Details

With its stunning visual and musical set pieces such as the Mardi Gras carnival, Berlioz's first completed opera is based on the autobiography of celebrated 16th-century goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. Two entwined plots - Cellini's love for Teresa and his triumphant fulfilment of a commission to cast a bronze statue of Perseus - provide the framework for some of Berlioz's most vibrant, swashbuckling and tender music, against a plot of thwarted love, elopment, intrigue, disguise, mistaken identity, secular merry-making and sacred ceremony. Sung and surtitled in English. Running time: 3hrs 10mins

Cast/Performers

Michael Spyres (Benvenuto Cellini), Corrine Winters (Teresa), Pavlo Hunka (Balcucci), Nicky Spence (Francesco), Paula Mirriny (Ascanio), Willard White (Pope Clement VII), Nicholas Pallesen (Fieramosca), Paula Murrihy, Nicky Spence, David Soar, Morgan Pearse

Creatives/Company

Music: Berlioz
Producer(s): English National Opera, De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Director(s): Terry Gilliam, Leah Hausman (co-director / movement)
Design(s): Rae Smith, Finn Ross (video)
Costume: Katrina Lindsay
Lighting: Paule Constable
Translation: Charles Hart