I Grotteschi - Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie - De Munt (2025) - I Grotteschi - Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie - De Munt (2025)

Description

World Premiere.

A new family saga based on the operas of Claudio Monteverdi: L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea.

"At the end, when nothing stands in their way, Nero and Poppea sing "Pur ti miro / Pur ti godo" (I look at you / I desire you): this opposition between the gaze and desire constitutes the starting point of the show I Grotteschi, a new diptych distilled by drawing on three operas by Monteverdi. Over the course of two evenings, we discover a prosperous family business that cuts itself off from the outside world during a pandemic. While Orpheus mourns his Eurydice, Penelope patiently watches over her husband Ulysses, who is seriously ill. Taking advantage of the situation, the young Nero hatches plans with the ambitious Poppea to seize the empire. Between loss and desire, the family members gradually sink into a stifling power struggle.

The director Rafael Rodríguez Villalobos has reduced the fifty original roles to a handful of " grotesques", composite characters, with allegorical names, who sometimes have two faces, or even more. This new, meticulously crafted story requires a historically informed interpretation; to enjoy it, we can count on the conductor Leonardo García Alarcón and his ensemble Cappella Mediterranea."

More information is available on the official website of the opera house.