Libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story Les Willis by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
Director: Honoured Artist of the Republic of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Oksana Volkova
Designer: laureate of the Golden Mask Russian National Theatre Award Etel Ioshpa
Choreography: People’s Artist of Belarus Kanstantsin Kuzniatsou
Chorus master: People’s Artist of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Nina Lomanovich
Lighting and video design: laureate of the Golden Mask Russian National Theatre Award Stas Svistunovich
Conductors: Vladimir Ovodok, Yuri Karavaev
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes with one interval
Sung in Italian with Russian surtitles
Premiere: 11 September 2020

Act 1

Guglielmo devotes his entire life to his young daughter, Anna, creating an ideal world for her. Similarly, grown-up Anna selflessly gives her love to her fiancé Roberto. However, the young man’s feelings are not so deep; moreover, the thought about sudden luck fills his mind: a rich relative has left a substantial inheritance, so he has to leave. Anna is downhearted with the coming separation and tormented by terrible forebodings. Roberto reassures his bride by promising to come back with the inheritance for a happy new life.

Act 2

Anna dies, still waiting for the return of her groom. The inconsolable father curses Roberto at her grave and calls on Willis (vengeful fairy brides) to help carry out the punishment.

Having received the inheritance, Roberto discovers a world of wealth, beautiful women, delights and carnal pleasure. Falling under the spell of the Siren and her girlfriends, Roberto loses track of the time. When he comes to his senses, he realizes that he has wasted his life.

Roberto hears otherworldly voices. It seems to him that he has returned to the past, to the house where he was happy with Anna, and he remembers their feelings. He returns to his beloved only to see the burial mound. In desperation, Roberto hears a voice calling him – it’s Anna, she is not dead! He runs up to the girl, but he cannot recognize his beloved: he sees a cold, lifeless shadow before him. The ghost of Anna repeats as a sentence the words of love uttered once by her unfaithful bridegroom. Strength and hope leave Roberto, and he feels the approach of death. An inexorable fate overtakes him, and he passes away in the deadly dance of the Willis.