A celebrated singer, a war-besieged city, the advent of an era: Puccini’s “Tosca,” which takes place in Rome following Napoleon’s invasion of Italy, raises the curtain this month to the new season at the Royal Opera House in London.
The soprano Anna Netrebko, in the title role as the singer Floria Tosca, returns to Covent Garden for the first time in six years. Jakub Hrusa, who presides over the house orchestra, is officially taking over as music director after more than two decades of leadership under Antonio Pappano.
Staging the work is Oliver Mears, the company’s director of opera since 2017. “I want there to be real connections onstage,” he said by phone from London. “It’s those emotions that get people hooked to this art form.”
Netrebko, a Russian native, was barred from performing at houses in Europe and the United States when she refrained from criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin after the invasion of Ukraine. Yet the singer has slowly made her way back, with upcoming performances in Italy, Switzerland and again at Royal Opera this December.
“Tosca,” which will run from Sept. 11 to Oct. 7, further features the international soloist Gerald Finley as the sinister police chief, Baron Scarpia, and young tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Tosca’s beloved, the painter Cavaradossi. The staging was slated to travel to the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv next year, but Alex Beard, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s chief executive, canceled the collaboration after more than 180 employees protested with an open letter. The staff members also denounced Mears’s physical intervention when a cast member held up a Palestinian flag during a curtain call for Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” in July.
The director, 46, declined to comment on these events but discussed the collaboration with Netrebko, the program under Hrusa and more. The interview has been edited and condensed.
Tell us about your approach to Puccini’s drama.
When you present “Tosca,” you want it to be as shocking as it was when it was first performed. It should be an operatic thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. What’s also important is that it was performed in 1900, at the dawn of a new century. Puccini foreshadows some key elements of modernism, with dissonance, a whole-tone scale, and extreme contrasts. There are also themes of perversion and violence.
Why was it the right time to re-welcome Anna Netrebko, and what distinguishes her artistry?
Anna is a very instinctive performer and an extraordinary stage animal. I worked with her on Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” in Salzburg last year with Antonio Pappano. The qualities she showed in that project come very much to the fore. And of course, “Tosca” is a piece that she knows extremely well, having performed it all over the world.
Anna has made her opposition to the war clear on several different occasions. She’s also not performed or even returned to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
We’ve historically presented the greatest singers of the moment. And that’s what we will continue to do. But we of course exercise extraordinary care in all our decisions, and both Jakub and I felt that this was the right one, with this piece.
How will Jakub Hrusa build upon Antonio Pappano’s legacy and take artistic planning in new directions?
Jakub’s first season immediately shows his priorities. He will always be associated with the Czech repertoire — he has a profound love for Dvorak, Smetana and Janacek — but of course he made a fantastic connection with the house first with “Carmen” and then in “Lohengrin.” I think that he wants to carry through that versatility.
People might not necessarily associate Jakub with Puccini, but he’s a master at it. He brings out the Italianate opulence but also the propulsive energy which you need to drive the drama forward. And moments of exquisite lyricism as well.
What does it mean to lead a company right now, when political discussions get intertwined with artistic agendas?
The greatest composers were always subversive of the conventions of their time. That’s why they retain their relevance in different ways, whether Mozart, Wagner, Verdi or Shostakovich.
On the other hand, an audience goes to the opera to be transported and participate in a collective ritual, with 100 people in the pit and potentially 100 people onstage. I think that it’s possible to retain the transgressive element in all the greatest operas without bashing people over the head with political statements, which invariably are crass.
By presenting core repertoire as if it’s being done for the first time, there are great opportunities. These pieces can bear endless reinvention.
We’ve found that it tends not to be rarer works or new commissions that bring young people to Covent Garden for the first time. They want to see “Carmen,” “Tosca” or “La Bohème.” That makes it even more important that the productions they experience feel fresh and alive.
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