Giuseppe Verdi

OTELLO

an opera in 4 acts (2 parts), sung in Italian with Lithuanian and English surtitles

November 14, 2013
January 25, 2014
February 4, 2014
March 1, 2014
April 17, 2014

Music Director and Conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius
Conductor Martynas Staškus
Director Eimuntas Nekrošius
Set Designer Marius Nekrošius
Costume Designer Nadežda Gultiajeva
Lighting Designer Levas Kleinas
Chorus Master Česlovas Radžiūnas

Premiere: 18 March, 2011

G. Verdi's masterpiece “Otello” was presented to the public on 5 February, 1887, and immediately turned into an exclusive social event and national triumph of Italy. La Scala was overcrowded with people representing all classes of Milan society, including all the Italian notabilities in the city or who could get here. Journalists and critics from all quarters of Europe were in attendance, with the managers of the chief European theatres and opera houses. No more critical or intellectual audience was ever brought together in La Scala to approve or condemn a new opera.

Librettist Arrigo Boito remained faithful to Shakespeare’s text, however, his libretto is an independent drama, created according to all of the main principles of the Wagnerian reform. Boito omitted the first part of the tragedy and started with the second. The librettist also introduced a few potent changes – having sacrificed a few scenes for the sake of the musical flow, he replaced them with effective episodes of his own. The perfect libretto was a solid background for the birth of the unique opera.

The current LNOBT's production of “Otello” was prepared by masters of their craft – conductor Gintaras Rinkevičius, director Eimuntas Nekrošius, set designer Marius Nekrošius and costume designer Nadežda Gultiajeva. This most mature of all Verdi‘s creations is a jewel that enriches repertoires of the best theatres in the world, and it has been produced several times in our theatre.
“I hadn’t listened to the opera all the way through until I was asked to direct it. My first impression: this is the least interesting of all operas that Verdi wrote. Maybe it was because I knew his other operas better. After a while, however, I realised this is his most sublime creative achievement.”
~ Director Eimuntas Nekrošius