Tosca

With the sadistic police chief Scarpia, Giacomo Puccini enriched opera literature with one of its most sinister characters: the painter Cavaradossi falls into the clutches of this ruthless despot when he hides the political refugee Angelotti. But for Scarpia, Cavaradossi is merely bait, through which he finally intends to subdue the painter's lover, the celebrated singer Tosca. She lives solely for her art and realises too late the full extent of Scarpia's treacherous game of cat and mouse, which threatens her lover's life. Puccini’s “Tosca” weaves political tyranny, passionate love and the struggle for freedom into a gripping operatic thriller in a unique and deeply moving musical manner, leaving both its characters and the audience barely a moment to breathe until the fatal finale in Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo.