Name: Les Vêpres Siciliennes
Start: 2025-05-18
End: 2025-05-31
Location: Deutsche Oper Berlin

The rebellion of Sicily against its French occupiers in 1282, known as the "Sicilian Vespers", could easily be linked to Verdi's present and the conquest and colonisation of Algeria that began in 1830. This reference forms the starting point for the production of the French director Olivier Py, who extends the historical focus into the 1950s. ...

Hulkar Sabirova als HélèneMarcus Lieberenz

Piero Pretti als Henri, Hulkar Sabirova als Hélène, Roberto Tagliavini als Jean de ProcidaMarcus Lieberenz

Hulkar Sabirova als Hélène, Andrew Dickinson als Danieli, Gina Perregrino als Ninetta, Thomas Lehman als Guy de MontfortMarcus Lieberenz

Thomas Lehman als Guy de MontfortMarcus Lieberenz

Hulkar Sabirova als Hélène, Thomas Lehman als Guy de MontfortMarcus Lieberenz

Conductor: Dominic Limburg
Director: Olivier Py

With

Hulkar Sabirova, Valentyn Dytiuk, George Petean, Roberto Tagliavini and others.

About the work

For his first commission for the Paris Opéra Verdi demanded a libretto that was “immense, passionate and original”.

What he eventually got from star author Eugène Scribe was a text whose political edginess rivalled the grand opéras of Giacomo Meyerbeer, with whom Scribe had collaborated on LES HUGUENOTS and LE PROPHETE.

Like these two works, LES VÊPRES SICILIENNES explored a subject that was not only historical but also highly topical. Parallels could easily be drawn between the “Sicilian Vespers” uprising in 1282 against the island’s French occupiers and the most conspicuous of France’s mid-19th-century expansionist ventures, the conquest and colonialization of Algeria, which began in 1830 and was dogged by an ongoing series of brutally quelled revolts.

About the production

This link likewise serves as the slant for the current production by French director Olivier Py, who has already shown his sensibility for the grand-opéra approach to political material in his staging of Meyerbeer’s LE PROPHETE at the Deutsche Oper Berlin:

the French occupation of Algeria, which extended from Verdi’s period to the 1950s, provides the setting for Py’s version of the story, which, after LA TRAVIATA and RIGOLETTO, was another example of Verdi expanding the focus of his musical dramas.

His regard is no longer fixed only on the fate of individual characters; in LES VÊPRES SICILIENNES he is interested in the fortunes and woes of entire nations.

Undiluted hatred, a desire for reconciliation and the tension between these two extremes are what drive the actions of the main protagonists and the interactions of occupiers with the subjugated.

LES VÊPRES SICILIENNES has long been overshadowed by Verdi’s other great operas, but here the Deutsche Oper Berlin presents the original 1855 French version of the work, not the Italian adaptation that became the standard.

3 hours 45 minutes / One interval

Additional information

Opera in five acts Libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier First performed on 13 June 1855 at the Théâtre Impérial de L'Opéra Paris as part of the Paris World's FairPremiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 20 March 2022

Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance

Participating artists

Dominic Limburg (Musikalische Leitung)

Olivier Py (Inszenierung)

Pierre-André Weitz (Bühne, Kostüme)

Bertrand Killy (Licht)

Jeremy Bines (Chöre)

Jörg Königsdorf (Dramaturgie)

Hulkar Sabirova (Hélène)

Arianna Manganello (Ninetta)

Valentyn Dytiuk (Henri)

George Petean (Guy de Montfort)

Roberto Tagliavini (Jean de Procida)

Chance Jonas-O'Toole (Thibault)

Gideon Poppe (Danieli)

Jörg Schörner (Mainfroid)

Joel Allison (Robert)

Gerard Farreras (Le Sire de Béthune)

Jared Werlein (Le Comte de Vaudemont)

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchester)

Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Chöre)

Opernballett der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Ballette)

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