Verdi’s rare opera live from Paris Opera

FRA Productions & FRA Cinéma present Simon Boccanegra live on Thursday 13 December.

The ambiguities of Verdi’s theatre are particularly clear in his baritone roles, among which is that of Boccanegra, corsair turned doge of Genoa and the troubled observer of the conflicts that tore apart 14th century landowners and peasants.

An eminently political opera in which power struggles are interwoven with family conflicts, Simon Boccanegra echoes the life of its composer – the man who championed the cause of Italian unification and overcame the loss of his wife and children. Calixto Bieito, that most Shakespearean of opera directors, brings humanism and truth to a work haunted by gleaming images of the sea.

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Director: Calixto Bieito
Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Simon Boccanegra, Ludovic Tézier
Jacopo Fiesco, Mika Kares
Maria Boccanegra (Amelia Grimaldi), Maria Agresta
Gabriele Adorno, Francesco Demuro
Paolo Albani, Nicola Alaimo
Pietro, Mikhail Timoshenko

Live broadcast in cinemas throughout Europe on Thursday 13 December at 7:30 PM CET and on a delayed basis to Canada and Australia.

Recording location Opéra Bastille
Distribution theatrical FRA Cinéma
Production Company FRA Productions
Co-Production Company Opéra national de Paris
Assoc. Prod. Company France Télévisions
Director François Roussillon
Distribution TV Telmondis