Vittorio Grigòlo and Leonardo Capalbo share the title role and lead an excellent cast including Thomas Hampson, Sonya Yoncheva, Christine Rice and Sofia Fomina in Offenbach’s fantastical operatic drama The Tales of Hoffmann.
The great storyteller Hoffmann is losing himself to drink. His rival in love, Councillor Lindorf, claims that Hoffmann knows nothing of the heart, and so goads Hoffmann into telling the tales of his three great loves – each destroyed by a villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lindorf…
Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (which translates as 'The Tales of Hoffmann') is the most enduring ‘serious’ opera from a composer otherwise better known for his sparkling operettas. It’s not hard to see why: Offenbach’s witty and highly melodious music finds the perfect vehicle in the Romantic, richly imaginative world of the storyteller E.T.A. Hoffmann. Offenbach adapted Jules Barbier and Michel Carré’s play, in which Hoffmann is cast as the deeply flawed teller of his own tales. The composer’s death shortly before the opera’s completion has resulted in a number of alternative versions – but this multiplicity has done nothing to dull the irresistible appeal of an opera in which music and story come together in a deeply satisfying whole.
The Royal Opera’s production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann was created in 1980 by the award-winning director John Schlesinger, best known for his work in film (Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday) and television (Cold Comfort Farm, An Englishman Abroad). Schlesinger’s production sets Hoffman’s tales in the late 19th century, the time in which Offenbach wrote his opera. William Dudley’s magnificent set designs and Maria Björnson’s sumptuous costumes realize to brilliant effect the extravagant flourishes of Hoffmann’s imaginative world.
At the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden from 7 November to 3 December 2016, book your Les Contes d'Hoffmann tickets today!
*Please note: Sung in French with English surtitles.