The opera is set on the island of Cyprus in the late 15th century. The island itself represents an outpost of a European power (Venice) under constant attack from an encroaching, hostile adversary (the Turkish Empire). In a sense, the setting echoes Otello’s outsider status: he is a foreigner (a “Moor,” an uncertain term applied indiscriminately at that time to North African Arabs, black Africans, and others) surrounded by suspicious Europeans. The Met’s new production updates the setting to the late 19th century, where the action unfolds in a shape-shifting glass palace. [Pressetext]

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