Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Norma

While Bellini’s two-act opera Norma underscores the religious wars between the ancient Druids and Romans, it also highlights an emotive personal conflict that is veiled in deceit and cultural discrepancy.

Despite some minor flaws, a well appreciated performance of Bellini's masterpiece. 

The first staging of Bellini's Norma in Oslo in over a century is unfortunately hampered by an irritating production, yet some glorious singing does much to rescue the show.

The winter revival of the Met’s opening night Norma brought a new conductor and new stars in the main two female roles.

Sondra Radvanovsky scores a rousing success in the taxing title role of Bellini's masterpiece in New York.

Not only was the production devoid of Druids or Romans, it turned Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece into an implausible, trite, contemporary crypto-Che Guevara misadventure.  

In the end, Newbury’s production leaves you with more questions than it answers. 

Livermore turns Norma into a dubious tribute to fantasy B-movies but Gregory Kunde and Karine Deshayes come to the rescue.

Àlex Ollé and his Fura dels Baus team stage a spectacular looking Norma, the first new production of Bellini's opera at Covent Garden for nearly 30 years. 

In one of Bartoli's rare appearances on stage in the UK, she gave an utterly compelling performance as opera's ultimate woman scorned.

For such a young conductor of unassuming stature, Gamba exudes surprising authority, bringing off players with a swipe and reaching out far from the pit to coordinate distant chorus members.

Deutsche Oper's concert production of Norma shows what a great opera it is; Edita Gruberová displays great artistry, although now with imperfections.

This production of Norma was definitely the best staging seen at the San Carlo in recent years.

English National Opera’s first staging of Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece is a musical and dramatic triumph.

Angela Meade is the standout on opening night of Los Angeles Opera's Norma.

A recent production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma starred Cecilia Bartoli, the great mezzo who lives close by, and whom the Zürcher like to claim as one of their own.

The National Theater opens the new opera season with a gripping, thought-provoking production of Bellini's romantic tragedy.

Visually traditional, this Norma often indulged on the most predictable aspects of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, unfortunately missing the opportunity of bringing a bigger audience to the theatre and showcasing the vastness of Italian opera. 

A good staging and good acting aren't enough to make up for musical shortcomings of the Bayerische Staatsoper's Norma. 

Zurich recently brought a new cast to Robert Wilson’s production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, a triumph of the bel canto style.

San Francisco Opera opens its 92nd season with Bellini's Norma starring Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma and Jamie Barton as Adalgisa.

An excellent orchestral performance and fine singing from Yvonne Howard and Heather Shipp make Opera Holland Park's Norma well worth seeing, in spite of imperfections.

When the Met estimated the timing for Norma, Bellini’s familiar bel canto opera included in their fall repertory this year, they did not factor in the ongoing applause for soprano Sondra Radvanovsky.

The title role of Bellini’s Norma is one of the most challenging roles in the female repertory. It has been called the most profound portrayal of womanhood in all of opera. It demands a dramatic coloratura soprano with immense vocal power, rare agility, a wide dynamic range, a broad palette of vocal coloration, and instinctive theatricality.

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.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Vincenzo Bellini's Norma was one of the standards of the repertoire, putting in regular appearances at the world's top opera houses. It was a staple role for Maria Callas, who performed the opera 89 times.

L’Opéra de Rouen Haute Normandie ouvre sa saison lyrique avec Norma. Musicalement intéressante, cette production souffre néanmoins d'une mise en scène qui rencontre quelques limites dans son ambition.

Alexandra Deshorties peine à convaincre vocalement, la mise en scène de Jossi Wieler et Sergio Morabito venant par ailleurs crucifier sur l’autel du gris infini l’opéra de Bellini.

On ne peut demeurer indifférent à cette Norma, qui a l’immense mérite d’innover et ce faisant, de démontrer que l’opéra est bel et bien un art vivant.

Jürgen Roses Regiekonzept für die Bayerische Staatsoper polarisierte bereits bei der Premiere vor zehn Jahren, doch eine bemerkenswerte Norma lässt alles andere vergessen.

Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti et les enfants terribles de mise en scène : Patrice Caurier et Moshe Leiser donnent à voir et à entendre une production d'anthologie de Norma à l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo. 

Sans oser de comparaison avec Maria Callas et Montserrat Caballé, force est de reconnaître en Maria Agresta la grande Norma de notre époque, une immense Norma.

Une mise en scène magistrale de Christopher Alden centrée autour de l’arbre sacré, sublime la performance d’Elza van den Heever qui interprète Norma pour la première fois. 

La producción de Norma venida desde el Teatro Regio de Turín sorprendió principalmente en escenografía y en la interpretación de la protagonista. Con altibajos en otros parámetros, la música de Bellini llega a La Maestranza con un espectáculo orquestal encomiable.