Don Carlo

The Opera House, Copenaghen (SE) 2024
2024
Completed
Opera

One of Verdi's masterpieces, Don Carlo, is presented in a visually rich, new staging by directors Davide Livermore alongside Giò Forma.

Giuseppe Verdi's unparalleled masterpiece Don Carlo is presented in a visually stunning new staging by one of Europe's most genre-redefining directors, Italian Davide Livermore, in collaboration with the renowned design team Giò Forma. Performances will take place from September 8 to October 19, 2024, on the main stage of the Royal Danish Theatre. In the tragic Spanish love triangle involving Don Carlo, his beloved Elisabetta and Carlo's father Filippo II, the young lovers' romance must be sacrificed to ensure peace through a forced marriage between Filippo II and Elisabetta.

The tale of love, friendship, idealism, politics and duty unfolds in Verdi's work against the backdrop of the Inquisition's brutal and oppressive regime. Davide Livermore and the Giò Forma design team bring the story closer to our times by setting it against the persecution of political opponents under Franco's dictatorship. In this intense contemporary context, the past merges with a recognisable present in a spectacular set design, blending classic and expressionistic moods inspired by the Spanish painters Goya and Velázquez with lavish and cool aesthetics.

Music: Giuseppe Verdi

Librettist: Antonio Ghislanzoni og Camille du Locle

Conductor: Jordan de Souza

Director: Davide Livermore

Chorus Master: Steven Moore

Set Designer.: Giò Forma

Costume Design: Mariana Fracasso

Lysdesigner: Antonio Castro

Videodesigner: D Wok

Photo: Miklos Szabo

Women's chorus in colourful dresses around a singer in green standing on a table, under a crystal chandelier – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Ensemble in uniforms with raised rifles flanking a cleric, a beam of light on a cloudy projected backdrop – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designSinger in white before a monument topped by a winged statue, monochrome projections and lattice towers – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Two singers on the steps of a sculpted monument bathed in purple light, a black vintage car and guards below – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designSinger in black before a blazing red sky projection, an officer in uniform and a black car behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Hooded penitents and chorus on raised red-lit tiers above the orchestra pit, projected faces behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designSinger in a green brocade robe seated on a bed beneath a giant framed painting of a reclining nude – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Bedroom scene with a cleric in white and a singer in a green robe, framed religious paintings behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designSinger in a pale nightgown recoiling from a man in a green robe, framed Renaissance portraits behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Woman in an ivory gown facing a kneeling woman beside a chair, fragmented portraits in gold frames – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designWoman cradling a wounded officer in blue uniform on the floor beside a single chair, dark stage – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Couple embracing in front of the monument's base, sculpted with crowded figures, on a glossy black floor – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designSinger in a yellow overcoat gesturing beside a black vintage car, the monument and white zigzag lines behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Two men facing each other below the winged-statue monument against a stormy sky projection – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designTwo singers on the monument steps seen through a dark diamond lattice in the foreground – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Officer in naval uniform before a huge reproduction of Picasso's Guernica, a chandelier and red curtains – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design
Bride in a white veil, a bishop, an officer in white uniform and chorus before a giant projected crucifix – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set designConfrontation between men in uniforms and sashes, clergy and chorus watching, a projected rose window behind – Don Carlo at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024 – opera set design