Camille Claudel by Gianmaria Griglio
“Camille Claudel” is a new world premiere Italian opera by International Opera Theater (IOT) to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The opera traces the key moments in the life of Camille Claudel, the brilliant French sculptor who lived between the XIX and XX century. Born in a small town in northern France, Camille, at an early age, showed quite an unusual precocity for sculpture. After moving to Paris with her family, Camille was taken as a pupil by the great sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Their relationship was soon transformed into a passionate love affair, despite the fact that Rodin was more than twenty years older and was living with Rose Beuret, with whom he had a son. The relationship between Rodin and Camille suffered many setbacks, mainly due to her lack of success as an artist, always in the shadow of Rodin. Worn out from fifteen years of a stormy relationship and convinced that Rodin copied her work, Camille tried to destroy all of her own sculptures. Hospitalized in an asylum in 1913 – at the behest of her mother and her brother, Paul, a diplomat by profession – she remained there until her death in 1943.
The opera was proceeded by a press conference at the University of Pavia in June. The world premiere took place in Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Città della Pieve, in August 2013 and subsequently traveled to Pavia for inclusions in two festivals: Echoes Festival and Festival dei Borghi e Valle.
The libretto for “Camille Claudel” was written by Eleonora Gai and Gianmaria Griglio. The music is composed by Gianmaria Griglio.
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Artistic Director & Stage Director – Karen Saillant (USA)
Conductor – Gianmaria Griglio (Italy)
Sets and Costumes – Mi-Kyoung Lee (South Korea)
Lighting designer – Christian Bygott (USA)
Photographer – Ornella Tiberi – (Italy)
Cast:
Camille Claudel (young) – Violetta Lazin (Serbia)
Camille Claudel (old) – Natalie Burdeny (Canada)
Auguste Rodin – Manuel Gorka (Mexico)
Rose Beuret – Michaela Magoga (Italy)
Paul Claudel – Kim Dn (South Korea)
Orchestra:
Elizabeth Marr (Scotland)
Jasma Pelagic (Serbia)
Lara Vercher (Spain)
Juan Antonio Pero’ (Spain)
Anna Livia Walker (Italy)
Carmine Aufiero (USA)
Oliver Pooley (England)
Duncan Anderson (England)
Ulrike Brand (Germany)
Producer: Marco Bertozzi, ProLoco, Citta’ della Pieve
Poster Design Francesca Tiriboco of Studio 54
Publicity: Pierfrancesco Goga of Studio 54
IOT wishes to thank The Comune of Citta’ della Pieve, Maria Luisa Meo, Head of Culture of Citta’ della Pieve, Valerio Bitarello, Culture Operator and Marco Possieri, without whose support and belief in our work, these 10 years would never have been possible. We would also like to thank the hundreds of other artists, friends, volunteers, interns and supporters from Italy, Philadelphia and throughout the world whose hard work and dedication have made 10 world premiere operas in 10 years.
A special thank you to The Mayor of Citta’ della Pieve, Riccardo Manganello, for his continued support.