Verdi: Stiffelio – Luciano Ganci

   in Opera Now (Feb, 2019)
Stiffelio is not one of Verdi’s most loved operas, interesting though it may be. But Graham Vick’s modern dress production from the Teatro Farnese in Parma is revelatory. Vick uses the floor of the theatre to stage the opera on a series of mobile platforms. The audience arrives to mingle with the chorus and extras, milling around the elevated soloists; the orchestra is situated to one side of the auditorium, people unfurl slogans around the empty seating. As the drama unfolds Vick focuses on the importance of tolerance of all types of love and relationships, and how religion can pervert and destroy this.

It is immersive and exciting, and wonderfully filmed …