The 36th Macao International Music Festival celebrated the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini in style with a magnificent production of Tosca by St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Musically and dramatically, it was a triumph from start to finish and drew a tremendous response from the audience.
The immaculate ensemble cast was superb down to the smallest role. It was led by a trio of outstanding artists: Tatiana Serjan in the title role, Najmiddin Mavlyanov as Cavaradossi and Vladislav Sulimsky as Scarpia.
Few operas remain as relevant as Tosca. Its themes of oppression, resistance and abuse of power – not least for sexual coercion – are still the stuff of headlines today, 124 years after its 1900 premiere.
The production pertinently transposed the opera’s setting from Rome in 1800 to the fascist era of Mussolini, who was prime minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
