FULL FALSTAFF Athens 2023 Dimitri Platanias, Tassis Christoyannis, Vassilis Kavayas, Cellia Costea, Marilena Striftobola
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Falstaff
- Composer: Verdi Giuseppe
- Libretto: Arrigo Boito Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Stavros-Niarchos Hall, Greek National Opera, Athens, Greece
- Recorded: January 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Dimitri Platanias, Tassis Christoyannis, Vassilis Kavayas, Nicholas Stefanou, Yannis Kalyvas, Yanni Yannissis, Cellia Costea, Marilena Striftobola, Anna Agathonos, Chrysanthi Spitadi
- Conductor: Pier Giorgio Morandi
- Orchestra: Orchestra of the Greek National Opera
- Chorus: Chorus and Children’s Chorus of the Greek National Opera
- Chorus Master: Agathangelos Georgakatos, Konstantina Pitsiakou
Information about the Recording
- Published by: GNO
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: GNO TV FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
“Falstaff is a comedy in the deepest sense – often farcical, but also offering a window into the hearts of the characters. At the centre of it all is Verdi and Shakespeare’s most loveable rogue: Falstaff himself. A liar, a cheat, a trickster; sensuous, vain, old-fashioned… We ought to disapprove, but we adore him in all his flawed humanity. Our production is set in England in the 1930s. A time between the wars (Falstaff was an old soldier), with a scandalous Prince of Wales (like Hal in Henry IV) who will briefly become King Edward VIII, and a time when the hierarchies are rigid, with social class more respected than money. Falstaff is based on Shakespeare’s only fully English comedy, but the end is pure Verdi / Boito. ‘Tutto nel mondo è burla’ [All the world’s a jest] is their conclusion – and when we look around us at today’s chaotic world we can only agree, and then perhaps head off to the pub for a pint of warm ale and a laugh with Sir John!”
Directors note from GNO