Tosca

Sung in Italian with English titles

Rome, 1800. Scarpia, the brutal Chief of Police, relentlessly hunts, tortures and executes enemies of the state. A political prisoner hides in a chapel, helped by the painter Caravadossi. When Caravadossi is arrested and tortured, his lover, the opera singer Floria Tosca, is offered a terrible bargain by Scarpia in return for the couple’s freedom.

From the jolting blast of Tosca’s opening chords, obsessive lust, politics and religion collide in this feverish, high-octane thriller. It is driven by a score which combines Puccini’s theatrical flair with some of his most intensely beautiful and dramatic music, including the ‘Te Deum’ which closes Act I, Tosca’s impassioned prayer ‘Vissi d’arte,’ and Caravadossi’s immensely moving farewell to life ‘E lucevan le stelle.’

From its premiere in 1900, Tosca has remained a perennial crowd-pleaser, despite – or perhaps owing to – the darkest of themes: political persecution, sexual blackmail, jealousy, torture and murder lead inexorably to its famous climax. Yet it is essentially a drama of human emotions, setting two lovers in troubled times against one of opera’s most complex and depraved villains. 

Edward Dick’s new production, the first new Tosca at Opera North since 2002, follows his Hansel and Gretel in 2017. Conducted by Antony Hermus, the cast includes Giselle Allen and Susannah Glanville, sharing the role of Tosca, Rafael Rojas as Caravadossi, and Robert Hayward as Scarpia.