Arts & Entertainment

‘Tosca,’ under baton of Vienna Symphony’s conductor, returns to Colombia

Bogota, Dec 16 (EFE).- “Tosca,” one of the world’s most beloved operas, is returning this weekend to Colombia for the first time in 24 years under the direction of Andres Orozco-Estrada, the Vienna Symphony’s principal conductor.

Three performances of that masterpiece by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) will be performed between Friday and Sunday at Bogota’s Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo as part of a co-production with La Compañia Estable.

A European cast consisting of Austrian soprano Martina Serafin, British tenor Adam Smith and Dutch baritone Bastiaan Everink will be featured in the Friday and Sunday performances, while a Latin American cast starring Argentine soprano Daniela Tabernig and Colombians Valeriano Lanchas (bass-baritone) and Cesar Gutierrez (tenor) will be featured on Saturday.

“This presentation marks the return of ‘Tosca’ to the Colombian stage after a 24-year absence, since the last time that work was performed in the country was in August 1997,” the Teatro Mayor said in a statement.

Orozco-Estrada, a 44-year-old Colombian native who was chief conductor of the Houston Symphony before moving to Vienna and has guest conducted numerous European and Latin American orchestras, will guide the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia on this occasion.

Theater and opera director and producer Pedro Salazar will be in charge of stage direction, while the youth and children’s choir of the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra and the Teatro Mayor’s dance company will round out the cast.

“Tosca,” Puccini’s second most-performed opera after “La Boheme,” tells of the doomed love between celebrated singer Floria Tosca and painter and revolutionary Mario Cavaradossi, who is sentenced to death after expressing support for Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops.

A story that unfolds over three acts filled with dramatic tension, “Tosca” takes place in Rome in 1800 shortly after Napoleon’s victory over Austrian forces at the Battle of Marengo. EFE

joc/mc

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