Giuseppi Verdi co-wrote his operatic interpretation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth - with its text of lust, greed, bloodshed, and pathological ambition - around 1846. Verdi took the Shakespearean text and added a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, replacing the three foreboding witches with a chorus of witches in three-part harmony, beginning the final act with refugees gathering on the boundaries of England, and concluding with a chorus of bards celebrating the vanquishing of the tyrant, but other than these minor alterations, he generally sought to preserve the fundamental elements of Shakespeare's narrative. In this production of that opera, mounted by Phyllida Lloyd at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2004, Carlos Álvarez performs as Macbeth, with Roberto Scandiuzzi as Banquo, Maria Guleghina as Lady Macbeth, and Marco Berti as Macduff. The Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu accompanies the production, conducted by Bruno Campanella. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi