After the unfortunate cancellation last year due to the pandemic, Bergen National Opera have successfully staged Rodula Gaitanou's La Clemenza di Tito, receiving high praise for its innovative use of staging and directive creativity:
...a defiant account of Mozart’s final opera that’s beautifully cast with six Norwegian nationals and intelligently rethought by London-based Rodula Gaitanou from her aborted original plans of a year ago. The result is a triumph of simplicity and clarity, light on pomp and glitter but forensically presented to reflect our times.
Mark Valencia, Backtrack****
Now BNO is back in the Grieg Hall with a version of Mozart's opera that is certainly different from the one originally planned, but which nevertheless works very well, both theatrically and musically. Greek Rodula Gaitanou, who has directed the show on zoom from London, is best known for beautiful, colourful and easily updated versions of 19th century opera classics. With the staging in the Grieg Hall, she has had to work with completely different means to establish a performance that satisfies the official requirements for distance and safety during the pandemic. Gaitanou and her staff have solved these problems by dividing the darkened stage floor into clear, luminous fields with solid spacing… The result has been an elegant, stylized stage image and a tightly choreographed movement pattern - which at the same time makes good sense in relation to the opera's narrative.
Bergens Tidende*****
You can view the livestream here.
Photo Credit: Bergen National Opera
