Wednesday 09 / July / 2025
Muscat: ‘The Opera’, ROHM’s latest co-production may soon be performed in Brazil and other parts of the world after being premiered at the ROHM this weekend.
Directed by the internationally recognised stage director Davide Livermore, ‘The Opera’ is co-produced by the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) but was rehearsed in three different countries including Italy, before coming back to Oman. The idea of producing ‘The Opera’ was thought of more than a year ago.
Enchanting live performances with brilliant young talent, fabulous sets and realistic video projection are set to make the show look spectacular. The sets include an amazing doorway, unveiled as a gateway into the history of opera.
The door opens unto a grand old hotel lobby, Art Deco in style, where vivid image projections bring opera’s changing times and places to life in three-dimensional reality. Omani technicians were also part of this opera.
The story for The Opera was inspired by the Greek tragedy, Orpheus and Eurydice. As told by the ancient Greek poets, Virgil and Ovid, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the most compelling in literature.
It is a haunting tale of love and loss, of great courage thwarted by momentary human weakness. It is, at the same time, an ode to the beauty and nobility of music. The creative director for ‘The Opera’ is Paolo Gep Cucco.
“We start from a myth because we want to recreate a new show with ‘The Opera’ and the history of the opera and also with many experiences around the show. It is a lovely story with a man in love with a women and something appears in the destiny of the two lovers- Orpheus and Eurydice,” says Livermore.
For twenty-two years, Livermore has worked both on the major stages of Europe and in smaller theatres in his native country of Italy. During the time he has worked as stage director, set designer, costume and light designer, singer, dancer, actor, scriptwriter and teacher.
He has also worked at the Opera Houses of Philadelphia in the United States, Montpellier and Avignon in France, as well as Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and Palau de Arts in Valencia.
Livermore has staged Puccini’s La Boheme, and Verdi’s opera Otello and La Forze del Destino (The Force of Destiny) and most recently Mozart’s Idomeneo.
“Al singers and artists involved are coming from the centre of Maestro Plácido Domingo and Davide here is the Artist Director of this centre. The premiere will be on March 16, and there are two performances lined on March 18 and 19, all starting at 7.30pm”, said Umberto Fanni, Director General at the ROHM.
Some of the greatest opera stars from the Plácido Domingo’s Centre of Perfeccionament will sing lovely arias from famous Italian composers in a unique musical production that will create an exciting new operatic experience for Muscat’s audiences.
In The Opera, the mythological tale is given a modern twist. In a natural way, Orpheus and Eurydice, performed by Valentino Buzza and Miriam Battistelli, fall under the spell of the music and slip into the roles of famous lovers, singing their arias.
