My name is Floria

Virginia Guastella
My name is Floria, opera in one act

(world premiere)

with Maria Eleonora Caminada, Laura Zecchini, Anastasia Egorova, Danilo Pastore,
Giacomo Pieracci

Icarus Ensemble

Sound direction and live electronics
Tempo Reale: Giovanni Magaglio, Damiano Meacci

Marco Angius, conductor

Creative team Fanny & Alexander

Luigi Noha De Angeli, direction, sets, lighting, video

Chiara Lagani, costumes
Michele Mescalin, multimedia design

New commission by Fondazione I Teatri / Festival Aperto
Produced by Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia

text taken from https://www.iteatri.re.it/spettacolo/my-name-is-floria/

The action of My name is Floria takes place in the present day, freely inspired by the character of Floria Tosca—from Sardou’s original drama as well as the libretto by Illica and Giacosa for Puccini’s opera. It is well known that Tosca’s story ends in suicide. But in this version, we imagine that she survives, turning the original finale into the beginning of a new narrative. Floria is reimagined as a contemporary woman, the victim of both physical and psychological trauma, carrying within her a complex and disturbed emotional world—far removed from traditional operatic portrayals of femininity. Her past is filled with painful memories (including, possibly, an incarnation of Scarpia), while her present is marked by depressive episodes, anxiety, and psychic projections of her fragmented identity. And yet, her journey also involves a therapeutic process of sharing with others who carry similar wounds—a path that gradually restores her sense of balance and trust. These various emotional emergencies are embodied by four vocal performers, taking on multiple roles as well as the function of a chorus.

“At the London premiere of Tosca, a reviewer noted that when Puccini ‘wants to be more intense, he resorts to some irritating noise—much sound with little musical sense. In the second act, the music seems to interfere with the dramatic situation.’ The noise that marks certain episodes in Tosca became one of the conceptual triggers for my original score—a sonic and timbral exploration made possible and enhanced by contemporary musical language.
The original materials, inspired by Puccini’s notion of ‘noise,’ form a new formal and linguistic framework where memories, psychic projections, shock, and trauma are given musical shape, along with the characters’ altered and complex emotional states.
All of it is aimed at shaping a new, contemporary female figure.”

—Virginia Guastella