This isn’t just another opera, or another “Tosca” — this is an innovative, imaginative, daring version. What is presented on screen, and originally on stage in Vienna, is different from any recognizable version of “Tosca”.

The music, of course, is the same and the words are almost the same — but the director changed what is said or sung in some parts to match the sights he created for this version; some of the supporting characters have disappeared as well, their parts voiced by others. Among the changes director Martin Kušej made: There are no churches or fortresses, the setting isn’t Rome but a snow-covered landscape with an old trailer and a tree on which a dismembered body hangs. There are no old costumes, and in one scene a singer appears wearing only a corset. The plot still features murder, torture, betrayal, and lust, but all of this suddenly seems more realistic and scarier, with a nod to the present or perhaps to cruel and corrupt dictators. Even Tosca’s death is reimagined here, but the wonderful music and excellent singers still recall the familiar and beloved opera.

In memory of the late Michael Ajzenstadt, who was known to many as “Mr. Opera”

With  Kristine Opolais (sopran) – Tosca, Jonathan Tetelman (tenor) – Cavaradossi 

Opera by Giacomo Puccini, conductor: Marc Albrecht

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Arnold Schoenberg Choir