Macbeth by Verdi

Verdi’s love affair with Shakespeare began with Macbeth, which he considered “one of the greatest human creations”. His aim was to turn his tragedy into “something out of the ordinary”. For Jaume Plensa, capturing Verdi and Shakespeare’s Macbeth was a youthful dream so when Gerard Mortier asked him at Salzburg what opera he would like to direct, he did not hesitate. He has had to wait 25 years for the dream to come true.

When the witches foretell that Macbeth will be the next king of Scotland, Lady Macbeth gives destiny a hand by murdering the present King. But the witches’ prophecies turn Macbeth into the bloody assassin of friends and rivals until, alone and furious, he faces his last battle and dies. A team of singers who combine dramatic intensity with vocal authority (Luca Salsi and Sondra Radvanovsky) take on the roles of the honest general driven to murder and deceit and his boundlessly ambitious wife.