Tosca Plays RAH for 8 Performances Only

A new production of Tosca, set entirely in the round, will open at London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 18 February 1999 for a run of eight performances only. The entire creative team of this year's Madam Butterfly, which ran at the RAH for 14 sold out performances in the spring, are reunited for this new production.

David Freeman, whose international career has ranged from founding the Opera Factory to directing at the Kirov Opera and the Royal Opera House, directs Tosca. Designs are by David Roger, who uses the RAH's own renowned architecture as a wider backdrop for the dramatic setting, with lighting design by Andrew Bridge. Amanda Holden has again written an entirely new English translation for the opera, and Peter Robinson, formerly assistant music director at ENO, conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The title role of Tosca, the famous singer who is tricked, will be shared by two British sopranos, Susan Bullock and Suzanne Murphy.

Tosca marks the sixth co-production by the Royal Albert Hall and Raymond Gubbay, a partnership which began with La Boheme in 1996 and continued with Carmen, Swan Lake, Madam Butterfly and Romeo and Juliet.

The opera, which was first performed in 1900, four years after La Boheme, was Puccini's second greatest success. Set during the Napoleonic wars, the classic love story is based on true events which unfolded in Rome during this turbulent period.

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