Benvenuto Cellini, Op. 23

Composer: Berlioz, Hector

Librettist/Text Author: Wailly, Leon de

Librettist/Text Author: Barbier, Auguste

Librettist/Text Author: Vigny, Alfred de

Conductor: Elder, Mark

Orchestra: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Chorus: Dutch National Opera Chorus

Chorus Master: Wu, Ching-Lien

Ascanio: Losier, Michele

Benvenuto Cellini: Osborn, John

Bernardino: Conner, Scott

Fieramosca: Naouri, Laurent

Francesco: Spence, Nicky

Giacomo Balducci: Muraro, Maurizio

Le Cabaretier: Beekman, Marcel

Le Pape Clement VII: Anastassov, Orlin

Pompeo: Morsch, Andre

Teresa: Sicilia, Mariangela

Set Designer: Gilliam, Terry

Set Designer: Marsden, Aaron

Costume Designer: Lindsay, Katrina

Lighting Designer: Constable, Paule

Choreographer: Hausman, Leah

Stage Director: Gilliam, Terry

Television Director: Roussillon, Francois

---

Date of Production: 05-2018

Venue: Dutch National Opera

Playing Time: 03:00:07

Catalogue Number: 2.110575-76

UPC: 747313557554

---

With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's advocacy of artistic freedom, Hector Berlioz went straight for the grand gesture with his first completed opera. Returning to it years after initial production debacles, Berlioz stated that he would 'never again find such verve and Cellinian impetuosity, nor such a variety of ideas'. The plot revolves around Cellini's wooing of Teresa, a match frustrated at every opportunity by his rival, the cowardly Fieramosca. Benvenuto Cellini is a pithy work combining romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle; the perfect stage for Terry Gilliam's stylishly colourful and larger-than-life directing.