VIDEO – The Grand Théâtre de Genève returns to Astor Piazzolla’s opera-tango with a completely crazy super production in the style of Finzi Pasca. We don’t make any sense of it, but it’s absolutely gorgeous.
This is a tango opera rarely performed by Astor Piazzolla. We are pleased that the Grand Théâtre de Genève has made an exception by continuing this work, created in Buenos Aires in May 1968, at the height of this new theater where images dominate history.
We are here with the spirit of celebrities Einstein on the Beach related to Philip Glass, was written eight years later and presented at the Avignon festival in 1976. The story is surreal, so well written, full of poetry that comes from the words that describe it. We can say this: Despite the subtitles, we don’t understand anything, but we don’t care. We are dragged into Maria’s world, “A day when God gets drunk», a sex worker before becoming a virgin again… First of all, we are at the heart of a magnificent production. Beautiful paintings follow each other and we get incredible pleasure from looking at them. And even more since the Grand Theater does not spare on means, from this wall of candle-lit tombs where heroes appear, to these industrial passages, including this ice rink, whose nylon floor allows all the skating figures.
The staging bears the special signature of the Swiss company Finzi Pasca, headquartered in Lugano. In short, we are going from surprise to surprise with this completely crazy community. Tangos are “danced” by circus performers or performed by them, as in this spectacular Cyr wheel display. The lead role is played perfectly by mezzo Raquel Camarinha. This Portuguese lyric artist, who studied at the National Conservatory of Paris, manages to combine the lyrical difficulty of the score with the nostalgic accents that Piazzolla desired, using all the necessary nuances. Great art.
The grand theater in Geneva until 6 November.
