The directors of Boxopera have decided to take on Guiseppe Verdi’s ‘Othello’ as their next project. Because of Boxopera’s philosophy, only the three main characters will be sung, those being Othello, Desdemona and Jago - with this, crystallising the conflicts of the play and bringing the character’s relationships to the foreground.

At the core of the drama lies the libretto - written by none other than William Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare’s text will be read and performed aloud in interludes by a professional actor. As there will be no chorus, this will act as the story’s thread, and will guide the psychological development of the characters. However, for the actor, it is not a simple case of narration: this performer will share the role of Othello with the singer, emphasizing quite literally the dual conflict of his personality, his inner torment and the choice he must ultimately make  between right and wrong, between forgiveness and hatred… and murder.

The time in which Verdi composed ‘Othello’ (1887), it was becoming less and less the norm to write on opera consisting only of arias and recitative scenes. We believe it may have been the contemporaries of Verdi that influenced this change in compositional style, such as Richard Wagner - who strived to create the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, seeking to create the ever moving flow of an emotional composition.

It is perhaps because of this that Verdi’s ‘Othello’ is, in the musical world, so loved. Yet the opera requires a great command of vocal technique, with the singers being pushed to their limits with emotionally loaded performances.  

The preliminary premier date is September 2019.