Arrigo Boito, librettist
Tim Ribič, assistant director
Cleopatra Purice, choreographer
Wolfgang von Zoubek, set, costume and lighting designer
Matic Kašnik, assistant set designer
Simona Toš, Suzana Rengeo, assistant costume designers

SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra

SNG Maribor Opera Choir
Zsuzsa Budavari Novak, chorus master

Cast:
Otello, the Moor General: Carlos Marcelo Ventre
Desdemona, his wife: Sabina Cvilak
Jago, Iago, Otello’s ensign: Luka Brajnik
Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s servant: Irena Petkova
Cassio, Otello’s captain: Bože Jurić Pešić
Roderigo, Venetian nobleman: Žiga Lakner
Lodovico, Venetian Republic’s ambassador: Luka Ortar
Montano, former governor of Cyprus: Sebastijan Čelofiga
Messenger: Tomaž Planinc
Ballet Ensemble: Vadim Kurgajev, Vasilij Kuzkin, Mircea Golescu, Alexandru Pilca

Otello is an opera in four acts based on Shakespeare’s play Othello, masterfully condensed by librettist Arrigo Boito, who imbued the text with lyrical focus and musical dramaturgy. The opera follows the tragic downfall of Othello, a Moorish general from Cyprus, who is manipulated by the envious Iago into believing that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful to him, which ultimately leads him to murder and suicide. Although some traditional self-contained operatic numbers (such as arias and duets) remain, Verdi gave priority to declamatory melody, atmospheric orchestration and dramatic pacing, resulting in one of the greatest masterpieces of the nineteenth century. In February this year, the work returned to the stage of the SNG Maribor Opera and Ballet after an absence of almost three decades, in a production led by the Swiss director Guy Montavon, who is also the general secretary of the Paris-based European Theatre Directors Association. The SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra will be directed by the Italian conductor Roberto Gianola, music director of the Istanbul Opera and Ballet Theatre, while the SNG Maribor Opera Chorus will be directed by Hungarian chorus master Zsuzsa Budavari Novak. The main roles will be sung by Carlos Marcelo Ventre, the Slovene soprano Sabina Cvilak, who has appeared several times with the legendary Plácido Domingo, and the Slovene baritone Luka Brajnik, who in 2013 received a scholarship from the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation in Bayreuth.

• Otello received its premiere performance at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 5 February 1887. Among the orchestra’s cellists was a young Arturo Toscanini, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated interpreters of Verdi’s music.
• Giuseppe Verdi was also politically active and in 1861 was elected a member of the first Italian parliament after unification.
• Giuseppe Verdi loved Shakespeare, calling him “the great maestro of the human heart”.
• Otello remains one of the most frequently recorded operas.