TOSCA | Bühnen Bern

Two days after La traviata, I was back at the same opera house in Bern for Tosca, a production I had already seen two years ago and which has now returned for a revival. And honestly, seeing La traviata and Tosca in the same week is a little bit like watching Terminator 2 and Back to the Future in the same week: two absolute classics, two completely different worlds, and two evenings of seriously great entertainment. Add a cast like this one, together with an orchestra and conductor operating at thislevel, and there was very little not to love about coming back to Bern.

Seth Carico – Scarpia

I have to start with Seth Carico, because I already loved his Scarpia when I saw this production two years ago, and one of the mainreasons I was so happy to come back was simply the opportunity to see him do it again. I know this may sound completely bizarre, and probably not everyone will agree with me, but there are moments in this production when Seth Carico reminds me of an Americantelevision host from the 1970s or 1980s, a very polished television personality with a million little mannerisms, and I absolutely LOVE that. Normally, Scarpia can be played as this huge, immovable monster who simply stands there, sings, barely moves and letsthe character’s authority speak entirely for itself, whereas Carico does almost the opposite: he is constantly moving, constantly playing with his body and his face, and filling the character with all these tiny gestures, strange mannerisms and unpredictable reactions. At times, he almost looks like some spoiled rich kid with serious psychological problems, apart from his rather intense desire to get Tosca into bed, and somehow that makes him even more disturbing.

There is something wonderfully unpredictable about his interpretation because you never quite know what he is going to do next. Hedoesn’t simply walk on stage looking evil and remain evil for two hours; he creates the feeling that there is something slightly wrong with him, something unstable underneath the polished exterior, and that makes watching him genuinely fascinating. He is horrible,manipulative and deeply unpleasant, but also incredibly entertaining to watch, and I think that is one of the great strengths of his Scarpia. I love actors and singers who give you something to look at even when they are not singing, and Carico is constantlydoing something.

And I have just discovered that he will be singing Iago in Verdi’s Otello at the Opéra de Lille in May and June 2027. Needless to say, I will be there. Otello is my favourite opera, so Seth, see you very soon in Lille. 😉

Olga Busuioc – Tosca

I was also particularly happy to see Olga Busuioc again. I had seen her only once before, almost exactly a year ago in Prague, whereshe sang Desdemona alongside my friend Denis as Otello, and I absolutely loved her in that role, so I was very curious to hear her now in a much bigger and considerably more demanding role such as Tosca. She completely delivered, with a beautiful voice, astrong stage presence and wonderfully clear high notes, but what I particularly enjoyed was the relationship she created with Scarpia. There was something genuinely electric between the two of them, and I thought some of her strongest moments came from thosescenes, where the tension between attraction, fear, anger and resistance becomes almost physical.

And then came the end, which was absolutely insane. Those last thirty seconds were so powerful and so intense that my ears were stillringing afterwards, and this was exactly the kind of Tosca ending I want to experience: completely committed, completely physical and completely overwhelming. There was no holding back, and the sheer force of those final moments stayed with me longafter the curtain came down. Bravo.

Joseph Dahdah – Cavaradossi

Joseph Dahdah was singing Cavaradossi, and this performance was particularly interesting because it marked a new role for him. Hehad already sung at the first performance of this revival a few days earlier, but this is still a new territory for him, and honestly, I think the role suits him very well. After singing Don José more than 25 times across Italy last year, he has now movedinto Puccini and into an entirely different kind of Italian tenor territory, and I thought he made a very convincing transition.

His “Vittoria!” in Act II was particularly powerful. Absolutely huge. The orchestra was going full force behind him and he answered with exactly the kind of energy that moment demands, producing the sort of outburst that makes you understand immediatelywhy Tosca can be such a thrilling experience when everything comes together. I was a little less convinced by the staging around “E lucevan le stelle”, however, because the production does not really give Cavaradossi the visual focus you might expect for such an iconic moment. He is placed on the stairs and, if you happen to be sitting on the right-hand side of the theatre, heis partly hidden, which is a shame because this is obviously one of those moments when you want to be able to watch the singer as closely as possible. But that is a staging choice, not his fault, and vocally he did a huge amount of work throughout the evening.For a first Cavaradossi, I thought this was a very successful performance and one that gives him plenty of room to develop the role further.

William Meinert & Christian Valle

There were also two more familiar faces from my La traviata two nights earlier: William Meinert as Angelotti and Christian Valle as the Sacristan, and once again, these two were excellent. I have already said how much I enjoyed them in La traviata, so I will spare you the entire speech this time, but honestly, they both have the qualities of singers who could easily be carrying much bigger roles. William Meinert has such a strong natural stage presence that you immediately notice himwhenever he appears, while Christian Valle has one of those voices that makes you instinctively want to hear more of it. They both bring something very natural and very convincing to even their smaller parts, and I really hope we get to see them in largerroles very soon. Give these guys bigger roles, please.

Carlo Goldstein & the orchestra

And then there was Carlo Goldstein. Wow. This was exactly how I want Tosca to sound: powerful, tense, dramatic and sometimes almost brutally fast, but always completely alive. The orchestra was incredibly responsive and seemed to be playing with the singers rather than simply accompanying them, which made a huge differenceto the dramatic impact of the evening. There was a real sense of danger in the music, and that is exactly what I want from Tosca. Puccini needs to breathe, of course, but he also needs electricity, and there was plenty of it here.

The orchestra was playing at a seriously high level, and Goldstein pushed them hard without ever losing sight of the singers or the dramatic shape of the score. The result was one of those performances where you can actually feel the orchestra becoming partof the drama rather than simply sitting underneath it, reacting to what is happening on stage and helping to create the atmosphere around the characters. There were moments when the music felt almost physical, and for me, that is when Tosca really comes alive.

Back to Bern

So, another fantastic evening in Bern, and after La traviata and Tosca, I am even more convinced that there is something really exciting happening at this theatre. With Don Giovanni coming up, followed by Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, there is honestly a lot to look forward to, and I really think people should come and discover this place for themselves. The Stadttheater is beautiful, with that smallItalian-style theatre atmosphere that I love so much, a real sense of intimacy between the audience and the stage, and ticket prices that remain very reasonable. It is the kind of theatre where you sit down and immediately feel that you are actually in the theatre rather than simply watching something happen on a stage, and that feeling is becoming increasingly precious.

I will definitely be back soon, first for Don Giovanni, and then for Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci. So, once again, thank you, Bern, for another brilliant evening. Keep doing this, because there is some seriously good opera happening here, and if you have never been to BühnenBern before, take a train, buy a ticket and come and see for yourself. I have a feeling I will be making that journey quite a few more times.