THE METROPOLITAN OPERA LIVE IN HD FROM NEW YORK

CATCH TWO SUPERB OPERAS EXCLUSIVELY AT CINEMA NOUVEAU AND SELECT STER-KINEKOR THEATRES DURING NOVEMBER, DECEMBER

William Kentridge stormed the Met with his inventive production of “The Nose”

The highly successful seventh season of opera, Live in HD by The Metropolitan Opera in New York, will be screened exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres in November and December this year.

The second opera of the season, following Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, will have particular interest to South African audiences. It is William Kentridge’s dazzlingly innovative production of Shostakovich’s The Nose, (run time: 2hr 15m), which releases locally on Saturday, 30 November and stars Paulo Szot in the lead role. Shostakovich’s shocking and unconventional opera about a beleaguered Russian official and his runaway nose returns to The Met for the first time since its sold-out 2010 premiere.

This is followed by the release of one more production this year. Puccini’s classic drama Tosca, with Patricia Racette as the tempestuous title character and Robert Alagna as her devoted lover, releases on Saturday, 07 December (run time: 3hr 35m).

World-renowned South African artist William Kentridge made his Met debut in 2010 with an inventive production of Shostakovich’s opera, which dazzled opera and art lovers alike in its inaugural, sold-out run. Now Paulo Szot reprises his acclaimed performance as Kovalyov, whose satirical misadventures in search of his missing nose are based on Gogol’s comic story. Pavel Smelkov conducts a cast of more than 70 that also includes Andrey Popov as the menacing Police Inspector and Alexander Lewis as Kovalyov’s peripatetic nose.

Staging an opera with a surreal plot that revolves around a Russian bureaucrat’s search for his missing nose is not an easy feat. So whom do you call? In the case of the Met premiere production of Shostakovich’s 1930 opera The Nose the man on the other end of the line was South African artist William Kentridge.

Best known for his stop-motion short films and imaginative charcoal drawings, Kentridge brings animation, superimposed graphics, collage, and archival images and video to his production of The Nose.  He is joined by Tony Award-winning baritone Paulo Szot (of South Pacific fame) in the leading role. Given the opera’s numerous disparate elements and characters, not to mention the absurdist plot featuring a walking, talking nose, Kentridge was the perfect person to tackle the project. He has long been a fan of Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 short story on which the opera is based.

That story, in brief, focuses on a St. Petersburg civil servant, Major Kovalyov, who wakes up one morning to discover that his nose is gone. He ventures out in pursuit and learns that the nose has assumed the role of an officer with a higher rank and, as a result, won’t speak to him. The rest of the story follows the travails, both comic and sad, that Kovalyov must go through as he tries to find and reattach his nose.

Along the way, readers (and audiences) are treated to a cavalcade of bureaucrats, snobs, low-lifes and other characters of 19th-century St. Petersburg. Besides the obvious humor and satire, the story touches on issues of man’s place in society, social conventions, and bureaucracy—whether in 19th-century St. Petersburg, 1920s Leningrad, or 1980s Johannesburg (where Kentridge grew up and where he famously staged many acclaimed avant-garde theatre productions).

“The Nose is about what constitutes a person—how singular we are and how much we are divided up against ourselves,” Kentridge says. “And it’s also about the terrors of hierarchy. In Russian society in the czarist era, but also later, if you were of a slightly lower rank, you were in abject terror of anyone who was above you. And if you were of a higher rank you had a murderous contempt of anyone below you.

“It feels very familiar to growing up in South Africa,” the artist continues, “where you had not just black and white as racial classifications, but also ‘colored,’ Asian, Indian, Chinese, other Asian, and many different lines. It was a strange, absurd, venal, and damaging hierarchy, and I think that’s one of the things that echo very strongly when you read Gogol.”

On December 07, Tosca comes to colourful life on the big screen. Puccini’s timeless verismo score is well served by an exceptional cast, led by Patricia Racette in the title role of the jealous diva, opposite Roberto Alagna as her lover, Cavaradossi. George Gagnidze is the villainous Scarpia. Riccardo Frizza conducts this sweeping and dramatic tale of murder, lust, and political intrigue. Tosca is a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Teatro alla Scala.

“Racette brings plenty of jealous passion to the part of Tosca… Gagnidze’s commanding baritone gives a fearsome malevolence to Scarpia.” (Huffington Post)

“Alagna bedazzles… [delivering] a soaring, high-octane “E lucevan le stelle,” earning a generous cheer for his intense and sensitively phrased singing.” (Classical Review)

These grand opera productions are filmed at the magnificent Metropolitan Opera House in New York, home to some of the most talented singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers and dancers from around the world.  Their past productions have received great acclaim and have gained recognition around the world. Now, and as it has done since Live in HD began, Cinema Nouveau continues to provide audiences with the exclusive opportunity to witness these spectacular and award-winning near-live broadcasts in South Africa.

Each of these entertaining operas is a glorious production that will be screened exclusively at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor theatres countrywide, including: Gateway Nouveau, Durban; V&A Waterfront Nouveau in Cape Town; Somerset Mall, Cape Town; Blue Route Mall, Cape Town; Garden Route Mall, George; Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg; Bedford Centre, Johannesburg and at Brooklyn Nouveau, Pretoria. Their release onto the big digital cinema screen affords South African lovers of opera the unique opportunity to become an integral part of these ‘near-live’ and breathtaking performances.

To book tickets and for more information, please visit: www.cinemanouveau.co.za | mobi-site: www.sterkinekor.mobi |Ticketline: 082 16789 (VAS rates apply) | Facebook: CinemaNouveau| Follow us on Twitter: @nouveaubuzz. Download the SK App for updates and to make bookings via your mobile phone.  

• ·         Promotional trailer for Shostakovich’s The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera:
  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvBO4RHFC6M
• ·         Scene from final dress rehearsal for Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera: http://www.metoperafamily.org/video/2013-2014/tosca/watch/tosca-vissi-darte-patricia-racette/2777943001001#play

Images for all The Met: Live in HD productions are available on the following site: www.skpictures.co.za

The Nose – Shostakovich (releases on 30 November 2013 – Run time: 2hr 15m)

Conductor: Pavel Smelkov

Production: William Kentridge

Set Designer: William Kentridge & Sabine Theunissen

Costume Designer: Greta Goiris

Video Compositor and Editor: Catherine Meyburgh

Lighting Designer: Urs Schönebaum

Cast: Paulo Szot (Kovalyov), Andrey Popov (Police Inspector), Alexander Lewis (The Nose

William Kentridge’s dazzlingly innovative production of Shostakovich’s shocking, unconventional opera about a beleaguered Russian official and his runaway nose returns to the Met for the first time since its sold-out 2010 premiere. Pavel Smelkov conducts a cast led by Paulo Szot as the hapless Kovalyov, with Andrey Popov as the menacing Police Inspector and Alexander Lewis as Kovalyov’s peripatetic nose.

Tosca – Puccini (releases on 07 December 2013 – Run time: 3hr 35m)

Conductor: Riccardo Frizza

Production: Luc Bondy

Set Designer: Richard Peduzzi

Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

Lighting Designer: Max Keller

Cast: Patricia Racette (Tosca), Roberto Alagna (Cavaradossi), George Gagnidze (Scarpia), John Del Carlo (Sacristan)

Patricia Racette portrays the tempestuous diva Floria Tosca in Luc Bondy’s production of Puccini’s enduring favourite. Roberto Alagna sings Tosca’s lover, the painter Cavaradossi, and George Gagnidze is the corrupt, lustful Scarpia. Riccardo Frizza conducts Puccini’s sweeping, dramatic tale of murder, lust, and political intrigue.