The premiere of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro will take place at the Latvian National Opera on February 28.

The Music Director and Conductor of the new production is Valdis Butāns, Stage Director – Marcelo Lomabardero, Set Designer – Diego Siliano, Costume Designer – Luciana Gutman, Light Designer – Horacio Efron. Cast of Le nozze di Figaro includes Jānis Apeinis, Evija Martinsone, Sonora Vaice, Rihards Mačanovskis, Alexander Miminoshvili, Inga Šļubovska, Krišjānis Norvelis, Rihards Millers, Kalvis Kalniņš, Julianna Bavarska, Elīna Šimkus, Jūlija Vasiļjeva a.o.

The witty Figaro wants to marry the beautiful maid Suzanne, but her charms have also moved Count Almaviva. And Cupid’s arrows didn’t stop there – the romantic plot is filled with lords and servants in disguise. Will Figaro manage to stop the lovesick Count Almaviva? Argentine stage director and Teatro Colon Artistic Director Marcelo Lombardero brings Mozart’s comic opera to the LNO in the 1980s TV series style of Latin America, conjuring an atmosphere rife with exotic, social and erotic tension.

Stage Director Marcelo Lombardero: ‘My home in Buenos-Aires and Riga are 12 000 km apart – it is a long journey from South to North. Actually, we are almost in the opposite ends of the globe. Having reflected on how to establish contact with local public, I became convinced that it is important for us – creators of this performance to talk of ourselves and to find a shared language with everyone in the audience by medium of our personal experiences. In opera production like Le Nozze di Figaro, I was particularly intent on bringing southern heat and colours to the stage as to me this Mozart’s masterpiece seems to breathe the warm airs felt in the Mediterranean region. 

The period when our modern dictatorial regimes were at their height, the 1980ies is a very dark decade in the history of Latin America. Relocation of the action of Le Nozze di Figaro to this epoch allowed us to address the problem of feudalism, found in the opera – the situation when the privileges of those in power are dominant over human rights.  Although Le Nozze di Figaro is not a political drama, I decided not to evade this subject because humans are political beings. The style of Latin American soap operas was not an accidental choice either. On my first visit of Latvia, I noticed that our soap operas are very popular in these parts as well, and this recurred to me in the process of thinking about this production.

Still, I want to underline that my aim has not been to device a new story, but to turn a particular story of Mozart’s time to be congenial and understandable for contemporary viewer. Classical works survive if we are able to prove that dramatic conflicts driving them are still meaningful and significant for those living in the 21^st century. Otherwise, we are preoccupied with archaeology rather than art.’

Further performances: March 1, 15, April 11, May 14, June 5 and 11.