Otello

“Tant'osi?…
Niun mi tema
s'anco armato mi vede. Ecco la fine
del mio camin…Oh! Gloria! Otello fu.”
(Otello, Act IV, Scene IV)

Passion, intrigues and betrayal are the elements of Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece that arrives at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in a staging by the Opéra de Monte Carlo and the National Opera of Tbilisi, directed by Allex Aguilera.

The opera drama in four acts, presented in its Italian premiere, was composed in 1885 to a libretto by Arrigo Boito, inspired by William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, and was first staged on 5 February 1887 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Set against the backdrop of the island of Cyprus, Othello tells the story of the Moor of Venice, his bride, the innocent Desdemona, his antagonist, the vengeful and scheming Jago, and his wife, the honest Emilia, the protagonists of a modern and moving plot with a tragic ending.

On stage, with the costumes by Françoise Raybaud Pace, a prestigious cast, including Gregory Kunde (Otello), Roberta Mantegna (Desdemona), Igor Golovatenko (Jago), Irene Savignano (Emilia), Piotr Buszewski (Cassio), accompanied by the evocative music of the composer from Busseto, performed by the Orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma conducted by Maestro Daniel Oren.

Photo: Otello - Gregory Kunde and Maria Agresta