Stage Direction and Choreography Giorgio Madia
Text adaptation Rasmus Kull and Giorgio Madia (Lyrics: Kulno Süvalep)
Set and Costume Design Domenico Franchi
Light Design Giorgio Madia
Head of Choir Kristi Jagodin

Music Director and Conductor Aleksandr Bražnik

CAST
Silva Varescu: Annely Peebo (Wiener Volksoper) or Karmen Puis
Edwin Roland: Tamar Nugis (Estonian National Opera) or Rasmus Kull,
Boni: Simo Breede or Rasmus Kull
Stasi: Pirjo Jonas or Marta Paklar or Ursula Roomere
Baron Ferencz: Oliver Kuusik or Aare Saal
Prince Leopold: Väino Puura or Märt Jakobson
Fürstin: Katrin Karisma or Merle Jalakas
Soloists, Choir, Ballet Company and Symphony Orchestra of Vanemuine Opera

PREMIERE
22. November 2025
Teater Vanemuine Tartu

DIE CSARDASFÜRSTIN
Notes by Giorgio Madia

There is a certain perfume of a past era that emanates from SILVA or DIE CSARDASFÜRSTIN – the intoxicating scent of a world poised between two ages. One can almost feel the last dance before the lights go out on the glittering Austro-Hungarian Empire, as the cabaret’s laughter mingles with the distant echo of marching boots. Yet beyond its historical fragrance, this operetta speaks timelessly of love, class, and the masks we wear in the name of propriety.
At its heart, DIE CSARDASFÜRSTIN exposes the clash between two worlds: the rigid, class­conscious aristocracy and the vibrant, free-spirited realm of the cabaret. It is a story of social hypocrisy and human desire – of people torn between duty and emotion, convention and freedom. In its melodies and dances resides the longing for authenticity, the courage to live truthfully, and the bittersweet awareness that beauty often blooms just before it fades.

To respect the librettist’s and composer’s intent is, for me, an ethical matter. To resist the easy temptation to over-intellectualize, modernize, or comment upon this work is to understand that a good operetta is already an ironic comment on life. It does not need reinterpretation – it needs interpretation with integrity.
The courage to be „out of time“ is vital. This work was already, in its original context, escapist – a celebration of beauty and desire in defiance of the world’s harshness. Perhaps that is why they remain relevant: because beauty calls people to a higher being. It is one of life’s mysteries that makes it worth living.

I believe that staging operetta today requires sensitivity to its original intent – not to historicize or „update“ it, but to allow its musical and theatrical truth to breathe anew.
I also believe that taking operetta seriously means not being serious and to embrace its contradictions. It is not about solemnity, but about precision in playfulness – an understanding that silliness, irony, and emotional truth can coexist. Comedy, even the most nonsensical, has dignity when executed with craft and heart.
Coming from a German-Austrian operetta environment, I have often encountered the motto: „If I am serious, I will be taken seriously.“ I, however, claim the opposite: only when we dare to be joyfully absurd can we touch the essence of this art form.
In this operetta, Kálmán’s music is the true dramaturgical compass. Music gives life, rhythm, and emotional pulse; it dictates tempo, atmosphere, and truth.

Equally essential is the role of dance as non-verbal dramaturgy. The dance passages that Kálmán composed are not decorative interruptions; they are integral to the storytelling. Cutting them, as sometimes happens, means removing the very heartbeat of the genre. Through dance, the unspoken becomes visible: when words are not enough, then dance. «Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.» (Friedrich Nietzsche)That seamless flow between spoken word, song, and movement is most effectively achieved when one vision unites them. In my case, being both stage director and choreographer, like my inspirational artists like Erik Charell, Bob Fosse, and Jerome Robbins, who understood that narrative rhythm and physical expression must coexist as one, allows me to weave these elements together – creating not separate disciplines, but a single, breathing form.

My staging of DIE CSARDASFÜRSTIN seeks to honor this beauty – to preserve its essence while letting it breathe. Through the unity of music, word, and dance, I hope to evoke not nostalgia, but emotional resonance – something that lingers in the heart long after the curtain has fallen.

 PHOTOS

Stage Direction: Giorgio Madia
Set and Costume Design: Domenico Franchi
Light Design: Giorgio Madia
Directors of Choir: Rafał Wiecha, Agnieszka Lechocińska

Musical Direction: Rafał Janiak

Floria Tosca: Anna Patalong, Sarah Tisba, Małgorzata Trojanowska
Mario Cavaradossi: David Esteban, Dominik Sutowicz
Scarpia: Daniel Mirosław, Krzysztof Szumański
Cesare Angelotti: Rafał Pikała, Michał Romanowski, Robert Ulatowski
Il Sagrestano: Robert Iwankiewicz, Grzegorz Pelutis, Robert Ulatowski
Spoletta: Marcin Ciechowicz, Artur Mleko (

and Soloists, Choir, Childrens‘ Choir and Orchestra of Teatr Wielki Łodz

PREMIERE 4. October 2025
Teatr Wielki Lodz

Giacomo Puccini’s „Tosca“
A Note from the Stage Director

 Giacomo Puccini’s „Tosca“ is often called an opera of passion and power, but for me it is first and foremost an opera of truth. Behind the grandeur of its melodies and the sweep of its drama lies a story of ordinary human beings trapped in extraordinary circumstances: an artist whose ideals collide head-on with tyranny, a woman whose love becomes her strength and her downfall, and a world where beauty, faith, cruelty—and political oppression—coexist on the same stage.

 Tosca’s world may be set in Napoleonic Rome, yet its tensions echo unmistakably today. We, too, know of governments that weaponize fear, of artists silenced for their convictions. When Cavaradossi paints, he is not merely creating beauty—he is asserting freedom. When Tosca bargains with Scarpia, she does so in a world where power corrupts absolutely and truth is a dangerous currency.

 As one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide, „Tosca“ presents every stage director with two challenges: respecting its rich tradition while proving that an old story can still feel urgent. Too often, opera productions are treated as pedestals on which directors elevate themselves by rearranging eras, locations, or even the essence of the characters. My perspective is the opposite: to remain in service of the music and to offer singers the most honest, supportive framework for their art.

 When approaching a production, the libretto tells me what, but the music tells me how the work wishes to be staged. Puccini’s score is infused with political tension: the omnipresent fear of surveillance, the pressure of authoritarian power, and the quiet bravery of resistance. These themes resonate far beyond the Rome of 1800. In this production, I sought to honor the score’s cinematic pulse while revealing the fragile humanity beneath the politics. The settings you will see may feel familiar—echoes of a classical Rome—but look closely: the spaces breathe with suggestion rather than historical exactness. Oversized architectural elements dwarf the human figures, reflecting how oppressive power looms over individual freedom. Every gesture, glance, and silence is shaped to let Puccini’s music expose the soul beneath the surface.

 This production is intentionally my most restrained in spectacle yet rich in intimacy. Much of the work happens in the private choices of the characters, in the quiet acts of resistance or survival that feel as relevant now as they did in 1800. „Tosca“ is not a museum piece: it lives only when its characters breathe, struggle, and love truthfully in their last urgent moments of their lives. And in its shattering finale, (spoiler alert!) there are no winners, there is no easy triumph of good over evil—only the devastating reminder that in oppressive times, even the most heroic acts can end in loss, and yet still illuminate the unbreakable human spirit.

 Giorgio Madia

PHOTOS (c) Joanna Miklaszewska, Walendi Photo

PHOTOS

PARIETE GALA 2025

Concept, Stage Direction & Choreography: Giorgio Madia
A project of VIA Unternehmensverbund and Paritätischem Wohlfahrtsverband Berlin
in cooperation with Anne Ramm Stiftung supported by Aktion Mensch

Under patronage of Sarah Wedl-Wilson (Culture Senator of Berlin) and Katarina Witt

Moderation: Annika Lau, Tan Çağlar, Stefan Linne

With Jade Pearl Baker, Tom Russell Fox, Marlon Falter, Bernarda,  Nicholas McCarthy, Kai Bosch, Ask Kayla, Sofia Cagnetti, Musa Motha, Justin & Florent, Martin Fromme, Alexandra Malter, Mukhamadi Sharifzoda, Breaklin Crew, Kinder Ballett Kompanie Berlin and Big Brass Neuruppin

5. September 2025
Pfefferberg Theater Berlin