ADRIANA LECOUVREUR

In the 18th century, the French language had no greater ambassador than actress Adrienne Lecouvreur: sovereign of Voltaire’s tragedies, of Racine and Corneille’s verses and of the sung declamation of the Comédie-Française. Her life was short, as she died suddenly at the age of 38. Her love affair with Marshal Maurice de Saxe aroused the jealousy of the Duchess de Bouillon. An accident shrouded in mystery ensued, in which legend has it that a poisoned bouquet, offered by her rival, was the cause of her death. Jealousy, caused by fissures that are impossible to heal, is the powerful vehicle that unleashed this tragedy. The church’s refusal to give her a Christian burial shocked society of the time.

In the heart of the 19th century, thanks to the theatrical work of Eugène Scribe and Gabriel Legouvé, the myth was adapted into an opera by Francesco Cilèa. Heir to the Italian Romantic tradition, the Calabrian composer offered musical verismo one of its most exciting me- lodramas, along the lines of the compositions of Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Giordano. Combining historical truth and tragic realism, Adriana Lecouvreur has never failed to expose on stage the noblest theatrical illusions along with real-life feelings. First performed in Milan in 1902, it is a favourite of audiences due to its melodic inventiveness and the elegance of the orchestral writing.

Sonya Yoncheva and Jonas Kaufmann embody the couple in love, while de Bouillon is played by Anita Rachvelishvili and Michonet by Ambrogio Maestri. A quartet to do justice to a series of evenings that promise to be golden pages in the memory of this theatre and its audiences.

Jonas Kaufmann

Tenor. Born in Munich, he studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He began his career at the opera house in Saarbrücken and soon after became a member of the Zurich Opera. Since his debut at the New York Opera in 2006, he has been singing at major theatres all over the world. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2004/05 season with the Missa Solemnis op. 123 and returned with a recital (2013/14) and Andrea Chénier (2017/18).

Ambrogio Maestri

Baritone. Throughout his career, he has sung in some of the most important theatres in the world, such as The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House in London, Wiener Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu with Aida in the 2007/08 season, and has returned with Falstaff (2010/11), L'elisir d'amore (2012/13), Tosca (2013/14), Nabucco (2015/16) and Il trittico (2022/23).

Sonya Yoncheva

Soprano. She studied piano and voice in Plovdiv (Bulgaria), her hometown. She furthered her studies in Geneva. She is a student of William Christie's Le Jardin des Voix. Throughout her career, she has starred in new productions of titles such as Tosca and Otello. She made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2021/22 season with Norma.

Anita Rachvelishvili

Mezzo-soprano. She began studying piano at the Mukhran Machavariani School and eventually focused her studies on voice at the Vano-Sarajishvili Conservatory with Manana Egadze. In 2007, she joined the Academy of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and there she caught the attention of Daniel Barenboim, who invited her to perform Carmen on the opening night of the opera season in Milan in 2009, which gave her international visibility. This is her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.