Many operas end with women dying. They shine on stage, full of charisma, and then they die, almost always victims of their relationship with men – either because men kill them, or because the love they devote to men leads them to their deaths. And the audience applauds. The audience applauds the virtuosity of the singers, the quality of the music and, with it, the death to which they are subjected. It’s not over until the soprano dies. This is a feminist opera that points to the paradox of this applause of death. In the context of a house inhabited by several families who act without seeing each other, we will recreate the endings of operas . Until, despite the musical and lyrical delight, the killing cannot be seen as natural anymore.
Many operas end with women dying. They shine on stage, full of charisma, and then they die, almost always victims of their relationship with men – either because men kill them, or because the love they devote to men leads them to their deaths. And the audience applauds. The audience applauds the virtuosity of the singers, the quality of the music and, with it, the death to which they are subjected. It’s not over until the soprano dies. This is a feminist opera that points to the paradox of this applause of death. In the context of a house inhabited by several families who act without seeing each other, we will recreate the endings of operas . Until, despite the musical and lyrical delight, the killing cannot be seen as natural anymore.
directed by Jorge Andrade with assistance of Mariana Magalhães ‧ orchestral arrangements and musical direction Nuno Côrte Real ‧ featuring Bárbara Barradas, Cátia Moreso, Eduarda Melo, Inês Simões, Joana Seara, Marco Alves dos Santos, Patrícia Quinta, Tiago Matos/Diogo Oliveira (singers) and António MV, Carlota Lagido, Cecília Matos Manuel, Danilo da Matta, Francisco Rolo, Jorge Andrade, Mariana Magalhães, Pedro Tavares, Tânia Alves, Vítor d’Andrade (actors) ‧ co-repetition Inês Mesquita ‧ orchestra Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa ‧ flutes Nuno Inácio, Janete Santos ‧ oboes Sally Dean, Carla Pereira ‧ clarinets Nuno Silva, Jorge Camacho ‧ bassoons Lurdes Carneiro, Rafaela Oliveira ‧ horns Daniel Canas, Jérôme Arnouf ‧ trumpets Sérgio Charrinho, João Moreira ‧ trombone Paulo Alves ‧ harp Ana Ester Santos ‧ tímpanos Marco Fernandes ‧ percussão Rodrigo Azevedo ‧ first violins Ana Pereira, José Pereira, Alexei Tolpygo, Diana Tzonkova, Joana Dias, Luís Tonicher, Xavier Pereira ‧ second violins Ágnes Sárosi, José Teixeira, Anzhela Akopyan, Daniela Radu, Mariana Moita, Nonna Manicheva ‧ violas Joana Cipriano, Santiago Medina, Sérgio Sousa, Leonel Andrade, Andrei Ratnikov ‧ cellos Nuno Abreu, Ana Cláudia Serrão, Jian Hong, Alessio Cunha ‧ double cellos Ercole de Conca, Margarida Ferreira ‧ set design José Capela, with the assistance from João Fonte and execution by Américo Castanheira ‧ costumes José Capela, with the assistance from Carlota Lagido ‧ bodies COLA Sets & Fx ‧ light design Wilma Moutinho ‧ research support Isabel Novais and Pedro Moldão ‧ technical direction João Fonte ‧ technical assistant Luís Rabaçal ‧ production team Joana Mesquita Alves, Sofia Freitas, Inês Soares Lopes ‧ translation Catarina Latino (La Traviata, Turandot), João Paulo Santos (Tristão e Isolda, Elektra), Jorge Rodrigues (Otello, La Bodème, The Flying Dutch, Il Trovatore, Tosca, Norma, Elektra), Rosário Corte-Real e Natália Correia (Wozzek), Rui Esteves (Madame Butterfly, La Forza del Destino, Kátia Kabanova, Dido e Eneias, Carmen, Salome, Pagliacci) ‧ subtitling Hein?! Subtitles ‧ coproducers Coliseu Porto Ageas, São Luiz Teatro Municipal ‧ support Alcatifas das Antas, ArtWorks, Comuna Teatro de Pesquisa, Kinda Home, Servilusa ‧ thanks Gonçalo Mendes, Henrique Margarido, Teatro Nacional São Carlos / Bernardo Azevedo Gomes, Mafalda Gouveia, Sara Morgado Santos, Suzie Peterson ‧
mala voadora is a structure funded by Portugal's Government – Ministério da Cultura/Direção-Geral das Artes.
January 12, 13 and 14, 2024 ‧ São Luiz Teatro Municipal (Lisbon)
July 5, 2024 ‧ Coliseu Porto Ageas