The show The Seven Deaths of Maria Callas can be seen on March 9, 10 and 11. The idea of this project came to the artist several decades ago, over the years the concept has undergone various modifications. The final version was rehearsed during the pandemic at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where the production took place on September 1, 2020. The Seven Deaths of Maria Callas world premiere. It is a co-production with other major theaters: Paris National Opera, Berlin Deutsche Oper, Greek National Opera in Athens, San Carlo Theater in Naples and Barcelona Grand Theater of the Liceu.
This year will celebrate the centenary of Maria Callas: she was born on December 2, 1923 in New York and died on September 16, 1977 in Paris.
Marina Abramović conceived the project as a tribute to Maria Callas, her myth and the tragedy of her life, but it is just as much a story regarding Marina Abramović herself and her status as a diva in both contemporary art and popular culture. The show combines opera, performance, video art and fashion. The musical dramaturgy consists of fragments from seven operas – Verdi Traviat and OtelloPuccini Toskas and Madama ButterflyBizet Carmen’sDonizetti Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini Standards. Each aria, sung on stage one following the other by seven opera singers, is accompanied by a video in which Marina Abramović acts out various dramatic, deadly scenes with actor Willem Dafoe. The main characters of the mentioned operas die, and Maria Callas was an excellent interpreter of these roles.
Marina Abramović is on stage throughout the performance – she is in bed and listens to the arias with her eyes closed. At the end of the show, Marina Abramovic acts out the death of Maria Callas herself in her luxurious Paris apartments. “This project is very close to my heart. It is a story regarding wounds in the soul, a story regarding a woman who dies because her heart is broken. She dies in the name of love,” emphasizes Marina Abramović.
In the production, not only the opera classics, but also the music of the contemporary Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic, which was created especially for this project, is played. Costumes for the show were created by fashion designer Riccardo Tisci. Marina Abramoviča is the director and scenography author of the production, as well as co-author of the libretto (together with Pēterus Skavlan). Antonio Mendes will take the conductor’s helm in Barcelona. By the way, the theater Grand Theater of the Liceu has recently implemented another project with the participation of an art star – the prominent Catalan sculptor Jaume Plensa has created Verdi on this stage Makbeta direction and scenography.
The biggest event in Marina Abramović’s professional life this year will be her major retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from September 23rd to December 10th.
Information: liceubarcelona.cat