Premiere WERTHERJules Massenet
The decision to stage an opera can be motivated by various reasons. We decided to bring back to Rijeka (last performed in 1979) the French opera composer of the late Romantic era Jules Massenet and his most frequently staged opera due to two reasons. In the first place, it is a performance in which all the five new soloists of the Rijeka Opera perform (also debut) in four leading roles, namely, in the first or the second cast, lead by Ivana Srbljan as Charlotte and our frequent guest singer Aljaž Farasin in the title role. Marko Fortunato is Werther in the second cast, Anamarija Knego and Vanja Zelčić appear in the role of Sophie, while Dario Bercich in that of Albert. Then, it is Fabrizio Melano, veteran stage director from the last golden age of the Metropolitan (seventies and eighties of the twentieth century) where he directed Werther a few times, who will take the new generation of Rijeka opera soloists through the psychologically complex story. Having been member of the jury for the “Zinka Milanov” First International Competition for Young Opera Singers, Melano is coming back to Rijeka announcing “a proper clinical drama and music study of Werther as a victim of destructive narcissism that does not only destroy his own life, but also the lives of people closest to him, especially so that of Charlotte”.
