June 02, 2017
Riccardo Massi as Don José in Carmen at the 2017 Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival in Taiwan
On June 2 and 4, 2016, Riccardo Massi will sing the role of Don José at the Taiwan KSAF in a Matthew Barclay production of Carmen conducted by Chin-Chin Yang, alongside Kirstin Chávez in the title role.
“Matthew Barclay’s production is as a whole traditional”, says Riccardo Massi about this mise-en-scène. “Set in the early Francoist Spain, it perfectly recreates the atmosphere typical of Bizet’s score. It is a pleasure to work here in Kaohsiung: the production, the orchestra led by Maestro Chin-Chin Yang and the cast headed by Kirstin Chávez create a dynamic and extremely pleasant working environment. Taiwan, like mainland China and Hong-Kong, is relatively new to Western opera and the enthusiasm of the crew as well as the audience is truly contagious!”.
Riccardo Massi has already performed Bizet’s masterpieces in prestigious opera companies such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and will reprise it in September at the Los Angeles Opera.
In addition to this Carmen, Massi’s 2016/2017 season include his role debut as Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Berlin State Opera, his return to the Metropolitan Opera as Radames in Aida, his debut at the New National Theatre Tokyo as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Calaf in Turandot at the Cologne Opera and Manrico in Il trovatore at the Budapest Summer Festival.
Information about Carmen at KSAF: