This production is produced in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera of New York to the delight of opera lovers.
The work, which had its San Francisco premiere in 2022, is an event of historical significance, as John Adams conducts his own score for the first time in Europe.
The American composer, John Adams, took the reins of his work, conducting the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu for the performance. At the U.S. premiere, conductor Eun Sun Kim led the orchestra.
Adams’ presence in Barcelona for the premiere of his work is considered a historic and rarely seen event in the world of opera.
In the past, such notable composers as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss and Manuel de Falla conducted their own works from the Liceu’s pit. Adams’ decision to conduct his own score on this occasion adds a special symbolic value to this performance.
The cast of John Adams’ ‘Antony & Cleopatra’.
The production features an exceptional cast that includes Julia Bullock and Gerald Finley in the lead roles of Cleopatra and Antony. Julia Bullock makes her debut in the role, adding excitement to the opera’s European premiere.
The opera ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ is based on the two main themes of William Shakespeare’s play of the same name. On the one hand, it explores the love drama between two complex characters, Antony and Cleopatra.
On the other hand, it dives into the narrative of a military story that changed the course of history: the fall of the rebel general Mark Antony and the conquest of Egypt after the death of Cleopatra, the last queen.
John Adams, along with stage director Elkhanah Pulitzer, gives a new perspective to this opera through metaphorical readings that explore the thirst for power and the irrationality of passions.
Adams draws on the contemporary correspondences present in the opera’s music and characters, relating them to the modern obsession with fame, image, ambition for power and messianic temptation.
This production also includes Ita O’Brien, director of intimacy, a figure that is becoming increasingly relevant in the film industry.
Adams, the Liceu and the BBVA Foundation
The opera ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ is exclusively sponsored by the BBVA Foundation, which awarded John Adams the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in 2019.
The collaboration between Adams and the Liceu stands out as a significant event in the world of opera.
