stefano poda - The scenographer

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STEFANO PODA
THE TRUTH IN ART
NABUCCO by Giuseppe Verdi.
Director & Scenic Design
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STEFANO PODA
OR THE TRUTH IN ART
by Jaume Radigales
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©2016 The Scenographer.
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography
and lighting design by Stefano Poda. TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
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LE D LI G H T BOX
STEFANO
T
PODA
true artist is measured in terms of
development, rather than by immediate success.
And the work of art, this something that is
unrealizable in its entirety, originates from a creative
humus, rather like Michelangelo’s sculptures that
materialize, appearing to emerge from a block of
marble, it germinates from an idea and from its
conceptualization, yet apparently lacks form or is
wholly recognizable in its organic state.
The term "art" derives from the Latin "ars", taken
from the Greek word "tekné", which refers to the
capability to transform an idea into an object, be it
material or otherwise.
Art, more than creation, can be defined as the
assimilation of concepts and the material
transformation of ideas that metamorphose
based upon a gradual process that is aesthetic but
also ethical in nature. In this sense we can say
that Stefano Poda’s body of work is the fruit of
an evident "tekné" resulting from a mental
process that transforms a concept into a complex
scenic reality, based on the combining of distinct
artistic disciplines.
Stefano Poda conducts an extremely wide-ranging
exploration into the spirit and the material world.
8 / STEFANO PODA
by Jaume Radigales
OR THE TRUTH IN ART
It is the result of a transparent and honest
intellectual labour, of analysis and of an ethical and
aestethic development, cultivated by a broad literary,
musical and philosophical research extended to the
field of plastic arts.
Stefano Poda’s mises en scène have enabled him
to mature as a man and as an artist. And they have
helped him to change, to explore, to rediscover,
to achieve results that are absolutely spot-on. And
why not, the odd mistake too.
In fact the artist can learn much more from errors
made than from his successes. All this enables the
Italian artist to realize works that come close to
Gesamtkunstwerk, which roughly translates as "total
art work", when perhaps a more appropriate
expression would be "integral art work" or
"complete art" as Poda integrates into each mise-enscène, the global nature of a work undertaken with
great boldness and diversity: he is equally responsible
for the directing, the stage design, the costumes and
the lighting as well as the choreography of his
productions. All this based on a perfectly coherent,
inimitable style that traces back to his early
productions, from 1993 to the present.
I recall those early shows in which the first signs of
that aestheticism, which was to become a clearly
recognized benchmark, that over time has acquired
an irrefutable maturity and coherence.
It is interesting to note, however, that Stefano Poda’s
productions emerge within a context that is
experiencing evolutionary change in the role of
theatre as applied to musical drama and opera.
A context much given to controversy, with innovative
designs, at times openly challenging in the stagnation
of non-sense, from which this Italian artist has
always refrained.
More precisely: his works, without being edgy, at
times provoke adverse reactions, at times a total
adhesion to and identification with that which is seen
and that which is heard.
However, they are likewise innovative because they
base their raison d’être on a work that is deeply
conceptual, of ideas, of conjecture and of theories.
And yet they show every indication of a common
identity, among which an aestheticism assigned to
good taste is noted, thanks to the search for beauty
as defined by its intrinsic elements: symmetry and
harmony.
ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
Musical theatre for Stefano Poda is a symbolic
gesture, he feels that it comes from an abstraction
that gradually materializes into visual corporeality
while still maintaining the sensual, intangible flow
of the musical language. It is for this reason that
Poda is defined as an artisan rather than artist, for
his all-round meticulous commitment to the
technical as well as the creative aspects of his work
and the diversified fields that it encompasses.
This must be the reason for which, despite over a
hundred or so titles by different authors, he has
always preferred to distance himself from naturalism
or realism, even though this Italian director has
certainly had to deal with Puccini operas, due to
contractual obligations.
Be that as it may, it was Mozart’s Don Giovanni and
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde which he staged for the
inauguration of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 2014,
conducted by Zubin Mehta, or Debussy’s Pelléas et
Mélisande, as the authors and operas compatible with
an artistic concept in which music and song is
shaped from metaphysical elements, just as in
literature, - in referencing Nietzsche, Flaubert or
Proust’s Recherche – find their point of convergence.
Productions that are essentially "musical", in a final
analysis. It is not stating the obvious to declare it,
especially within a modern context in which the
opera all too often is excessively referential to other
contexts distinct from music understood as a
language, as can be, for example, mainstream cinema
or hi-tech post-modernity.
Too much Tarantino and little – or at times not at all
– in the contemplative manner of an Ozu or a
Tarkovsky, that is to say of those pure cineasts,
possessing a poetic dimension which, in the case of
both cineasts, extends far beyond the bounds of film
language. Yet they succeed, necessarily, in realizing
and screening films in themselves.
In this same line of purity Poda emerges as an
essentially "modern" artist, creator of a
Weltanschauung (world view) and a Sehnsucht
(wistful longing) that invite contemplation, a
universal view of the world from the standpoint of
a combined ethical and aesthetic undertaking: the
work of art understood as based on its social
function, but also as an invitation to reveal the
symbolism, arising from general conceptions, of
undeniable aesthetic attraction, based on intrinsic
criteria such as beauty, symmetry and harmony.
STEFANO PODA / 9
It is for this reason that in Poda’s productions the
pure geometric forms such as circles and squares take
on symbolic forms, as is the use of materials, from
those that are physically hard (stone, wood, gesso) to
those that have softer qualities (sand or rice). Not to
mention an illumination in which light and shadow,
cones of zenithal light and sinuous luminous
atmospheres contribute to this symbolism that only
those who stop at the form without penetrating the
substance define pure aestheticism.
Poda’s productions do not demonstrate, they do not
explain, they simply “are”. Rather, they encourage
the audience to construe the significance. From the
duplicity of the interpretation of art, that which is
isolationist and that which is contextualized, Poda
approaches the latter: we need to know how to
recognize the codes, the contexts, the forms, the
symbols in order to comprehend the materialization,
the artistic representation of postulates that spur
Poda to realize one or another production. Even so,
many of his productions require a second or third
viewing in order to clearly read all the lines and
patterns that converge and interpose within them,
such is the richness of his visual language, which is
potent, direct and sensual. That is why Stefano Poda
does not consider himself to be a creator, but leaves
it to the spectator to really “create” the show, from
the revealing of its integral parts to the consequent
definition of the whole, which would be the opera
completed following a work in progress, which
implies the search for truths that integrate and
constitute the whole.
DEFINITION OF A STYLE.
The visual aesthetics of Stefano Poda, perfectly
recognizable and identifiable right from his early
productions, one can best understand from his
origins: Trento. The city of the Council of Trent and
the Counter-Reformation has inevitably marked the
10 / STEFANO PODA
trajectory of a director who has succumbed to the
allure of the theatre by way of liturgical imagery.
Trento, like Trieste, is however also a frontier town, a
crossroads between Mediterranean Italy and Central
Europe.
It is neither fully Austria nor Italy. Thus, as much
Christian mythos as there are references to Germanic
- or if you prefer, Central European, culture – can be
seen in his productions. So here we have the
processions, the parades, the symmetrical movement,
the religious reference (the cross) or liturgical (the
burners of incense) and costumes that enable us to
contextualize many of these spectacles, as a kind of
initiatory ceremony in which the characters appear to
roam in search of their truth (Don Giovanni) or by
reason of their accursed beauty (Thais). Not to
mention the most theocratic opera of all, the Don
Carlo (Verdi), which Poda staged in Erfurt in 2013,
with a truly epiphanic conception of the liturgical
movement while also being a veiled criticism by
referencing the scene of the ecclesiastical fashion
show in Federico Fellini’s 1972 film Roma.
Stefano Poda’s productions, which raise more
questions than answers, function as echoes of the
past, playing with oneiric imagery and with
subconscious memory. And, rather in the manner of
a Proustian character, their foundation lies in the
probing of the obscure depths of artistic conception
towards the purity of instinct.
So one could talk, - and the author of this article had
already defined it as such around two decades ago of " tragic decadence " as indicative of Stefano
Poda’s style, as it appeals to that mood or atmosphere,
that stirring of sentiment in the face of all that is
born with the will to die, like the anti-heroes of
Thomas Mann (Tonio Kröger or Gustav von
Aschenbach) or the main characters of Wagner’s
Tristan und Isolde.
That of Poda is nonetheless a vitalistic tragedizing,
coherent with the sign of the times as our artist from
Trento never remains anchored in the vacuous
aestheticism that his detractors accuse him of
portraying. Quite the contrary: Poda’s stagings reveal
an abundance of Überwirklichkeit (hyper-reality)
typical of the writings of Robert Musil, such as Der
Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities).
From here, the neo-baroque excess, so necessary, to my
mind, in order to be able to read all the visual and textual
codes of these opera productions, cannot be taken in
with a single viewing, as we have already implied.
Tragic hedonism in Don Giovanni, ritualization of
death in the bel canto echoes of Anna Bolena and
Maria Stuarda, sin and redemption in Thais, the
dramatizing of truth and deception in Falstaff ...
always beneath the shelter of a fin de siècle view that
is a cry of protest for the construction of a world
which, far from the vanities of postmodernism or
the liquid times of the hypertext, must continue to
raise questions in the light of the truth in art.
IN CONCLUSION.
Up to what point are Poda’s productions faithful
or not faithful to the operas staged is a question
that in a certain sense does not have a straight
answer. More than anything, because the question
is not particularly relevant. I don’t believe that
that is the intention of this Italian artist because
his stagings are a premise, inviting the spectator
to think and to become an active participant in
the show. And in this there is much respect,
initially towards the receiver – I naturally avoid
using the term "consumer", a dreadful word for
nothing in line with the modernity proposed by
Stefano Poda in his productions nor even with his
development as a man and as an artist. Another
issue to consider is that of scripting.
While Poda certainly does not stay faithful ‘to the
letter’ of each opera, he does not deviate from the
libretto: genotexts and phenotexts, in other words.
Put differently, from the literary origins and musical
roots and to the aesthetic coherence of these literary
and musical symbioses. In a context such as that
described at the beginning of this article, in which
the work of the dramatist appears to be a crucial
element in the creation of an operatic production,
Poda appears as a true demiurge of the opera, as an
interpreter of the libretto so as to provide layered
interpretations thus leaving the spectator free to
discover them and to seek further interpretation
based on the total, complete, integrated, globalized
or integral work of art, as is opera. And Poda does
this based on an essentially musical, intangible and
sensual reality. A music that is the most erotic of the
arts, because according to Kierkegaard it is that which
comes closest to the integration of all the senses even
though it is perceived only (or initially) through the
faculty of hearing. It seems as if Poda, on the
contrary, wants to convey that the music becomes a
language in itself, the essence of that sensuality.
Music as a vehicle, not as an end in itself, even though
it is a substantial and transmissive part, demiurgic in
other words, of the works of the Italian artist.
A man (Poda) and some productions forever in search
of aesthetic verity. Even though it is common knowledge
that in the field of aesthetics the truths are, most of the
time, questions lacking answers that beg other and yet
more impassioned interrogatories.
TESTO IN
ITALIANO
TEXTO EN
ESPAÑOL
STEFANO PODA / 11
O
TELLO
OTELLO, by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Conducted by Gergely Madaras / Pinchas Steinberg. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA, 2015.
Photo by Attila Nagy
OTELLO, by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Conducted by Gergely Madaras / Pinchas Steinberg. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA, 2015.
STEFANO PODA / 13
tello
Photo by Attila Nagy
O
Photo by Palyi Zsofia
Photo by Palyi Zsofia
OTELLO, by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Conducted by Gergely Madaras / Pinchas Steinberg. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA, 2015.
FAUST
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
All Photos by Ramella & Giannese
http://sync-studio.com/ita/photographers.asp
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
FAUST
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
FAUST
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
FAUST by di Charles Gounod. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda . Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2015.
ANDREA CHENIER
24 / STEFANO PODA
ANDREA CHENIER, by Umberto Giordano. Conducted by Daniele Gallegari. Direction, stage,
costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. KNO Korea National Opera, Seul. 2015
ANDREA CHENIER, by Umberto Giordano. Conducted by Daniele Gallegari. Direction, stage,
costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. KNO Korea National Opera, Seul. 2015
ANDREA CHENIER
ANDREA CHENIER, by Umberto Giordano. Conducted by Daniele Gallegari. Direction, stage,
costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. KNO Korea National Opera, Seul. 2015
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, by Richard Wagner. Conducted by Zubin Mehta. Direction, stage, costume, coreo-
graphy and lighting design by Stefano Poda. MAGGIO
MUSICALE FIORENTINO, 2014.
TRISTAN
UND ISOLDE
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, by Richard Wagner. Conducted by Zubin Mehta. Direction, stage, costume, coreography
and lighting design by Stefano Poda. MAGGIO
MUSICALE FIORENTINO, 2014.
STEFANO PODA / 27
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
TRISTAN UND
ISOLDE, by Richard
Wagner. Conducted by
Zubin Mehta. Direction,
stage, costume,
coreography and lighting
design by Stefano Poda.
MAGGIO
MUSICALE
FIORENTINO,
2014.
TOSCA
TOSCA, by G. Puccini. Conducted
Photos by Uwe Strattmann
http://www.uwestratmann.de/
by Toshiyuki Kamioka. Direction, stage, costume
and lighting design by Stefano Poda. WUPPERTALER
BÜHNEN, 2014
Photos by Uwe Strattmann
http://www.uwestratmann.de/
TOSCA, by G. Puccini. Conducted by Toshiyuki Kamioka. Direction, stage, costume
and lighting design by Stefano Poda. WUPPERTALER
BÜHNEN, 2014
Don Carlo
DON CARLO,
by Giuseppe Verdi.
Conducted
by Manlio Benzi.
Direction, stage,
costume and
lighting design
by Stefano Poda.
THEATER
ERFURT,
GERMANY
2013.
STEFANO PODA / 33
Don Carlo
DON CARLO,
by Giuseppe Verdi. Conducted by Manlio Benzi. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
THEATER ERFURT, GERMANY 2013.
ATTILA
by Giuseppe Verdi. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
ST.GALLER FESTSPIELE 2013.
ATTILA
Photos by Toni Suter
ATTILA, by Giuseppe Verdi. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
ST.GALLER FESTSPIELE 2013.
Outside the cathedral is created for the 8th St.Gallen Festival an impressive battle scenes, which is composed of the warring armies of Huns and
Romans, devastating war traces and destroyed artifacts, but also a sign of hope for a better future.
STEFANO PODA / 37
RIGOLETTO
by Giuseppe Verdi.
Conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti.
Direction, stage, costume, and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO VERDI PADOVA , 2013
Photo by Entico Cesaro
RIGOLETTO
RIGOLETTO
RIGOLETTO
by Giuseppe Verdi.
Conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti.
Direction, stage, costume, and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO VERDI PADOVA , 2013
Photos by Entico Cesaro
http://enricocesaro.com/
STEFANO PODA / 41
RIGOLETTO
RIGOLETTO
by Giuseppe Verdi. Conducted by Giampaolo Bisanti.
Direction, stage, costume, and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO VERDI PADOVA , 2013
TOSCA
by Giacomo Puccini. Conducted by Peter Marschik.
Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
STADTTHEATER KLAGENFURT, 2012
T
O
S
C
A
by Giacomo Puccini. Conducted by Peter Marschik.
Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
STADTTHEATER KLAGENFURT, 2012
IL TROVATORE
Photos by Haris Akriviadis / www.akriviadis.gr
IL TROVATORE
by G. Verdi.
Conducted by Loukas Karitinos
Direction, stage,
costume and lighting design by
Stefano Poda.
ODEUM OF HERODES
ATTICUS , ATHENS
FESTIVAL 2012.
STEFANO PODA / 47
MARIA
STUARDA
MARIA
STUARDA
MARIA STUARDA
Photo by KARIM ZAATAR
MARIA STUARDA, by G. Donizetti. Conducted by Gaetano D'Espinoza. Direction,
stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano Poda. OPERA GRAZ, 2012
with revival in 2013 in co-production with Asociación Bilbaína de Amigos de la Ópera
(ABAO) di Bilbao
LEGGENDA
All Photos by Ramella & Giannese
http://sync-studio.com/ita/photographers.asp
LEGGENDA by Alessandro Solbiati. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Direction, stage, costume,
coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2011
LEGGENDA by Alessandro Solbiati. Conducted by Gianandrea
Noseda. Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design
by Stefano Poda. TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2011
LEGGENDA by Alessandro Solbiati. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Direction, stage, costume,
coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2011
LEGGENDA
LEGGENDA by Alessandro Solbiati. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Direction, stage, costume,
coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda. TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2011
STEFANO PODA / 55
TRITTICO
IL TRITTICO by G. Puccini.
Conducted by Richard Buckley.
Direction, stage, costume,
and lighting design
by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO COLÓN
DI BUENOS AIRES, 2011
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, by G.iuseppe Verdi. Conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.Direction,
stage, costume, and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO PARMA, 2011
L
A FORZA
D D
EL
ESTINO
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, by G.iuseppe Verdi. Conducted by Jader Bignamini.
Direction, stage, costume, and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO PARMA, FESTIVAL VERDI 2014
LA FORZA DEL
DESTINO, by G. Verdi.
Conducted by Jader Bignamini.
Direction, stage, costume,
and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO
PARMA, FESTIVAL
VERDI 2014
THAIS
THE ITALIAN OPERATIC SOPRANO BARBARA FRITTOLI
THAÏS di Jules Massenet. Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
Direction, stage, costume, coreography and lighting design by Stefano Poda.
TEATRO REGIO DI TORINO, 2008.
All Photos by Ramella & Giannese
THAIS
THAIS
FALSTAFF
FALSTAFF by G. Verdi. Conducted by Paolo
Arrivabeni. Direction, stage, costume and lighting
OPÉRA ROYAL
DE WALLONIE-LIÈGE, 2009
design by Stefano Poda.
STEFANO PODA / 69
FALSTAFF
FALSTAFF by G. Verdi. Conducted by Paolo Arrivabeni. Direction, stage, costume and lighting design by Stefano
Poda. OPÉRA ROYAL DE WALLONIE-LIÈGE, 2009
STEFANO
PODA
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
In his search for aesthetic and conceptual unity, the artistic work of Stefano Poda always
encompasses direction, set design, costume design, lightning and choreography in a
personal seal founded on a visionary, multi-level imprint balanced between ancient images and
contemporary
art.
In 2015, new productions are Faust at the Teatro Regio of Torino (co-production with Israeli
Opera of Tel Aviv and Opéra of Lausanne, DVD Unitel), Andrea Chénier at Korea National
Opera, Thaïs at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Otello at the Opera of Budapest. 2016
new productions are Ariodante at the Opéra de Lausanne, Elixir of Love in Strasbourg for
the Opéra national du Rhin, Titan, choreography on Mahler's Symphony No. 1 for the
National Dance Company of São Paulo and Fosca of Carlos Gomes at the Theatro
Municipal de São Paulo.
His worldwide career numbers about one hundred productions. Among his more recent and
best-known works as Opera Director, Set, Costumes, Lighting Designer, and Choreographer
include: at the Teatro Regio of Torino, Thaïs by Massenet in 2008 (DVD and Blu-ray RAI/
Arthaus Musik), which has been included in the list of twenty landmark opera productions over
the past twenty years, compiled by BBC Music Magazine in 2012; at the Opéra Royal de
Wallonie-Liège, Falstaff with Ruggero Raimondi for the movie theaters around the world in
2009 (DVD RAI/Dynamic); Il Concilio dei Pianeti of Albinoni (DVD Unitel); La Forza del
Destino as season-opening 2011 of the Teatro Regio of Parma (DVD Unitel) and revival at
Parma Festival Verdi 2014; The Trittico by Puccini at the Colón of Buenos Aires in 2011;
Leggenda by Alessandro Solbiati at Teatro Regio of Torino; Rigoletto , Lucia di
Lammermoor and Nabucco at the Teatro Verdi of Padua and Trieste. In 2012 he presents
Maria Stuarda at the Opera Graz (with revival in 2013 in Bilbao), Tosca (Klagenfurt and
Wuppertal) and inaugurates the 2012 Athens Festival with Trovatore at the Acropolis' theatre of
Herodes Atticus. In 2013 he inaugurates the St.Gallen Festival with Attila and the opera season
of Theater Erfurt with Don Carlo. In 2014, Stefano Poda's new production Tristan und Isolde
(conducted by music director Zubin Mehta) opens the 77th edition of the Festival Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino.
www.stefanopoda.com
NEXT ISSUE MAY 2016
THADDEUS STRASSBERGER STAGE DIRECTOR & DESIGNER