Rufus Wainwright's "Hadrian"

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Image courtesy of Festival Castell Peralada

Hadrian, the second incursion into the world of opera of musical genius Rufus Wainwright, is coming to the Castell de Peralada Festival. In an interpretation completely different to the one seen in the work’s premiere at Opera Canada in 2018 performed by the Canadian Opera Company, Hadrian comes to Peralada under the stage direction of Jorn Weisbrodt, stripped of scenery and many singers, to make way for a certain radicalization and the visual emotional expression of the intrinsic dramatic quality inherent to opera.

With a narrative built on images by Robert Mapplethorpe, the spectator experiences the tensions and tumults of the characters, at the same time as they learn the story of a defeated emperor who at one time had it all, deprived of the one thing that he truly desired. Wainwright tells a new story to the contemporary audience using melody, harmony, profound emotion, arias and ensemble scenes, through his own instantly recognizable Rufus-Wainwrightian sound and melodies. The libretto, work of celebrated dramatist Daniel MacIvor, lays out the story of the love between Emperor Hadrian and his young lover Antinous, drowned in the river Nile in mysterious circumstances.

With the voices of Ainhoa Arteta, Thomas Hampson, Xabier Anduaga, Rubén Amoretti and Vanessa Goikoetxea in the principal roles and the solid musical foundation of the Teatro Real with Scott Dunn on the podium, this universal, inclusive love story is coming to Peralada.

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