Tosca, the legendary opera, whose story is steeped in love, jealousy, lust for power and intrigue and ends in tragedy, will be brought to life on one of Europe’s most impressive open-air stages by Thaddeus Strassberger, director and set designer.
The costumes are once again created by Giuseppe Palella, who together with Strassberger has already enchanted the St Margarethen quarry audience with Turandot in 2021 and Aida in 2024.
The resident orchestra of Austria's Opera in the Quarry is the Piedra Festival Orchestra, made up of Hungarian musicians, and this year’s production will also feature two Hungarian artists, Zoltán Nagyand Adorján Pataki.
In 2021 Strassberger and Palella conjured up the magical world of Asia on stage, followed in 2024 by Egypt; in 2026, with their production of Tosca, they will evoke Rome at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Strassberger explains his directorial concept and the challenges of working in the quarry in a video:
Visually, the production follows the aesthetics of Baroque Rome. The tension between light and darkness, between light and shadow, is mirrored in Palella’s costume designs as well. He talks about the design process in this video.
