The organisers of this year’s Gaulitana: A Festival of Music said today that full-scale production of Puccini’s masterpiece, Tosca “will undoubtedly be the highlight of the festival.”

This opera; a collaboration between the local festival and the prestigious Taormina Festival, will be directed by Enrico Castiglione, “one of the best-known and respected theatre directors and set designers of his generation. His style is passionately realistic, characterised by a strong visual dimension of evident cinematographic inspiration, with stage sets always hallmarked by spectacular, surprising concepts. Arguably one of his finest productions was Tosca for the Puccini centennial, transmitted live in European cinemas by Rai Mondovisione,” the organisers said.

Castiglione enjoys equally appreciable success in 20th-century theatre, most notably his staging of Bernstein’s Mass/Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers in the Vatican in 2000. Castiglione is the founder and artistic director of various festivals around Europe with one of his most prestigious roles being the appointment as artistic director for the 50 Jubilee concerts commissioned by John Paul II in 2000.

The costumes for this production are designed by Sonia Cammarata. She is known for a personal style speaking through an aesthetic language extremely sophisticated yet imaginative whilst revealing a knack for historical costumes. Since 2003, she has created an extremely intense artistic partnership with Enrico Castiglione, with whom she collaborated on numerous productions. Noteworthy are her costume designs for Nabucco (2011) and Norma (2012), both transmitted worldwide by Rai Mondovisione.The title-role, Tosca, will be played by Norma Fantini, who has been bestowed with the XXXV Puccini Award, presented by the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago for her outstanding performances of Puccini’s operas.

Considered one of the world’s best interpreters of this role, Fantini has an extraordinary international career, with regular performances at the world’s most prestigious venues, including Teatro alla Scala, RHO Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper working under the direction of Barenboim, Pappano, Mehta, Maazel, Zeffirelli and Vick among others.

Piero Giuliacci will interpret Cavaradossi, reviving his Tosca partnership with Fantini from Torre del Lago last summer. Regarded as one of the eminent Italian tenors of his generation, he appears regularly at the grand productions of the Arena di Verona whilst juggling a busy schedule around various important theatres. He collaborated with Mehta, Santi and Callegari, also performing Tosca with Oren to great critical acclaim.

Emerging baritone Francesco Landolfi will be playing Scarpia. The winner of numerous international singing competitions, he has to his credit several important performances in prestigious venues with Scarpia being a recurring role. Last summer, he interpreted this role at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma – Terme di Caracalla under Palumbo and Pizzi. He has just appeared in a production of Manon Lescaut at the same theatre conducted by Muti.

Tosca will be staged on the 12th of April, 2014 at the Teatru tal-Opra Aurora with the participation of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gaulitanus Choir under the direction of Colin Attard.

Booking is open and tickets can be obtained by emailing info@gaulitanus.com, by phoning 99209779/99248963, online at www.teatruaurora.com or from the Aurora Box Office.

Gaulitana: A Festival of Music will run from March 21 to May 10 with all concerts (except for opera) free of charge.

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