Barcelona’s Liceu theatre is currently staging Verdi’s La Traviata, a co-production with three European opera companies. The Liceu’s revival director Leo Castaldi spoke to Euronews Culture about the process of keeping the performance fresh, cost effective and relevant during its run.
Leo Castaldi grew up in the world of arias and librettos as his mother was a costume designer at La Scala Milan, the Holy Grail of opera.
After school he would come and see Irene Monti at work making up costumes for some of the most famous sopranos or tenors in the world.
“That was for me the introduction to this world. When you work in a theatre you are in a theatre for a lot of hours. So, I remember going out of school and seeing my mother at the theatre. For me the theatre has always been about the laboratories and the sets behind the scenes” Castaldi remembers.
“The funniest thing was at carnival time because I would get costumes designed by the costume department of La Scala. My school friends enjoyed a lot of the costumes. I think I got some for my school friends.”
Years later, the 44-year-old Italian is revival director of La Traviata at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre Liceu.
To those outside the rarefied world of opera, a revival director will take a production of an opera which has been staged elsewhere and decide if it needs any changes.
La Traviata, Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece, was first produced by Sir David McVicar, a British director who is among the best in the world.
Challenging co-production
The Liceu production has been staged in cooperation with the Teatro Real de Madrid, Welsh National Opera and the Scottish Opera in Glasgow.
The fact this €1.2 million production in Barcelona is financed by four different opera companies reveals much about modern opera.
The vast expense of staging a production like La Traviata is offset by different companies in an international deal in what is becoming standard practice in opera and ballet.
The private sector also plays a role as the Fundacion la Caixa, the charitable sector of a Spanish bank and Caixabank, the Spanish bank, sponsor the production in Barcelona.
Castaldi revealed that not only is La Traviata a co-production but then it is rented out to smaller opera houses in Valladolid and Seville in Spain.
“This is a production which was created in (2008-2009 in Glasgow) and since then has been revived more than 15 times among the co-production theatres. This production has also been rented between the Teatro Principal de Valladolid and Teatro Maestranza in Seville,” he said.
“It is essentially a similar show. When you recreate a show with different people. All (artistic) work is interpretation. David McVicar created this version of La Traviata but this needs to be interpreted with new people doing a new show. We don’t say changes; I would say adjustments,” he explains.
Castaldi describes La Traviata as the “best known opera”. As we speak inside the Liceu, a series of famous arias is playing in the auditorium.
Budgeting for change
Opera, like ballet, is often a fusion of public and private partnerships.
This month Opera Europa launched a cooperative funding of opera and ballet across the European Union.
This platform, which is funded by the Creative Europe programme, will support emerging artists working in opera and dance in Europe. It will offer onsite and online support to train and promote about 560 artists over the next four years.
Castaldi admits a kind of ‘league table’ of opera houses exists, which is determined by available budgets and policies dictated by artistic directors.
He started his career at the Paris Opera when the artistic director at the time was the late Gerard Mortier who did not want the biggest stars.
“Of course, there are different levels of (opera) houses which correspond to budgets. We are in the Liceu which maybe does not have a plus A budget but it is a very old (opera) house which has a very cultivated public,” Castaldi explains.
“Of course, you cannot compare a city like Seville with a city like New York.”
Co-productions do not just make sound economic sense but are a natural step for opera which is an international community, he believes.
“On one hand, the operas are very expensive so to share the costs is a good strategy but in its nature the opera world is an international world,” he explains.
“So, sharing a production is part of a common world. It is part of an economic fact, but it is not only an economic fact.”
Castaldi says on opening night he is often “nervous” but this production of La Traviata was greeted with a long, standing ovation.
“It was a great premiere. We had a huge standing ovation. On the day of the premiere, the performers were on board,” he says.
“Theatre is a matter of human relations. If human relations go wrong, then the show goes wrong. If there is bad chemistry in the company, sometimes this happens.”
Luckily this was not the case with La Traviata.
“The day of the premiere, everybody was on board. An important part of my job is to create a discourse with the performers to push them to give their best efforts when the show goes ahead. I think I succeeded,” he added.
La Traviata is at Liceu Barcelona until February 2
