A return to the essence of opera is perceived in the work of Gluck. Following the ideas put forward by Rousseau, he brings the dramatic action to the fore and discards all unnecessary ornamentation. A transitional figure between Baroque and Classicism, Gluck often turned to subjects from Antiquity, seeking what he called “beautiful simplicity”.
In Alceste, Gluck not only achieved a radically innovative score, he also gave dignity to women who were so often treated carelessly in the libertine 18th century. In his idealisation of the feminine figure, he turns to characters like Iphigenia and Alceste, prepared to sacrifice themselves instead of their consorts, taking their place among the noblest heroines of universal literature since Euripides.
Opera in three acts
Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto by Marie Francois-Louis Gand Le Blanc du Roullet, based on the original by Ranieri de Calzabigi about the work by Euripides Alcestis
New production of the Teatro Real
Artistic team
Conductor | Ivor Bolton
Stage director | Krzysztof Warlikowski
Set and costume designer | Malgorzata Szczesniak
Playwright | Damien Chardonnet-Darmaillacq
Lighting designer | Felice Ross
Video | Denis Guéguin
Choreographer | Claude Bardouil
Chorus master | Andrés Máspero
Cast
Admète | Paul Groves
Alceste | Angela Denoke
Apollon's high priest / Thanatos | Willard White
Évandre | Magnus Staveland
Hercule | Thomas Oliemans
Apollon | Isaac Galán
A herald / The oracle | Fernando Radó
4 Coryphaeus | Maria Miró Oxana Arabadzhieva César de Frutos Rodrigo Álvarez
Admète's parents | Amparo Bengala, Alberto Junco
Alceste and Admète's sons | Celine Peña, David Moreno
Governor | Rosaida Castillo
Caron | Christophe Linéré
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