Tosca

Italian director Antonello Madau-Diaz's highly popular production of Puccini's Tosca returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo. His visually spectacular staging, especially in the "Te Deum" scene in Act I, vividly evokes the atmosphere of turn of the nineteenth century Rome where the tragedy of the doomed lovers Tosca and Cavaradossi takes place.

The opera is full of vocal highlights including Cavaradossi's ardent romanza "Recondita armonia", Tosca's heart-felt prayer "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" and Cavaradossi's farewell song, "E lucevan le stele", and Puccini's music maintains the dramatic tension right to the climactic final scene. This production welcomes the renowned Maurizio Benini as conductor and features an outstanding cast including Joyce El-Khoury as Tosca and Teodor Ilincăi, who also performed impressively as Calaf in Turandot, as Cavaradossi.