According to director Karina Novikova, “The opera, written in 1832, sounds as if it were taken from the notes of a contemporary psychotherapist or a Netflix series. What I am interested in exploring in this production is what happens when two approaches to love – hedonistic and romantic – collide. The former is represented by Adina, for whom love is an easy pastime: the abundance of admirers beautifies her life and intoxicates her with the fullness of experience. The other, in which Nemorino sincerely believes, is the view of love as the strongest, all-embracing, life-changing, ever-growing emotion. Their love story is about toxic relationships, manipulation, self-distrust or self-fatigue, desperation…”