L'Incoronazione Di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona

Miraculous. This is how L'Incoronazione di Poppea, the historic opera by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, might be described. Miraculous because this work, composed in 1642 in the twilight of the opera master's life, was lost for more than two centuries before two scores were found in Venice and Naples between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Accompanied by a libretto written by Gian Francesco Busello, this opera in a prologue and three acts transports us to the ancient Rome of the vain and despotic Nero. It tells the story of the love affair between Nero and his lover Poppea, whom he wants to crown empress at the expense of his wife Octavia. Ambition, power, love and betrayal intertwine in this work whose timelessness is underlined here by Calixto Bieito's direction and Rebecca Ringst's set design. Gone are the period costumes and antique sets, and now David Hansen (Nero), Julie Fuchs (Poppea), Xavier Sabata (Otto), Nahuel di Piero (Seneca), Magdalena Kozená (Octavia) and Deanna Breiwik (Drusilla) take on a modern role, inviting us to apply questions from another era to our own.