After 21 years, Liberecké Divadlo FX Šalda returned to Nabucco, an early opera by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. It will be staged by the conductor Zbyňek Müller and directed by Dana Dinková. The new production of the story of the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian captivity opens this Friday 15th and Sunday 17th December, with the next rerun on 28th December.
Nabucco returns to the repertoire on the occasion of the 140th jubilee season of the Liberec theatre. “It is Verdi’s third opera. The first two were not successful and the third, Nabucco, actually gave birth to him, made him a world composer, a famous composer. Hence the intention to present Nabucco in this season, which is called Birth,” explains the head of the opera company Karol Kevicky.
According to him, it was difficult to come up with something new considering the frequent performances of the work. “Even here in Liberec, it was played for many years, it had a lot of repetitions. People are used to a certain form, an opinion, and it is often difficult to actually convince them of another,” admits Kevický. However, he believes that in cooperation with the conductor Müller, the creators managed to “discover interesting things in terms of tempo and sound within the orchestra”.
The opera, which the 28-year-old Verdi first presented in Milan’s La Scala in 1842, tells the story of the religiously motivated struggle of the Jews against the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the expulsion from their home.
Its charm lies mainly in the elaborate mass scenes, costumes and choir performances, in its time it also became a symbol of the fight for the freedom of the nation and faith. At the same time, it hides a more intimate story about love and family relationships.
Conductor Müller staged it for the first time. “When I got the offer, I honestly wasn’t very excited at first because the opera is still being performed,” he says. He found a way to take it differently in less well-known parts. “I think it will be even more attractive where it is often not attractive,” hopes Müller, who is to take turns conducting with Anna Novotna Pešková.
For Slovak director Dana Dinková, this is also her first encounter with Nabucco. “My concept was mainly to focus not only visually, but to go after relationships,” he explains. Except for a few minor details, however, the proven concept was otherwise adhered to. “For me, music is sacred in a certain way. Perhaps one such deviation is that I added dancers to the Jewish choir,” she adds.
The project has an international cast, many soloists are performing in Liberec for the first time. Baritones Miguelangelo Cavalcanti and Andrij Škurhan alternate in the role of the Babylonian king Nabucco. Tenors Sergej Kostov and Dušan Růžička will perform as Izmael, the son of the King of Jerusalem, and bassists Andrej Kharlamov and Pavel Vančura will take turns in the role of the Jewish priest Zacharias. Sopranos Frédérique Friessová and Darja Gulyajevová will then portray the king’s supposed daughter Abigail, who is scheming for the throne of Babylon.
Video: Nobody solves gender in classical music
“It’s unfortunate when a female conductor tries to stylize herself as a man,” conductor Anna Novotná Pešková said in the Spotlight program this year. | Video: Blahoslav Baťa
