Love Hurts, an opera by Italian composer Nicola Moro, premieres in Milan, going on stage at the Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato on the 25th of June. Based on a libretto by Lisa Hilton and conducted by James Ross, Love Hurts is a project of the association SoloCanto, in cooperation with the Centre for Contemporary Opera (CCO) of New York.
Love Hurts is an unreleased international opera, a project of contemporary opera targeted at young opera singers. The conductor and librettist are from Great Britain, the composer is Italian and the singers come from all over the world.
The opera is the outcome of workshops that take place for 2 weeks, from the 13th to the 25th of June. Organised by the association SoloCanto, the workshops are aimed at young professional singers coming from all over the world. The young singers, selected through auditions, worked in the first week with Laura Catrana, internationally known soprano specialised in contemporary opera, and in the second week will work with conductor James Ross.They also work on scenic art with Federica Santambrogio, director trained at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala of Milan. Pilar Bravo is assistant director.
We would like this to be the first of a series of many workshops and presentations of unreleased operas. We have taken inspiration from the Center for Contemporary Opera of New York with which we cooperate, that spreads the passion for contemporary opera in the United States.
Love Hurts is sponsored by the Council of Milan and Expo in città with the support of Unicredit.
The crowdfunding campaign on Eppela, launched by the association SoloCanto in order to cover all the costs of the workshop and opera, ended successfully. “By supporting the project you contribute to making our city more contemporary, artistic and musical”, says director Federica Santambrogio.
The plot
The opera is set in the mental asylum of Charenton, in France, where Marquis de Sade was incarcerated from 1803 until his death, in 1814, and where he was given the opportunity to perform theatre shows featuring the mentally ill as actors. Love Hurts imagines Marquis de Sade performing the trial to Gilles de Rais, known as Bluebeard, in the mental asylum. The opera explores the relationship between Marquis de Sade, who was incarcerated and locked up in a mental asylum for what he wrote, not for what he did, and Gilles de Rais, who was a savage murderer.
Musically there is a wonderful mixture of influences and ideas which come into this opera
Who is behind the project
Laboratorio Opera of the Association SoloCanto, born form the meeting between director Federica Santambrogio and Pilar Bravo, conductor and choirmaster, is the first organisation in Milan investing in contemporary opera training and organising workshops for children and young people, who play, sing and perform the operas. Laboratorio Opera is in contact with the Center for Contemporary Opera of New York that this year has recommended the opera Love Hurts for Laboratorio Opera/young professionals.
