Don Carlo

Giuseppe Verdi

Teatro alla Scala Production

From 12 to 29 October 2013

Running Time: 4 hours 06 minutes intermissions included

Sung in Italian with electronic libretto in Italian, English

Notes on the performancesOpen: The apex of Verdi’s musical inspiration, the sombre Don Carlo describes the devastated world of the victims of power in the days of the Spanish Inquisition. Riots, the burning of heretics at the stake and liberal rebellions provide the backdrop to painful love stories frustrated by the state. Spain’s Infante is in love with his step-mother, but is desired by his father’s lover. The power of the throne of Philip II falls victim to the altar: in fact the Great Inquisitor obtains the sacrifice of the son and his most loyal friend, Posa.

The Italian version from 1884 will be staged (it being the most concise of the five that are known) which Verdi oversaw for La Scala. It is the version in which, in the finale, the ghost of Carlo V calls his nephew to him in the tomb, to keep him out of the reach of the Friars of the Holy Office.

Stéphane Braunschweig’s performance will be staged. Its inaugural evening was in 2008 and it was warmly applauded in Japan. The staging is essential, clean-cut, geometric and harsh, often cutting, and basically indifferent to the commonly-held conception of dark yet sun-soaked Spain. Filippo II will be played by René Pape and his wife Elisabeth by Martina Serafin.

Filippo II, re di Spagna: René Pape (12, 16, 19, 23, 26)
Štefan Kocán (29)
Don Carlo, Infante di Spagna: Fabio Sartori
Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa: Massimo Cavalletti
Il Grande Inquisitore, cieco nonagenario: Štefan Kocán (12, 16, 19, 23, 26)
Rafal Siwek (29)
Un frate: Fernando Rado
Elisabetta di Valois: Martina Serafin
La Principessa d’Eboli: Ekaterina Gubanova
Tebaldo, paggio d’Elisabetta: Barbara Lavarian
Il Conte di Lerma: Carlos Cardoso
Un araldo reale: Carlo Bosi
Voce dal cielo: Roberta Salvati
Deputati fiamminghi: Ernesto Panariello, Simon Lim, Davide Pelissero, Filippo Polinelli, Mattia Denti, Luca Dall’Amico

October 2013

€ 13, € 24, € 42, € 66, € 85, € 110, € 165, € 210

12/10 Premiere16/10 Series M Mini Subs.19/10 Not in subscription23/10 Series O Mini Subs.26/10 Series N Week-end Subs.29/10 Not in subscription

La Scala Shop suggests
The opening opera in the Teatro alla Scala's Season 2008/2009.