European Premiere of Il Postino in Vienna

10 January 2011

Jesús López Cobos recently conducted the European premiere of Il Postino at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria.  Written by Mexican-born composer, Daniel Catán, this opera is set in recent times and is said to have considerable crowd appeal.  Regarding the performance by Jesús López Cobos, the New York Times said, "Drawing fine playing from the Vienna Symphony, the conductor Jesús López Cobos ensures that Mr. Catán's melodies sing and that his transparent orchestral textures are neatly balanced."

Synopsis of Il Postino:

The action takes place on a small Italian island in the 1950s.  Mario Ruoppolo is a gentle young man in an insular Italian fishing village where time moves slowly.  Since Mario's seasickness doesn't allow him to fish, he takes the job of a postman, delivering mail on a bicycle to only a single customer, the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda has been exiled to Italy because of his communist views.  After a while, the two become good friends.

In the meantime, Mario meets and becomes smitten with a beautiful young lady, Beatrice Russo, in the village's only cafe.  Mario has no idea how to pursue the longings of his heart.  With the help of Neruda, Mario is able to better communicate his love to Beatrice through the use of poetic metaphors.  Soon Mario is composing poetry of his own, with hopes of not only attracting Beatrice's attention, but of winning her heart.

Mario and Beatrice are later married, and at the same time Neruda and his wife Matilde learn that they are allowed to return to Chile.  Some months after Neruda's departure and subsequent lack of contact, Mario makes a nostalgic recording of island sounds for Neruda, including the heartbeat of his unborn son.  Several years later, Neruda comes back to the island and finds Beatrice and her son in the same old cafe.  She tells him that Mario was killed just before the birth of their son, at a communist rally in Naples.  He was selected to read his poetry (dedicated to Neruda) for the crowd, but police stormed the rally before he could reach the stage.  Beatrice gives Neruda a letter that Mario left for him.