On September 13, 2017 Irina Lungu will inaugurate the 2017/2018 season of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Corinna in a Emilio Sagi production of Il viaggio a Reims conducted by Maestro Giacomo Sagripanti. In addition to Ms. Lungu, at her role debut, the large cast includes Maite Beaumont (Marchesa Melibea), Sabina Puértolas (Contessa di Folleville), Ruth Iniesta (Madama Cortese), Taylor Stayton (Cavaliere Belfiore), Lawrence Brownlee (Conte di Libenskof), Roberto Tagliavini (Lord Sydney), Pietro Spagnoli (Don Profondo), Carlos Chausson (Barone di Trombonok), Tamara Gura (Modestina) and Manel Esteve (Don Alvaro). This will be the first of a series of five performances running through September 20, 2017.

“To sing Corinna is a huge responsibility”, states Irina Lungu. “It was written for a soprano assoluto gifted with a very wide range, and requiring agility, legatos, pianissimos… Everything! And what’s more her arias are accompanied only by a harp, not by the orchestra.”

After this Viaggio a Reims in Barcelona, Irina Lungu’s engagements in 2017/2018 include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera and at the Estates Theatre Prague conducted by Plácido Domingo, Violetta in La traviata at the New National Theatre Tokyo, and the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, her first outing as Manon in Massenet’s Manon at the ABAO Bilbao and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Norske Opera Oslo.

Information about Il viaggio a Reims at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona:

Corinna: Irina Lungu / Adriana González; Marchesa Melibea: Maite Beaumont / Marina Viotti; Contessa di Folleville: Sabina Puértolas / Leonor Bonilla; Madama Cortese: Ruth Iniesta / Marigona Qerkezi; Cavaliere Belfiore: Taylor Stayton / Juan de Dios Mateos; Conte di Libenskof: Lawrence Brownlee; Levy Sekgapane; Lord Sydney: Roberto Tagliavini / Baurzhan Anderzhanov; Don Profondo: Pietro Spagnoli / Pedro Quiralte; Barone di Trombonok: Carlos Chausson / Vincenzo Nizzardo; Don Alvaro: Manel Esteve / Gurgen Baveyan; Don Prudenzio: Alessandro Cacciamani; Don Luigino: Jorge Franco; Delia: Paula Sánchez-Valverde; Maddalena: Marzia Marzo; Modestina: Tamara Gura; Zefirino/Gelsomino: Beñat Egiarte; Antonio: Carles Pachón

Giacomo Sagripanti (conductor); Emilio Sagi (stage director)

Performances: September, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 2017

http://www.liceubarcelona.cat/en/temporada-201718/opera/il-viaggio-reims

[Photo © Antoni Bofill]