Tosca, Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House opens its season with a magnificent new production of Tosca that is as thrilling as it is harrowing. Puccini’s opera, first performed in 1900, is a tightly-wound tale of love, tyranny, and sacrifice set in politically charged Rome. Director Oliver Mears breathes new life into the piece with a staging that feels urgent, cinematic, and chillingly timeless.

From the first moments, Simon Lima Holdsworth’s design places us in a world on the brink of collapse. The church in Act I is visibly crumbling, its walls cracked from conflict, its Madonna statue gazing skyward as choirboys flinch beneath falling rubble. By Act II, we’re in Scarpia’s cold, CCTV-monitored office, a sterile chamber of power where violence is conducted with terrifying efficiency. And in Act III, a grim execution room becomes the opera’s bleakest setting. Victims are processed, stripped, dispatched and swept away as the machinery of death grinds on. It’s staging that doesn’t flinch, and the effect is unforgettable.

At the centre of it all is Anna Netrebko, delivering a masterclass as Floria Tosca. Her voice, rich and commanding, moves from coquettish warmth to raw fury with seamless emotional clarity. “Vissi d’arte” is exquisitely poised, full of aching restraint and heartbreaking resolve. Netrebko brings both vulnerability and authority to Tosca, never overplaying the part, yet dominating every scene with ease. Her performance is a reminder of what opera can do when voice, character, and music are in perfect alignment.

Freddie De Tommaso makes a deeply sympathetic Cavaradossi. His tenor is clear and powerful, and he grows in dramatic conviction as the evening progresses. The final duet is a moment of soaring beauty, full of hope just before it is shattered. Gerald Finley is an insidious Scarpia, his menace all the more disturbing for being understated. His scenes with Netrebko are tense and layered, his presence sinister yet eerily composed.

Jakub Hrůša’s conducting is simply superb. Leading his first new production as music director, he crafts a reading that is paced to perfection, fluid, focused, and alive to every detail in Puccini’s lush, emotional score. The orchestra responds with brilliance, giving the drama both grandeur and intimacy.

This Tosca is a triumph. Visually arresting, musically ravishing, and dramatically devastating. A truly exceptional production.

Image credit: Royal Opera House, Marc Brenner.