PUCCINI’S OPERA TOSCA PREMIERES ON THE MAIN STAGE

Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, directed by a guest stage director from Skopje Dejan Prošev, under the baton of Ana Zorana Brajović, premiered on the Main Stage on Wednesday, 2nd April.
This opera masterpiece was composed to the libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the Victorien Sardou’s play of the same title. The title role was interpreted by Mrs Jasmina Trumbetaš Petrović, who celebrated 20 years of her career on the occasion.
Furthermore, the premiere was an occasion to mark the jubilee of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) and the hundred year jubilee since the first performance of Tosca in the National Theatre (10th January 1914).
This melodramatic and tragic story about love, passion, obsession, but also about tyranny, malice, corruption and power, which makes it a sort of a political thriller, was produced in triple cast. The premiere cast: Dušan Plazinić (Cavaradossi), Boris Trajanov (Scarpia), Pavle Žarkov (A Sacristan), Darko Đorđević (Spoletta), Vuk Matić (Angelotti), Aleksandar Pantelić (Sciarrone), Jovana Čurović (A Shepherd Boy) and Strahinja Đokić (A Jailer).
The auditorium was filled to capacity and the audience rewarded the cast and the production team with a long and cordial applause when the performance ended.
Main characters in the plot are the passionate and impulsive singer Floria Tosca; a romantic, freedom-loving and passionate painter Mario Cavaradossi; and a controlling and unscrupulous Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia.
The action of the opera takes place in Rome in June 1800. At the time, Rome was a centre of political and love intrigues; it was a time of Napoleon’s invasion of Italy and a time when the city was occupied by the Kingdom of Naples.
The Orchestra and Choir of the National Theatre’s Opera Company and members of the Children’s Choir “Horislavci” take part in performance of this opera in three acts.
The production team: Đorđe Stanković (Assistant Conductor), Ana Grigorović (Assistant Director), Miraš Vuksanović (Set Designer), Jasna Saramandić (Assistant Set Designer), Katarina Grčić (Costume Designer), Ružica Ristić (Assistant Costume Designer) and Petar Antonović (Video Production).
The performance of Tosca took place on Saturday, 5th April. The cast: Suzana Šuvaković Savić (Tosca), Janko Sinadinović (Cavaradossi), Miodrag. D. Jovanović (Scarpia), Mihailo Šljivić (A Sacristan/ A Jailer), Danilo Stošić (Spoletta), Vuk Matić (Angelotti), Aleksandar Pantelić (Sciarrone) and Jovana Belić (A Shepherd Boy). (Click HERE to see photographs from the performance)
This month’s third performance of Tosca took place on Wednesday, 23rd April. The cast Ana Rupčić Petrović (Tosca), Dejan Maksimović (Cavaradossi), Miodrag. D. Jovanović (Scarpia), Pavle Žarkov (A Sacristan), Igor Matvejev (Spoletta), Aleksandar Pantelić (Angelotti), Mihailo Šljivić (Sciarrone), Ivanka Raković Krstonošić (A Shepherd Boy) and Strahinja Đokić (A Jailer). (Click HERE to see photographs from the performance)
M.B.

Click HERE to see photographs from the premiere