Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa, librettists

Tim Ribič, assistant director
Matic Kašnik, set designer
Luca dall’Alpi, costume designer
Sašo Bekafigo, lighting designer
Robert Mraček, Sofia Ticchi, Anna Fernández Torres, répétiteurs
Sabina Alatič, prompter
Iztok Smeh, Matjaž Marin, stage managers

SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra

SNG Maribor Opera Choir
Zsuzsa Budavari Novak, chorus master

SNG Maribor Ballet Ensemble

Cast:
Floria Tosca: Rebeka Lokar
Mario Cavaradossi, painter: Jonathan Tetelman
Barone Scarpia, chief of police: Željko Lučić
Cesare Angelotti: Valentin Pivovarov
Sacristan: Sebastijan Čelofiga
Spoletta, police agent: Dušan Topolovec
Sciarrone: Tomaž Planinc
Jailer: Mihael Roškar
Little Shepherd: Rene Vujinić Cvilak

In 1899 Giacomo Puccini composed his fifth opera based on a French literary source, in this case the play La Tosca  by Victorien Sardou, a historical piece set in the time of the Napoleonic wars. Puccini’s grandiose orchestral language saw him reach a new pinnacle of artistic expression. This staging of Tosca  is directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini, who has staged more than 100 works for the Japan Opera Foundation in Tokyo. The orchestra will be conducted by Gianluca Martinenghi, whose past engagements include operas at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo and the SNG Maribor Opera. The cast of this production by the SNG Maribor Opera includes the tenor Dušan Topolovec, the baritone Sebastijan Čelofiga and the bass Valentin Pivovarov. The main roles will be sung by the soprano Rebeka Lokar, who after studying in her native Maribor perfected her singing technique with the Italian baritone Mauro Augustini and then debuted as Clotilde in Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma  with the SNG Maribor Opera in 2005; the American tenor Jonathan Tetelman, who will come to the Ljubljana performance from New York and is renowned for his dark-coloured timbre, who stunned the audience at last year’s festival in a concert with the baritone Ludovic Tézier; and the Serbian baritone Željko Lučić, who trained with the world-famous mezzo-soprano Biserka Cvejić and has appeared in leading roles in numerous operas by Giuseppe Verdi.

• Puccini’s fame meant that the 1899 premiere in Rome had the status of a state occasion; among the audience were Queen Margherita of Italy and the Italian prime minister Luigi Pelloux
• Tosca  is the fifth most performed opera in the world, the eponymous heroine is the only female character in the opera
• Puccini considered removing Tosca’s aria Vissi d’arte  from the opera, since he felt it interrupted the dramatic tension; today it is one of the most celebrated soprano arias in the operatic canon
• The 2023–24 season has seen Jonathan Tetelman make his Metropolitan Opera debut as Ruggero in La Rondine  (alongside Emily Pogorelc, a rising American soprano of Slovene descent) and as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly
• Rebeka Lokar began her career singing mezzo-soprano roles but in 2010 changed to a repertoire more suitable for her voice and began appearing in soprano roles such as Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana),  Abigaille (Nabucco),  Amneris (Aida),  Amelia (Un ballo in maschera)  and Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly)
• Željko Lučić won first prize at the 1997 edition of the Francesc Viñas International Singing Competition