The nose

With a cast of 89 roles - spread among a no less gigantic of 33 singers – and a rhythmical action which is nearly cinematographic, The Nose is a huge challenge for any opera house because of its logistic complexities and an exhilarating “nightmare” for its Stage Director. Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol and premiered in Leningrad in 1930, the work was put out of circulation due to the attacks of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians. The opera was not seen on stage again until 1974, just a year before the composer’s death. The sarcasm -  bordering on  Theatre of the Absurd – of its libretto and  the “ music without musical structure” score,  influenced  by the biomechanics of Meyerhold, sustain a spectacle which is as acid in content as it is wildly modern musically. 

The debut in the Teatro Real of this cult opera arrives with the acclaimed and irreverent production of Australian Barrie Kosky -  who staged the most recent Magic Flute at this theatre -,  who has been a fan of this work since his student years. The staging communicates the grotesque mishaps of a grey and pompously bureaucrat who is the lead character.

Opera in three acts

Music by Dmitri Shostakóvich (1906-1975)

Libretto by Dmitri Shostakóvich, Yevgueni Zamiatin, Gueorgui Ionin and Aleksandr Preis, based on the homonymous by Nikolái Gógol

Premiere at the  Maly Óperny Theater of Lenningrad, 18 January 1930

Premiere at the Teatro Real

New production of the Teatro Real, in collaboration with the Royal Opera House, Komische Oper Berlin and Opera Australia

Artistic team

Musical Conductor | Mark Wigglesworth 

Stage Director | Barrie Kosky 

Stage and Lighting Designer | Klaus Grünberg

Costume Designer | Buki Shiff 

Choreographer | Otto Pichler 

Dramaturg | Ulrich Lenz 

Chorus Director | Andrés Máspero 

Cast 

Platón Kuzmitch Kavalyov | Martin Winkler 

Iván Yákovlevich (barber) / Newspapper office manager / Doctor  | Alexander Teliga

Praskovaia Osipovna (Iván Yákovlevich's wife) / Seller  | Ania Jeruc

Police inspector / Enunch | Andrey Popov

The Nose / Yarishkin / Eunuch | Dmitry Ivanchey

Iván (Kovaliov's assistant) / Deputy Chief of Police / Gentleman / Student / Enunch  | Vasily Efimov

The old countess | Agnes Zwierko

Podtóchina's daughter / Lady at the Cathedral / Travel Agent / Parasite | Iwona Sobotka

Pelageya Grigorievna Podtóchina / Parasite | Margarita Nekrasova

Employee / Watchman / Servant / Policeman / Gentleman / Acquaintance of Kovalyov | Simon Wilding

Footman/ Iván Ivánovich / Student | Milan Perišić

Pyotr Fyodorovich / Honourable Colonel / Student | David Alegret

Employee / Policeman / Gentleman / Son of the respectable lady / Acquaintance of Kovalyov | Gerard Farreras

Employee / Policeman / Speculator / Son of the respectable lady | Ihor Voievodin

Employee / Policeman / Gentleman / Student | Isaac Galán

Employee / Policeman | Luis López Navarro

Policeman / Gentleman / Dandy / Enunch  / Acquaintance of Kovalyov | José Manuel Montero

Employee / Father / Dandy | David Sánchez

Employee / Student | Cristian Díaz

Policeman / Gentleman / Student | Juan Noval-Moro

Policeman / Gentleman / Student | Roger Padullés

Policeman / Old man / Student | Estudiante Josep Fadó

Son / Policeman / Newcomer | David Villegas

Son /  Newcomer | Íñigo Martín

Employee | Néstor Pindado

Mother | Cristina Herreras

Taxi driver | Ígor Tsenkman

Driver | Claudio Malgesini

Solo tenor in the cathedral | Alexander González

Balalaika | James Ellis

Host | Anne Igartiburu

Principal Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real