Preview: Montezuma

For the multi-national, multi-lingual cast of Montezuma, this is the common language in which they work, and on the morning after their first performance they have plenty to talk about.

At the centre of the excited group is director Claudio Valds Kuri. He is pleased. The prestigious opening in Mlheim, the curtain-raiser for Theater der Welt, a festival which is part of the Ruhr 2010 European Capital of Culture, means the show is now on the road. For the company of 15 singers, 26 musicians and a dog (of which more later), the next stop is Edinburgh.

"For me, it's about communication," he says. "So when you're facing the audience, the experiment really starts."

Valds Kuri is fresh-faced and cheerful, joking that he can speak only one hour of English per day then proceeding to converse fluently at length. Founder of Mexico's Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes, he is one of Latin America's most exciting young directors, gathering acclaim and awards internationally for productions such as Monsters And Prodigies: A History Of The Castrati and The Grey Automobile.

Having trained in Mexico as a film director, he worked in Europe as an actor before making a decision to return home. He has also worked as a lighting designer, set designer and is the founder and bass voice of Ars Nova, an ensemble dedicated to rediscovering Renaissance and Latin American baroque. The work of Ciertos Habitantes is hard to define, but it is characterised by inventiveness, fearlessness, and an ongoing interest in the dialogue between the present and the past.

Montezuma may be his biggest challenge to date. The opera, written in 18th-century Germany, with a libretto by Prussian emperor Frederick II and a score by Carl Heinrich Graun, his kapellmeister, is a difficult work to stage, consisting mainly of lengthy solos. Six of the soloists are male sopranists, or countertenors, though in recordings the parts tend to be sung by women.

It is also a difficult subject: the destruction of the Aztec empire at the hands of colonial Spain.

This production, on which Valds Kuri works with renowned Argentinian conductor Gabriel Garrido, was the result of a conversation with Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan Mills which began in Mexico, continued in London and concluded in Chile, about making a work which could speak to this year's theme about the dialogue between the Old and New Worlds.

But what to make? "We reviewed other operas – The Indian Queen by Henry Purcell, Vivaldi's (recently recovered opera) Motezuma, Les Indes Galantes by Rameau – but none of those give me enough material to make a reflection of our actuality. We were not focusing on doing something just beautiful or original, there are plenty of these things. I am still doing theatre in this old-fashioned way, as a medium to say things."

Here, Frederick II's text won out, a serious, engaged piece of writing in which a ruler in the Age of Enlightenment used a story from the past to explore his own ideas. "Often the texts in opera are so silly, so stupid, the things they are saying to each other with beautiful music, like: 'Give me the cup of tea'.

Frederick II is expressing his philosophy, he's not wasting time in the text. You could agree or disagree with him, but it's really a smart text."

Valds Kuri was in no doubt, however, about the relevance of Montezuma. Feelings about the Aztec emperor still run deep in Mexico. His encounter with Spanish chief Cortes is one of the key moments in the history of Latin America. In a decision which still remains a mystery, he chose to welcome the Spanish to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitln, rather than confront them. He was immediately put under house arrest and later executed.

"There are no statues of him in Mexico. Many people see him as a traitor, some as a coward, some as a hero, a martyr, a visionary. It is controversial, but I like that. There is no meaning to have a character who is not really controversial, no?"

Valds Kuri believes the opera addresses our relationship with "the other" in three distinct time frames: the age of the conquistadors, of bringing "civilisation" to the "barbarian"; Frederick II's time, in which questions began to be asked about Europe's relationship with the wider world; and our own multicultural society.

He says 2010, the year being celebrated as the bicentenary of independence by many Latin American nations, including Mexico, is a good time for looking at the issue.

"We are completely mixed now. The other is everywhere, the other is your neighbour. So with this experience of history we can take decisions that there are many ways to approach the other, and it doesn't always have to be a war. It is very complex, but I most enjoy that part."

Valds Kuri took the decision to stage the first two acts of the opera as poised and formal with traditional costumes and a set based on Aztec pyramids – though not without a twist or two. Logos of multinational companies such as Pepsi, Nestl, Nissan – today's empires – are projected on to his vision of the Aztec empire.

"We are talking about colonisation, and Latin America, the third world, is completely colonised by these companies. And some of them don't really care what damage they are doing. Many of them are using pesticides which are prohibited in Europe. They are using the ignorance of the people to sell trash.

"But it is a responsibility of both sides. It is also the responsibility of Latin Americans whether or not we accept those things. It is not about 'Poor Mexico'.

"Also I like that people have doubt, thinking that this opera will be this boring traditional style - and then you start to surprise people."

When Spanish captain Narves enters, it is with a large dog (which, on the opening night in Mlheim, took an over-friendly interest in one of the musicians, leaving the polite German audience sniggering).

"Of the main things that the Europeans brought to Mexico were the horse and the dog, it was a great icon. The dogs were really frightening for the Mexicans, there are stories of how the dogs killed people, were made to do that. So we address this – but our dog is nice.

"Frederick II doesn't have humour in his version. Frederick II and Graun, they were really boring guys, there isn't any fun. But I always let the actors approach the roles as they feel (best]. And Christophe Carr (who plays Narves) changed everything, he made a very funny character from a very boring character."

It also means showing the character of Montezuma in a new light. In Mexico, the Aztec civilisation is still regarded as a golden age which was destroyed by the colonials, never to be regained. Valds Kuri decides to show the deified emperor carrying out a human sacrifice, ripping the heart from the body while still alive, which was also part of Aztec culture.

"Montezuma and Cortez were both very cruel. Montezuma was very tender to his own people, but cruel to his enemies. We don't do the good absolutely good or the bad absolutely bad. I want to find the humans beyond these characters."

In the third act, he plunges us into the multicultural world of contemporary Mexico, with Garrido and the musicians on stage in ordinary clothes mingling with the singers. Now, it is not clear who is the victim and who the victor, who is "self" and who is "other". It asks questions about the roles our cultures habitually cling to: Europeans, uncomfortable with our colonial past; Latin Americans resentful of what was done to them.

It is also a dialogue which is alive in the music. Valds Kuri concludes the opera with a piece of music by a contemporary composer, Luis Antonio Rojas, based on a work by a Mexican contemporary of Graun, Manuel de Sumaya. "That's very important for me. There are two composers in this dialogue on stage. This music is quite beautiful because it is talking about hope."

Having made a show like Monsters And Prodigies: A History Of The Castrati, it was particularly special, he says, to make an opera which is believed to have been written for castrati voices. He searched hard to find countertenors, and managed to find three exceptional voices. "These are the kind of dreams that you have. You don't work for that, but you have the dream. I dreamed sometime I would like to do an opera with sopranists, as I dreamt that one day I will present something at the Edinburgh festival."

• Montezuma is at the King's Theatre on 14, 15 and 17 August, 7.15pm, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival

A version of this article first appeared in the 8 August edition of Scotland on Sunday. It is also a difficult subject: the destruction of the Aztec empire at the hands of colonial Spain.

This production, on which Valds Kuri works with renowned Argentinian conductor Gabriel Garrido, was the result of a conversation with Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan Mills which began in Mexico, continued in London and concluded in Chile, about making a work which could speak to this year's theme about the dialogue between the Old and New Worlds.

But what to make? "We reviewed other operas - The Indian Queen by Henry Purcell, Vivaldi's (recently recovered opera) Motezuma, Les Indes Galantes by Rameau - but none of those give me enough material to make a reflection of our actuality. We were not focusing on doing something just beautiful or original, there are plenty of these things. I am still doing theatre in this old-fashioned way, as a medium to say things."

Here, Frederick II's text won out, a serious, engaged piece of writing in which a ruler in the Age of Enlightenment used a story from the past to explore his own ideas. "Often the texts in opera are so silly, so stupid, the things they are saying to each other with beautiful music, like: ‘Give me the cup of tea'. Frederick II is expressing his philosophy, he's not wasting time in the text. You could agree or disagree with him, but it's really a smart text."

Valds Kuri was in no doubt, however, about the relevance of Montezuma. Feelings about the Aztec emperor still run deep in Mexico. His encounter with Spanish chief Cortes is one of the key moments in the history of Latin America. In a decision which still remains a mystery, he chose to welcome the Spanish to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitln, rather than confront them. He was immediately put under house arrest and later executed.

"There are no statues of him in Mexico. Many people see him as a traitor, some as a coward, some as a hero, a martyr, a visionary. It is controversial, but I like that. There is no meaning to have a character who is not really controversial, no?"

Valds Kuri believes the opera addresses our relationship with "the other" in three distinct time frames: the age of the conquistadors, of bringing "civilisation" to the "barbarian"; Frederick II's time, in which questions began to be asked about Europe's relationship with the wider world; and our own multicultural society. He says 2010, the year being celebrated as the bicentenary of independence by many Latin American nations, including Mexico, is a good time for looking at the issue.

"We are completely mixed now. The other is everywhere, the other is your neighbour. So with this experience of history we can take decisions that there are many ways to approach the other, and it doesn't always have to be a war. It is very complex, but I most enjoy that part."

Valds Kuri took the decision to stage the first two acts of the opera as poised and formal with traditional costumes and a set based on Aztec pyramids - though not without a twist or two. Logos of multinational companies such as Pepsi, Nestl, Nissan - today's empires - are projected on to his vision of the Aztec empire.

"We are talking about colonisation, and Latin America, the third world, is completely colonised by these companies. And some of them don't really care what damage they are doing. Many of them are using pesticides which are prohibited in Europe. They are using the ignorance of the people to sell trash. But it is a responsibility of both sides. It is also the responsibility of Latin Americans whether or not we accept those things. It is not about ‘Poor Mexico'.

"Also I like that people have doubt, thinking that this opera will be this boring traditional style - and then you start to surprise people."

When Spanish captain Narves enters, it is with a large dog (which, on the opening night in Mlheim, took an over-friendly interest in one of the musicians, leaving the polite German audience sniggering). "Of the main things that the Europeans brought to Mexico were the horse and the dog, it was a great icon. The dogs were really frightening for the Mexicans, there are stories of how the dogs killed people, were made to do that. So we address this - but our dog is nice.

"Frederick II doesn't have humour in his version. Frederick II and Graun, they were really boring guys, there isn't any fun. But I always let the actors approach the roles as they feel [best]. And Christophe Carr (who plays Narves) changed everything, he made a very funny character from a very boring character."

It also means showing the character of Montezuma in a new light. In Mexico, the Aztec civilisation is still regarded as a golden age which was destroyed by the colonials, never to be regained. Valds Kuri decides to show the deified emperor carrying out a human sacrifice, ripping the heart from the body while still alive, which was also part of Aztec culture.

"Montezuma and Cortez were both very cruel. Montezuma was very tender to his own people, but cruel to his enemies. We don't do the good absolutely good or the bad absolutely bad. I want to find the humans beyond these characters."

In the third act, he plunges us into the multicultural world of contemporary Mexico, with Garrido and the musicians on stage in ordinary clothes mingling with the singers. Now, it is not clear who is the victim and who the victor, who is "self" and who is "other". It asks questions about the roles our cultures habitually cling to: Europeans, uncomfortable with our colonial past; Latin Americans resentful of what was done to them.

It is also a dialogue which is alive in the music. Valds Kuri concludes the opera with a piece of music by a contemporary composer, Luis Antonio Rojas, based on a work by a Mexican contemporary of Graun, Manuel de Sumaya. "That's very important for me. There are two composers in this dialogue on stage. This music is quite beautiful because it is talking about hope."

Having made a show like Monsters And Prodigies: A History Of The Castrati, it was particularly special, he says, to make an opera which is believed to have been written for castrati voices. He searched hard to find countertenors, and managed to find three exceptional voices. "These are the kind of dreams that you have. You don't work for that, but you have the dream. I dreamed sometime I would like to do an opera with sopranists, as I dreamt that one day I will present something at the Edinburgh festival." v

Montezuma is at the King's Theatre on 14, 15 and 17 August, 7.15pm, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival