Oliver von Dohnányi leads a great orchestral performance to drive Meyerbeer's grand historical epic, lit up by sparkling coloratura from Klára Kolonits.
In its first full staging in Russia, Miecysław Weinberg’s complex, eclectic score is sung and played with excellence; Thaddeus Strassberger's direction and staging presses all the emotional buttons.
The Bartered Bride, premiered in 1866, is considered to be Smetana’s masterpiece in the operatic genre and is widely regarded as the national opera of the Czech Republic. Despite this, for their second and last production this year, New Zealand Opera elected to perform the opera in English translation rather than the original Czech, aiming to speak to their audiences in a more direct fashion.
Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece Norma was once a staple of the operatic stage, performed by great sopranos such as Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland on a regular basis. Nowadays, despite containing one of the most famous arias of all time, it is performed less frequently.
