Premiere of opera Werther by Jules Massenet directed by Oscar-winner Dante FerrettiFrom the theatre — 13. February 2025.
The second opera premiere this season at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb is Jules Massenetꞌs Werther, a work by one of the most significant French composers. Opera Werther, composed after the famous novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, will have its Zagreb opening night on February 28, 2025, as a co-production with Teatro Carlo Felice from Genova.
The music direction is led by chief conductor of the Opera of the CNT in Zagreb, maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi and director, set and costume designer is Dante Ferretti, winner of three Oscar awards for sets, four BAFTA Awards and many other acknowledgements. In his career Ferretti worked with some of the greatest movie directors in the history of film art such as Pasolini, Fellini, Zeffirelli, Minghelle, Scorsese, Burton and De Palma, and his works were on display at respectable world museums.
For the past three years he dedicated his career to desining opera Werther, first at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, then at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb this season.
In this production of Werther we have decided to make a shift and move the plot from the 19th century to the 1930s and 1940s in order to embrace a more restrained and linear aesthetics. The vision of the stage director is focused on the creation of everyday, vivid events enriched with the presence of extras on the stage who move about in a natural manner, as if they are shooting a movie scene. With their casual movements and daily activities, completely unaware of the passion that is tormenting Werther, they stand in sharp contrast with his inner turmoil, said Ferretti about this production.
A contemporary of Goethe, Heinrich Heine wrote „Where words leave off, music begins“. Magazine Le Monde already after the Parisian premiere in 1893 wrote that opera Werther confirms this inextricable connection between music and literature. It is with great joy and expectations that we are waiting for the Zagreb audience to be convinced and persuaded into this! said Željka Barišić Pulig, the director of the Zagreb Opera.
The premiere cast for this production is: Pavel Valuzhin as Werther, Emilia Rukavina as Charlotte, Ozren Bilušić as Commander, Marija Kuhar Šoša as Sophie, Leon Košavić as Albert, Ivo Gamulin as Schmidt and Marin Čargo as Johann.
The second cast for this production is: Martin Sušnik as Werther, Sofija Petrović as Charlotte, Siniša Štork as Commander, Josipa Bilić as Sophie, Davor Nekjak as Albert, Lovre Gujinović as Schmidt and Marin Čargo remains Johann.
Re-runs are scheduled for March 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7, 2025.
You can buy the tickets HERE.
