Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, excitingly directed by Staffan Aspegren, with Lars Östbergh’s dramatic staircase design with the famous 58 steps and Annsofi Nyberg’s stylised costumes received a great deal of attention with both critics and audience at the 1996 premiere at the Göteborg Opera.

Magnus Haglund from GP considered it an overwhelmingly beautiful production: ‘The set design is among the most beautiful I have ever seen in an opera house.’ Carl-Gunnar Åhlén from SvD wrote that ‘It takes your breath away after only a couple of seconds’, while Martin Nyström from DN described it as ‘Imagery without parallel in any other Swedish opera house.’

‘This is a genuine crime story, not lacking a single ingredient – treachery, murder, escape, torture, suicide, hatred and love.’ Thus Staffan Aspegren described the work when directing it, stressing the importance of threes in this opera. It is a thrilling eternal triangle in three acts and with three lead roles – Tosca, the singer, Cavaradossi, the painter, and Scarpia, the chief of police; set and costumes are in three colours – black, red and white – and there are three basic elements in the work: art, love and politics.

Conductor:
Director: Staffan Aspegren
Set Design & Lighting: Lars Östbergh
Costumes: Annsofi Nyberg