Violanta

Pinchas Steinberg conducts the Teatro Regio Orchestra and Chorus
for the premiere in Italy of Korngold's opera
The new staging is by Pier Luigi Pizzi

Teatro Regio, Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at 8 pm

On Tuesday, January 21 at 8 pm, Teatro Regio will host the Italian premiere of the opera Violanta by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Pinchas Steinberg conducts the Teatro Regio Orchestra and Chorus, instructed by Andrea Secchi. The stage direction, scenes, and costumes of the new staging are by Pier Luigi Pizzi. The role of Violanta is played by Annemarie Kremer, Simone Trovai by Michael Kupfer-Radecky, Alfonso by Norman Reinhardt, Peter Sonn plays Giovanni Bracca, Anna Maria Chiuri is Barbara, Soula Parassidis is Bice, and Joan Folqué is Matteo, Cristiano Olivieri and Gabriel Alexander Wernick plays the two  soldiers, Eugenia Braynova and Claudia De Pian two handmaids.

Violanta is Teatro Regio's contribution to OperaVision, the European video platform entirely dedicated to opera, an evolution of the previous portal The Opera Platform which, thanks to the enormous consensus recorded since 2015, has now been renewed with new graphics and contents. Starting on February 28, Violanta can be viewed in free streaming for six months on www.operavision.eu, thus offering a vast international audience the opportunity to see this new production by Teatro Regio. Furthermore, continuing our collaboration with Dynamic, a DVD will also be made.

Pinchas Steinberg, acclaimed as one of the most charismatic conductors and a regular guest of the major international musical institutions, will once again be at the helm of the Orchestra of Teatro Regio, which he has conducted in many successful productions; this time he returns for a title that has never been performed in Italy, and for a composer whom Steinberg, always attentive to the hidden gems of European music, knows very well.

Making her debut in the title role is Annemarie Kremer, who studied under the guidance of Carlo Bergonzi and Cristina Deutekom and has sung in the main world theaters. Appointed Singer of the Year 2012 by Opernwelt magazine, she received nominations for the International Opera Oscars. She has recorded for the Naxos label and for the BBC. Particularly appreciated by audiences and critics for his vocal power and stage presence, in his career Michael König has sung at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Frankfurt Oper, Berlin Staatsoper, Semperoper in Dresden, Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid and La Scala in Milan. Michael Kupfer-Radecky made his international debut at La Scala in Milan, immediately making himself known for his interpretative skills that have led him to perform at the Bolshoi in Moscow, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the New National Theater in Tokyo, and the Melbourne Opera. For the first time at Teatro Regio, Norman Reinhardt, one of the leading tenors of the younger generation. 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold began his extraordinary musical career as a child prodigy; entering the composition class of the Vienna Conservatory at just nine years of age, his early genius was recognized and admired by the likes of Gustav Mahler and Giacomo Puccini. The son of an extremely conservative poet and critic, Korngold directed his musical style, strongly inspired by theatre and with a great lyrical breath, towards a rich late Romanticism, while the avant-garde movement was taking Europe by storm. The advent of Nazism in 1934 forced him to seek refuge in the United States, where his talent found an unexpected outlet, making him become the first composer of music scores for films; his music won two Oscars and marked a milestone in the Hollywood film industry. Violanta is Korngold's second opera: the composer wrote it in 1914, at the age of 17. The setting in an imaginary and decadent fifteenth-century Venice reflects the fascination at that time for the Renaissance age and for the themes of passion and death that marked the stylistic code of many masterpieces of the early twentieth century, from Eine florentinische Tragödie by Zemlinsky, Korngold's teacher, to Puccini's Tabarro.

Violanta is anxious to avenge the death of her sister Norina, who committed suicide after being seduced and abandoned by Prince Alfonso. Violanta attracts Alfonso to her palace to have him killed by her husband, Simone Trovai, but once in his presence, she discovers a man tormented by unhappiness and remorse, and she falls in love with him. Aware that she cannot escape the fate of death that she herself has planned, she will call Simone with the agreed signal, a sinister carnival song, and receive the fatal blow in place of Alfonso, expiring in her husband's arms. 

Korngold's music, with very refined orchestration, perfectly paints the contrast between the dark and deadly atmosphere of the oppressive world which Simone forces upon his wife and the sudden glimpses of life, sensuality, and passion brought by Alfonso, making Violanta one of the masterpieces of the early twentieth century. Teatro Regio has contributed to the rediscovery of this precious opera by staging its Italian premiere, which is entirely designed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. The lighting design is by Andrea Anfossi.

The two performances on January 23 and 28 are dedicated to Holocaust Memorial Day,  with the special price of €18 for high school students (for information: School Office tel. 011-8815209).

For The Conferences at Teatro Regio series, on Thursday, January 16 at 5:30 pm in the Foyer del Toro, Giangiorgio Satragni, with participation by Pinchas Steinberg, will preside over the presentation entitled Violanta. Passion and crime in Renaissance Venice. Admission is free.

The live radio broadcast of the opera, curated by Susanna Franchi, will be on Rai Radio 3 on Tuesday, January 28 at 8 pm. 

Tickets are on sale at the Teatro Regio Ticket Office, piazza Castello 215 - Tel. 011.8815.241/242, at Infopiemonte-Torinocultura, it the Vivaticket points of sale, online on our website without commission costs and on www.vivaticket .it and by telephone at no. 011.8815.270.  Ticket prices: performance  on January 21 are €160 - 125 - 105 - 80 - 55; performances on January 23, 25, 26 and 28 are €100 - 90 - 80 - 70 - 30. There are tickets reduced by 20% for those under 30 and 10% for those over 65. With the 18app, it is possible to purchase tickets (in any sector) at a cost of €25 for the premiere on January 21. An hour before the shows, any tickets still available will be on sale with a 20% reduction on the full price (except on January 29th). 

For further information:  Tel. 011.8815.55 7and  www.teatroregio.torino.it. 

Follow Teatro Regio on our  social media, use  the hashtag #violantaTRT 
thereby helping to make this new production unforgettable