The sky is their roof, their country the world.- Azucena, Acte III, Scène 4

How does one approach Il Trovatore – the most popular opera of its day and a swashbuckling tale of love and death over which looms a gypsy’s curse – without singeing one’s wings in the flames of its flamboyantly extravagant plot? For this work sums up the magic of opera, the way in which a dense and complex libretto abounding in dramatic twists can be transcended by the vertiginous beauty of a vocal line. And by the coherence of the production too: Àlex Ollé transposes the drama to a furious war that sets brother against brother: suddenly night, castles, soldiers, eternal hatred and the stake all become realities.