Programme

At first glance, a “concert performance of an opera” might seem to deprive the audience of part of the composer’s original vision for the musical stage production. Yet this is only a superficial impression. One might compare it to the world of the blind – their perception is not poorer, merely different, and often richer thanks to heightened other senses. The absence of staging allows listeners to focus on the details of the score, the meaning of the libretto and the artistry of the singers and orchestra. Opera in Concert is therefore not a lesser substitute for a staged production, but an independent artistic approach that places deliberate emphasis on the musical dimension that springs directly from the content of the libretto. Perhaps this very form offers the listener greater freedom to use his or her imagination: to picture the setting in which the story takes place and the nature of the characters who bring it to life.