Name: Norma
Start: 2016-09-12T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2016-10-08T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Royal Opera House

Admin

Organization

Singer

Soprano

Sonya Yoncheva

Norma

Tenor

Joseph Calleja

Pollione

Sonia Ganassi

Adalgisa

Bass

Brindley Sherratt

Oroveso

David Junghoon Kim

Flavio

Vlada Borovko

Clotilde

Conductor

Antonio Pappano

Stage director

Alex Ollé

Valentina Carrasco

Costume designer

Lluc Castells

Set designer

Alfons Flores

Lighting designer

Marco Filibeck

Royal Opera House

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Others

Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Italian

London

United Kingdom

The title character in Bellini's Norma is a druid high priestess, torn between her religious vows of chastity and her love for the Roman official Pollione, with whom she has had two children. Out of this conflict comes some of the most famous music in the whole bel canto repertoire, including the ravishingly beautiful "Casta Diva." The extremely difficult lead role calls for a truly special soprano—and in this Covent Garden production, the sublime Sonya Yoncheva captivates from start to finish, backed by an extraordinary supporting cast that includes the acclaimed Sonia Ganassi as Norma's amorous rival Adalgisa and Joseph Calleja as Pollione.

Directed with characteristically eye-popping flair by Àlex Ollé (of the provocative and marvelously inventive Spanish theatre group La Fura dels Baus) and soundtracked by the world-class Royal Opera Orchestra and Chorus of Covent Garden, this "striking production and terrifically enjoyable evening" (Bachtrack) is a Norma for the ages.

Norma Bellini

Public

English

Approved

Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece Norma had its premiere at La Scala, Milan, on Boxing Day 1831. After a muted initial response the opera quickly became popular, and is now a mainstay of the repertory. 
Find out more: http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/nor...
 
Norma is perhaps most acclaimed as a vehicle for the lead soprano, and indeed Bellini provides some astonishing vocal fireworks for his title character – most famously ‘Casta diva’, Norma’s Act I hymn to the chaste moon, and Act II’s ‘Dormono entrambi’, as she contemplates the unthinkable act of killing her children. But the opera’s dramatic potency rests in its breathtaking ensembles, most strikingly in Norma’s duets with Pollione and Adalgisa, the Act I trio ‘Vanne, sì: mi lascia, indegno’ and the blistering Act II finale.

This new production of Norma is The Royal Opera’s first in nearly thirty years. Directing is Àlex Ollé, of the Catalan collective La Fura dels Baus, reunited with the creative team behind his acclaimed production of Oedipe. They give Norma a contemporary setting against a backdrop of a cruel civil war, and focus on the opera’s exploration of the conflict between an individual’s own desires and those of her society – and of religion as a force for unity and for destruction.

Why all great sopranos are drawn to Bellini's Norma (The Royal Opera)

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble