Performer: Csilla Boross

Quality singing impresses in Puccini's opera at the Hungarian State Opera, despite a dusty staging.

During Verdi’s bicentenary month and year, it’s fitting that Opera Philadelphia kicked off its 2013/14 season with the work that Verdi himself considers as having launched his own career – Nabucco. Written at a time when Italy longed to be free of foreign rule, Verdi’s name and the expression “Viva Verdi” became synonymous with Italian nationalism and unification.

When I saw a three-tiered theater set-up on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, consisting of boxes decorated with blue velvet, gold and exquisite paintings, I have to admit that even having seen various different stagings of Verdi’s Nabucco before, I was intrigued.