With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's advocacy of artistic and personal freedom, Hector Berlioz went straight for the grand gesture with his first completed opera. Returning to it years after initial production debacles, Berlioz stated that he would 'never again find such verve and Cellinian impetuosity, nor such a variety of ideas.' The plot revolves around Cellini's wooing of Teresa, a match frustrated at every opportunity by his rival, the cowardly Fieramosca. Benvenuto Cellini is a pithy work combining romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle; the perfect stage for Terry Gilliam's stylishly colorful and larger than life directing.

Cast

John Osborn

Benvenuto Cellini

Michèle Losier

Ascanio

Maurizio Muraro

Giacomo Balducci

Laurent Naouri

Fieramosca

Mark Elder

Conductor

Orlin Anastassov

Le Pape Clément VII

Mariangela Sicilia

Teresa

Nicky Spence

Francesco

Scott Conner

Bernardino

André Morsch

Pompeo

Marcel Beekman

Le Cabaratier