A Babylonian extravaganza: epic Nabucco in Verona

By James Imam, 20 July 2015

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Reviewed at Arena di Verona, Verona on 18 July 2015

Verdi, Nabucco

Riccardo Frizza, Conductor

Gianfranco de Bosio, Director

Rinaldo Olivieri, Set Designer

Dalibor Jenis, Nabucco

Susanna Branchini, Abigaille

Sanja Anastasia, Fenena

Dmitry Belosselskiy, Zaccaria

Piero Pretti, Ismaele

Arena di Verona Chorus

Arena di Verona Orchestra

Verdi’s version of the Opera Ball

Jonathan Sutherland, 12th January

Young Russian coloratura soprano Maria Nazarova gets the Oscar.

***11

Erwin Schrott makes his Budapest debut as Don Giovanni

Jonathan Sutherland, 4th December

Erwin Schrott seduces the Budapest audience with smiles, but Zerlina steals the show in Budapest.

***11

Bunt und prächtig, schicksalsträchtig: Un ballo in maschera in Wien

Snapdragon, 24th October

Bei Verdis frabenprächtigen Maskenball an der Wiener Staatsoper gibt es an diesem Abend einige hörbare Tücken.

***11

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

At half mast: Simon Boccanegra revived in Vienna

Orsolya Gyárfás, 19th April

Marco Armiliato's conducting thrills and Federica Lombardi's radiant Amelia stands out in the Wiener Staatsoper's latest revival of Simon Boccanegra.

***11

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James Imam

James Imam is an arts journalist writing for publications including The Financial Times, The Times, Musical America and Opera magazine. He grew up in Manchester, read anthropology at Cambridge and has since lived in Milan. As a once-aspiring countertenor he has an abiding interest in Baroque music.

A Babylonian extravaganza: epic Nabucco at the Arena di Verona