Opera Project

Following their spectacularly successful production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly in 2014, Opera Project return to Tobacco Factory Theatres this autumn for our co-production of another intensely dramatic and riveting masterpiece from Puccini – Tosca.

Set in 1800, the piece depicts the final hours of three of the most highly charged characters in all opera – Baron Scarpia (the ruthless and corrupt chief of the Roman police) the painter Mario Cavaradossi and his lover, the celebrated singer Floria Tosca. Rarely does opera lay witness to the demise of all of its major protagonists, but in Tosca we have it all – love, jealousy, lust, despair, torture and murder impregnate the story, from the opening escape of the political prisoner Cesare Angelotti to Scarpia’s final posthumous act of betrayal.

Theatrically gripping from start to finish, the score is perhaps Puccini’s most lavish, containing two of his most famous arias – Tosca’s ‘Vissi d’arte’ and the brilliant tenor aria ‘E lucevan le stelle’.

Opera Project’s top-drawer cast includes Kate Valentine as Tosca, Robyn Lyn Evans as Cavaradossi and the internationally renowned baritone Nicholas Folwell as Scarpia, all three singers making their role debuts.