In addition to the three operas that will be presented, the festival will feature an Opera Gala. The theme of the Gala, as expected, will revolve around the great female characters of the opera.
Opera Gala
Women: From Passion to Innocence - a Dance with Fate
Performances
16 September - 21h00
Programme
Carmen, by Georges Bizet
Overture
Habanera ‘Quand je vous aimerai?... L'amour est un oiseau rebelle’
Aria ‘Votre toast’
Aria ‘La fleur que tu m'avais jetée’
Gypsy Song and Dance ‘Les tringles des sistres tintaient’
Children's Choir ‘Avec la garde montante’
Final Duet between Don José and Carmen: ‘C'est toi! C'est moi!...’
- - Intermission - - -
La Traviatta, by Giuseppe Verdi
Prelude
Aria and Cabaletta ‘Lunge da Lei... Dei miei bollenti spiriti... O mio rimorso!’
Germont scene, Violetta:
‘Madamigella Valéry?...’
‘Pura siccome un angelo...’
‘Bella voi siete’
‘Dite alla giovine...’
‘Morrò! La mia memoria’
Aria ‘Di Provenza il mar, il suol... Ne rispondi...’
- - Intermission - - -
Eugen Oneguin, by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
Polonaise
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Felix Mendelssohn
Song with Choir
Cavalleria Rusticana, Pietro Mascagni
Intermezzo
Rigoletto, by Giuseppe Verdi
Aria ‘La donna è mobile’
Quartet ‘Un di, se ben rammentorni... Bella figlia dell'amore’
La Traviatta, by Giuseppe Verdi
Brindisi ‘Libiamo, ne'lieti calici’
Cast
Carla Caramujo, soprano (Violeta and Gilda)
Cátia Moreso, soprano (Carmen and Maddalena)
Luís Gomes, tenor (Don José, Alfredo and Duque)
Luís Rodrigues, baritone (Escamillo, Giorgio Germont and Rigoletto)
Óbidos Opera Festival Children's Choir
Filipa Palhares, choir director
Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra
Bruno Borralhinho, musical direction
SYNOPSIS
This gala is designed to offer a perspective on the female characters in three great operas - Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's La Traviata and Rigoletto, also by Verdi. Right from the start, we realise the contrasts between Carmen and Violetta and how both, despite their differences, emerge as independent women and masters of their own destiny.
We begin the journey with Carmen, a free woman who disdains social conventions. A figure of passion and independence, Carmen brings a whole new approach to the feminine in opera, challenging the limits of the expression of a woman's desire. With her, we have Don José, the soldier who falls in love with Carmen, and Escamillo, the toreador who awakens Carmen's love. Both portray different facets of interaction with the feminine - the desire for possession and respect for freedom and individuality.
Then there's Violetta from La Traviata, a socially conditioned woman who, like Carmen, is ultimately the master of her destiny. In the duet with Germont in Act 2, we witness Germont's manipulation by using the marriage of his daughter, Alfredo's sister, to highlight the social prejudice of Alfredo's relationship with Violetta, reflecting the restrictions and prejudices women faced at the time. Even so, Violetta's sacrificial choice emphasises her autonomy, even in the face of adversity. Alfredo, in this act, is sometimes consumed by love, sometimes by pride, because he won't accept being supported by a woman (a total inversion of the values of the time), sometimes blinded by jealousy and, later, remorse.
In the last part, Verdi's Rigoletto introduces us to Gilda, at first glance an innocent young woman used by the Duke, but who can also be seen as a victim of her own adolescent impulses and desires, choosing nevertheless to take her fate into her own hands by sacrificing herself for the one she loves. Magdalena, the sister of the assassin Sparafucile, also emerges as a portrait of the manipulation and power play that women of lower social status had to face. Here we will hear the famous aria ‘La donna è mobile’, which can be translated as ‘Woman is fickle’, a hymn to the Duke's view of women as fickle and capricious beings who cannot be taken seriously and who exist only for his pleasure. This is the heart of his predatory personality, which comes to the fore even more in the quartet ‘Bella figlia dell'amore’, or ‘Beautiful daughter of love’. Manipulative, he seduces Maddalena while Gilda watches the whole scene from the window, to the despair of her father, Rigoletto, who, despite being the Duke's accomplice, also becomes a victim when the target becomes his daughter.
The gala also includes a reference to another opera that features another great character from opera's female pantheon. It's Eugen Onegin by Tchaikovsky, from which we'll hear the exuberant Polonaise. In this opera, the young and naive Tatiana, rejected by Onegin, shows strength and determination, taking control of her own destiny by rejecting Onegin's subsequent marriage proposal, despite her persistent love.
Finally, we have room for the idyllic Song with Chorus from Felix Mendelssohn‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the inspired Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and the toast from La Traviata, a celebration of opera and a tribute to the strength and resilience of the women who shape these stories, presenting a mosaic of female characters whose plots intertwine to portray the feminine in all its diversity.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Resurgence of FOO
The Óbidos Opera Festival, which marked an entire generation of professionals and music lovers, has been inactive in recent years. ABA - Banda de Alcobaça, Associação de Artes, in its application for Sustained Support from the Directorate-General for the Arts for the period 2023-2026, stated that one of its objectives was to revive this festival, establishing a strategic partnership with the Municipality of Óbidos for this purpose. The aim of this partnership is to breathe new life into the Óbidos Opera Festival by providing it with the conditions for a sustainable future with the capacity to grow, helping to place Portugal on the global opera circuit.
Relevance
The Óbidos Opera Festival aims to position Portugal on the global opera circuit through strategic national and international partnerships and the participation of renowned artists. Our ambition is to turn Óbidos into a laboratory for creative ideas in the fields of staging, musical interpretation and connecting with audiences, as well as a space for the discovery and affirmation of talent, endowing this Festival with an international ambition that should be projected into its future, making Portugal a centre for the production and circulation of opera with global reach, attracting an international audience and boosting cultural tourism, leaving an indelible mark on the opera scene.
The Festival's activities run from August, still in Lisbon and Porto, where rehearsals and preparation work for the operas will take place, until mid-September, when the shows will be presented.
Quinta das Janelas
The venue chosen to host the Óbidos Opera Festival activities is Quinta das Janelas. Located in Vale das Flores and just a few metres from the Convent of São Miguel, its construction dates back to the early 16th century and incorporates the old Quinta das Flores (where Queen Leonor stayed when she travelled to Caldas). A magical place full of history, it includes a 16th century palace, a set of wine presses, cellars, a riding arena and a fountain. On this estate we can also see the Chapel of Nossa Sra. do Desterro and a sulphurous water spring (formerly known as Caldas das Gaeyras) which is used in a simple vaulted house with a tank inside.