Tosca

The singer Floria Tosca and her lover, the rebellious artist Mario Cavaradossi, fall victim to the city’s authorities. The corrupt Chief of Police Scarpia wants to quiet the revolutionary voices of the time and imprisons and torture’s Tosca’s lover. Scarpia’s sadism goes hand in hand with his erotic appetite: The price to release Cavaradossi is Tosca herself.  

Beautiful arias and duets 

Scarpia’s dark disharmony stands in stark contrast to the beautiful arias and duets of the pair of lovers, such as Cavaradossi’s famous romantic aria ‘E lucevan le stelle’ and Tosca’s life creed ‘Vissi d’art’: I lived for art. 

Neoliberalism under criticism 

Director Calixto Bieito portrays the intense and intimate interaction between these three characters, in addition to the brutal reality that the opera actually depicts, namely the freedom of art in a world that demands usefulness and profit.   

Tosca premiered in Rome in 1900 and the story is set during Napoleon’s siege of Italy 100 years earlier. But the theme is timeless all the same. Scarpias can be found everywhere in the form of persons of power with a seemingly friendly demeanour – but the friendliness is only a means to gain control and take the upper hand.