‘NABUCCO – OPERA’

Liana SASS, Soprano / Šárka HRBÁČKOVÁ, Mezzosoprano
Nikolaj VIŠŇAKOV, Tenor / Oldřich KŘIŽ, Bariton
Nikolaj NĚKRASOV, Bariton
Soloists, choir and Symphonic Orchestra
THE PRAGUE FESTIVAL OPERA (Direction: Oldrich KRIŽ)
Musical direction: Martin DOUBRAVSKÝ
Scenic version in costumes
IN ITALIANO
Stage director: Oldřich KŘIŽ
Costumes : B-Arts Productions

Programme (subject to change)

In honor of the 200th birthday of one of the greatest opera composers the world has ever known, the Festival Opera Prague has created a fascinating and remarkable NABUCCO performance for their European tour.
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was the greatest Italian composer of the Romantic era, and alongside Richard Wagner, can be considered among the most important opera composers of all time. His Oeuvre includes a total of 27 operas, and he also wrote sacred music, cantatas and chamber music - mostly in the short breaks between two opera compositions.
His greatest opera, the highlight in Verdi’s career is Nabucco.
Verdi found himself personally and professionally at a low point: Within a few years, his two children and his young wife had died and his opera „King for A Day“ was a total failure. The composer had lost his optimism and self-confidence. But upon reading the libretto for Nabucco, Verdi was so excited by its potential that he composed an opera with an incomparable music and huge choruses within less than a year. Although the story is set in Jerusalem and Babylon around 587 BC, the Italian people immediately identified with the struggle for freedom of the oppressed Hebrews. The highlight is the famous Prisoner’s Chorus „Va, pensiero, sull ‚ali dorate „ (Fly, thoughts, on golden wings). It became almost a second national anthem of the Italian people during the time of the rissorgimento, and made Verdi famous - both as a composer and a patriot of his country.
The performance is directed and staged by the well-known Czech baritone and director Oldrich Kriz.
The stirring and passionate voices of the soloists and chorus of the Prague Festival Opera, their colorful costumes, the unique story and fine acting lure the audience into the magical world of the Italian Romantic, supported by the precise and thrilling musical accompaniment of the Prague Festival Opera Orchestra.
Under the fiery yet exact musical direction of Martin Doubravsky, the audience can experience some of the most popular and most emotional moments of Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic world.