The Stage Director, Rafael R. Villalobos presents a stage project that explores the boundaries between opera, performance and artistic installation on 29 April and 1, 2 and 4 May 2027 at the Teatro Real.
Far from being a conventional narrative, it is structured as an aesthetic reflection on beauty, desire and identity, with clear resonances of Oscar Wilde's train of thought. Villalobos builds a highly sophisticated visual universe on Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35 and Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22, by Benjamin Britten, with music by Britten himself, Henry Purcell and John Dowland.
The performance is based on a fragmented, suggestive and highly symbolic show, in which the body, light and the stage space are used as narrative elements. Rather than telling a linear story, the show presents a sensory experience that invites the audience to question the relationship between appearance and truth, one of the central themes of aestheticism. The piece is part of a movement to revitalise European opera, seeking to revisit the genre from a modern perspective, blurring the boundaries between disciplines and bringing opera closer to new artistic languages.
Born in Seville in 1987, Rafael R. Villalobos is a Spanish stage director specialised in opera, who is well known for his innovative opera productions with a strong aesthetic influence. He graduated from the Cristóbal de Morales Conservatory in Seville, where he studied singing and harmony, combining it with his Architecture studies at the University School of Architecture in Seville. He went on to graduate from the Royal Higher College of Performing Arts in Madrid.
His work is characterised by the conceptual reinterpretation of classic titles and by the creation of shows that combine music, theatre and image with a contemporary approach. In 2013, he won the 7th Edition of the European Opera-Directing Prize and is the youngest person ever to do so and he won the Princess of Girona Foundation Award for Arts and Literature Award in 2019.
Artistic File:
- Stage Director, Stage Design, Wardrobe, Lighting and Playwright - Rafael R. Villalobos
Cast:
- Tenor - Mark Milhofer
- Piano - Manuel Navarro and Gonzalo Villarruel
- Actor - Luis Alberto Domínguez
Programme:
- Dramatic piece on Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35 and Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22, by Benjamin Britten
- Music by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Henry Purcell (1659-1695), John Dowland (1563-1626)
- Libretto by Rafael R. Villalobos
- New production by Teatro Real and Teatro de La Abadía, coming from Espacio Turina (Seville)
Approximate Duration: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Recommended Age: Over the age of 8
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