Approximate timings
Approximate total running time:
3 hours 15 minutes
Conductor
Cast for this performance
Floria Tosca
Mario Cavaradossi
Baron Scarpia
Spoletta
Cesare Angelotti
Sacristan
Guidance
Suitable for ages 14+. This production contains depiction of execution.
This production contains depictions of executions, violence, blood, gore, murder, sexual assault, implied torture and suicide. There are gunshots in Act III with blank shots fired. These can be loud.
Language
Sung in Italian with English surtitles, which are displayed on screens above the stage and around the auditorium.
Generous support from
Exceptional philanthropic support from
Royal Ballet and Opera Principal The Julia Rausing Trust
The Youth Opera Company is generously supported by
Yvonne and Bjarne Rieber
Synopsis
The story of Tosca
Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. But when Cavaradossi helps an escaped prisoner, the lovers make a deadly enemy in the form of Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police. At the mercy of Scarpia’s twisted desires, Tosca is forced to make a horrific bargain: sleeping with the man she hates, in order to save the man she loves. Can she find a way out?
Read the full synopsis
Creatives
The artists and creatives behind the production
Composer
Libretto
Director
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Movement Director
Discover
Oliver Mears’ acclaimed production sets Puccini’s operatic thriller in a contemporary, war-torn Rome, with spectacular designs by Simon Lima Holdsworth. Costume designs by Ilona Karas bring glamour and modernity to this gripping tale of love and betrayal.
The composer’s journey: from Sardou’s play to Puccini’s opera
The inspiration
From the early 1890s Giacomo Puccini had toyed with adapting French playwright Victorien Sardou’s gripping melodrama La Tosca into an opera, but only began serious work following the premiere of the critically acclaimed La bohème in 1896. Employing La bohème’s gifted librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica to streamline Sardou’s complicated plot, Puccini’s Tosca premiered in 1900. With the city gripped by political unrest, fears of violence plagued the premiere at Rome’s Teatro Costanzi. However, Tosca opened without incident, and although unpopular with critics who disliked its violence, it became an immediate success with the public and has remained a favourite ever since.
Character-painting through music
The music
Puccini’s music plunges the audience straight into the action, and the pace doesn’t let up. Featuring the heroine’s sublime prayer to art, ‘Vissi d’arte’ (I lived for art), and Cavaradossi’s lament, ‘E lucevan le stelle’ (And the stars were shining), his poignant lament, Tosca is an icon of the opera repertoire. Puccini portrays the idealism of Tosca and her lover Cavaradossi through radiant, expansive music, including Act I’s duet ’Qual’occhio al mondo’ (What eyes of this world) and Cavaradossi’s ardent aria ’Recondita armonia’ (Hidden harmony). Scarpia’s music, by contrast, is dark and terrifying – from the demonic chords that open the opera to the violence of his Act II exchanges with Tosca.
To find out more about Tosca, including key plot points and background information: read our Opera Essentials: Tosca.
Introduction: The Making of Tosca
Gallery
Reviews
Accessibility and resources
There is lift access and there are step-free routes to over 100 seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony and Amphitheatre. Some seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony, Amphitheatre and the Donald Gordon Grand Tier are accessed by 9 steps or fewer. There are 10 steps or more to access seats in the Orchestra Stalls.
You can use the assistive listening systems in our auditoriums. Surtitles, captions and translations in English are displayed on screens above the stage and around the auditorium.
Join our Access Scheme for priority access to tickets and to inform us of your access requirements.
See our Accessibility page for more information or view a visitors guide (PDF, 12.0 MB).
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