Renowned Opera Director Vows to Present Stage of Dreams, Fun
By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
For famed opera director Pier Luigi Pizzi, theaters are where he hopes people see their dreams and have fun.
``Encountering culture is not for studying but for giving full play to imagination and having a good time,'' Pizzi said in a press conference at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul, Tuesday, for the Handel opera ``Rinaldo.''
``The performing arts must make lives beautiful and enrich people's minds. Baroque operas especially evoke people's imagination.''
The 76-year-old veteran director will be in charge of the Baroque piece production at Seoul Arts Center as general director. Costumes, stage settings and decor, which Pizzi designed for the 2005 version of his ``Rinaldo'' at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, will wow audiences from May 12-17.
It will be the first time ``Rinaldo,'' whose libretto was written by Giacomo Rossi based on Torquato Tasso's ``Jerusalem Delivered,'' will be staged in Korea. The piece tells of a mythical story related to the crusades, revolving around Rinaldo, a hero of the crusades, his fiance Almirena and the enchantress Armida. Armida holds Rinaldo under her spell in a magical palace, where conflict between the characters begins.
During the conference, DVD clips from his previous productions, ``La Traviata,'' ``Thais'' and ``Rinaldo'' were played. After the screening, Pizzi expressed a feeling of lack, saying ``Whenever I see my work on the small screen I get disappointed. Dreams are realized when the curtains are raised in the theater.''
Pizzi has over the past five decades directed more than 500 productions at major opera houses worldwide, including the Met in New York, and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, a French civilian honor.
The architect-turned director's ``Rinaldo'' presented a whole new way of directing and broke the formality previously known for Baroque operas.
In ``Rinaldo,'' surrounded by spectacular stage props such as a huge ship and horse statues, singers focus mainly on singing rather than acting while helpers in black bodysuits move them in carts or dummy horses. The helpers also shake the huge capes of singers. Lighting is symbolic _ blue for Christians and red for Saracens.
Although his work has never been performed locally, his name is familiar to Koreans as he worked with Korean maestro Chung Myung-whun to open the rebuilt Opera Bastille in Paris with a production of ``Les Troyens'' in 1990.
``I have huge expectations about the production in Korea and believe that Koreans do too. I will try hard not to disappoint both yours and mine,'' Pizzi said. ``I hope there will be more cultural exchange between Korea and Italy.''
Pizzi and the Korea Opera Group plan to stage two operas each year until 2009, along with gala concerts. ``Rinaldo'' will signal the opening of the project while his Madrid Theatro version of the Verdi opera ``La Traviata'' will be staged at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in November.
Tickets for ``Rinaldo'' cost 30,000-330,000 won. For more information, call (02) 587-1950/2.