu in the leading role.

The Opera Revival section contributes this year to the idea of extension of the festival to other cities. Last year, some shows in the festival were performed at Sibiu and Timisoara; this year, the NTF arrives in Cluj at the Romanian National Opera on Sunday, November 8, at 19.00, with Otello by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Mihai Măniuţiu, a show included in the National Theater Festival selection.

We hereby would like to thank the National Opera in Bucharest and the Romanian National Opera in Cluj for agreeing to be our partners in realizing this module of the 2009 National Theater Festival!