By KIRSTEN BOLTON
FOR ARTSPRING
During this holiday season, ancient Babylon comes to life with the classic Met Opera revival staging of biblical proportions — Verdi’s Nabucco — broadcast live in HD at ArtSpring on Saturday, Jan. 6.
The opera debuted in 1842 and was Giuseppe Verdi’s third of 26 operas. It presented a stirring drama about the fall of ancient Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucco) and catapulted the 28-year-old composer to international fame.
The music and Verdi himself were subsumed into a surge of patriotic fervor, culminating in the foundation of the modern nation of Italy. Specifically, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (“Va, pensiero”), in which the Israelites express their longing for their homeland, came to stand for the country’s aspirations for unity and that exciting era in Italian history, the Risorgimento, or “Resurgence.”
In this epic revival, baritone George Gagnidze makes his Met role debut as the imperious king Nabucco, alongside Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska reprising her thrilling turn as his vengeful daughter Abigaille. Daniele Callegari conducts Verdi’s early masterpiece, which features the ultimate showcase for the great Met Chorus, in the moving “Va, pensiero.”
Epic sets, costumes, music and voices make for a dazzling experience. As local insiders have discovered, however, the benefits of sitting down in real time with New York Met audiences, getting subtitles, close-ups and behind-the-scenes interviews, and being part of the famous “intermission quiche break,” it truly makes the Saturday morning Met experience a calendar must.
Tickets are on sale at tickets.artspring.ca or at the door on Jan. 6.