'Fidelio' to Get Spotlight on 2016 Daegu Opera Festival
With a theme "To Joy from Suffering," the 14th Daegu International Opera Festival will commence on Oct. 6 and ends on Nov. 5.
The performances including "La Boheme," "Fidelio," "Tosca," "Orfeo ed Euridice," and "Carmen." will be at the Daegu Opera House.
The grand opening will be graced by the Gwangju City Opera with their performance of "La Boheme" composed by Italian artist Puccini.
The spotlight is set on the only opera composed by legendary Beethoven, "Fidelio." The performance will be delivered by the original producer of the play, Theater Bonn, Korea Times reported.
The Landestheater Linz from Austria will have "Orfeo ed Euridice" performed in a "ballet opera" style. Another masterpiece of Puccini, "Tosca" will be carried out by the Korea National Opera. The said performance is expected to be special with the presence of international opera stars, Ko Seng-hyoun and Alfred Kim.
Bizet's "Carmen" will end this year's festival with the participation of Seongnam Cultural Foundation. The show will be directed and conducted by Chung Kap-gyun and Sung Shi-yeon, respectively.
According to Director Chung, staging a popular piece is always difficult. "Opera Carmen will feel different from reading the novel. While the written piece is colder, the opera is more heated," he described.
The closing piece will star Yang Gye-hwa and Rinat Shaham as Carmen. Tchaikovsky sinner, Ganbaatar is also included in the casting.
Executive Director of the festival, Jang II-beom expressed the strong desire of the region for strong opera as it will mark its 10th anniversary this year. He added that he is excited about "Fidelio's" first ever presence in the festival's history.
Mr. Jang said that he invited international producers to the event. Organizers of the event happily announced that local interest in musical plays has increased since the debut of the festival in 2006, The Dong-a Ilbo reported.
Ticket prices for the stage plays will range from 10,000 to 100,000 won.