Event

Opera Film: Berlioz's BENVENUTO CELLINI

Directed by Terry Gilliam

English National Opera

Tickets are $20

Following 2011's sell-out The Damnation of Faust, director Terry Gilliam and ENO Music Director Edward Gardner reunite to forge this remarkable new production of Berlioz's rarely-performed Benvenuto Cellini.

Gilliam's inexhaustible imagination is unleashed on the outrageous autobiography of celebrated 16-century goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. It's a tale of thwarted love, elopement, intrigue, disguise, and mistaken identity, which also features dazzling visual set pieces including a wild Mardi Gras carnival.

Two entwined plots Cellini's love for Teresa and his triumphant fulfilment of a commission to cast a bronze statue of Perseus provide the framework for some of Berlioz's most vibrant, swashbuckling and tender music, thrillingly conducted by Edward Gardner. The stellar cast is led by rising tenor Michael Spyres in the title role, with the stunning soprano Corinne Winters (who performed Violetta in last year's acclaimed La traviata) as Cellini's lover, Teresa. ENO favourite Willard White returns to the company to add Pope Clement VII to his already extensive list of roles.

Sung and surtitled in English | Running time: 3hrs 10mins (including 1 interval)