Otello: Opera Bilbao

About the Event

Seize this opportunity at the beautiful Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao to experience the breathtaking opear performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello.
The season ends in May with a real explosion of musical and theatrical tension, Verdi’s Otello. It is an essential title, his penultimate opera, whose musical strength, captivating and unceasing, pervades it from the first beat.

In this tragic and immortal story, love, jealousy, racism, ambition, manipulation and deceit intertwine in the penultimate title of the Verdian repertoire, based on William Shakespeare’s homonymous drama, which is a great tribute to the most universal English writer.

To play the protagonists of this lyrical drama, whose three leading roles are amongst Verdi’s most demanding, both musically and dramatically speaking, ABAO has brought together a cast headed by the tenor Jorge de León, who returns to Bilbao to play the role of Otello and sing the powerful “Esultate”, one of the most famous and committed tenor openings of the operatic world. With him, the great Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho playing the role of Desdemona, the victim of the tragedy, who embodies the virtues of true love, faith and compassion. The leading trio is completed with a Verdian baritone of reference, Claudio Sgura, who plays Jago and his schemes.

The musical part has been entrusted to the Italian conductor Francesco Ivan Ciampa, who leads the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa to make the most of this score that marks the peak in the evolution of the genius from Busseto.

On stage, an ABAO Bilbao Opera production, devised by Ignacio Garcia and premiered in 2015. A carefully designed, sober and elegant set with superb haute couture costumes, full of colour and sumptuous details, by the amazing designer Lorenzo Caprile.