Charlottenburger Chaussee 109
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Season 2024/2025
Keith Warner's production of Verdi's first successful opera emphasises the basic idea of reconciliation with which the work concludes: Under the wise King Nabucco, the Hebrew people of the Scriptures and the Babylonian warriors may hope for a peaceful future.
Image gallery
Vitalij Kowaljow als Zaccaria, Johan Reuter als Nabucco, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin.Bernd Uhlig
Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco
Hulkar Sabirova als Anna
u. a. Johan Reuter als Nabucco
Vitalij Kowaljow als Zaccaria, Jana Kurucová als Fenena
Jana Kurucová als Fenena, Yosep Kang als Ismaele
u. a. Dalibor Jenis als Nabucco, Gideon Poppe als Abdallo
u. a. Anna Smirnova als Abigaille
u. a. Anna Smirnova als Abigaille
Johan Reuter als Nabucco, Anna Smirnova als Abigaille
Szenenimpression
Johan Reuter als Nabucco, Gideon Poppe als Abdallo
Szenenimpression Nabucco
Dalibor Jenis als Nabucco
u. a. Anna Smirnova als Abigaille, Johan Reuter als Nabucco
- Conductor: Paolo Arrivabeni
- Director: Keith Warner
With Juan Jesús Rodríguez / Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Jorge Puerta, Liang Li, Ewa Płonka, Karis Tucker a. o.
About the workGiuseppe Verdi’s third opera was his break-out work. By the end of the gestation of NABUCCO the 29-year-old had found his musical style, one that audiences latched onto immediately. It was first and foremost the sheer impact of the chorus scenes and the daringly loud orchestral movements that announced a new chapter in the history of opera.
NABUCCO was the first opera to make the chorus one of the main protagonists and the material was ideal for this, with the liberation of the Israelites from Babylonian captivity providing ample occasion for crowd scenes conveying the yearnings and stirrings of an oppressed people. And to top it all, it was not an aria but the “Va, pensiero” Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, sung by the Jewish deportees on the banks of the Euphrates, that became the best known number in the opera – and the most famous Verdi tune of all.
Aside from this NABUCCO reveals Verdi’s feel for situations that lend themselves to being staged and his predilection for eccentric characters. NABUCCO is namely not simply an opera with choral sections; it is also a drama about the disintegration of a family in the form of half-sisters Fenena and Abigaille, who are polar opposites, and their father Nabucco, the authoritarian patriarch [Engl.: Nebuchadnezzar].
On the one hand we have Fenena, who is in love with Ismaele, a Jewish prince, and has converted to Judaism. Meanwhile a jealous Abigaille is scheming to usurp the throne of her father. In a fit of megalomania, Nabucco declares himself an earthly king but also a god, upon which God strikes him down and he becomes crazed and incoherent. Abigaille seizes her chance, crowns herself queen with the support of the army and has her father arrested.
While in jail, Nabucco hears that Abigaille has resolved to have her sister Fenena executed. He regains his reason and beseeches the Jews’ own god to help him. Freed, he gathers his troops, rescues Ferena and sets the Israelites free.
About the productionThis dramatic tale beginning with the Israelites’ captivity in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar is one of Verdi’s most popular operas. Hans Neuenfels’s controversial production in 2000 was the last time that the work has been mounted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In 2013, the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth, Keith Warner, a leading light in the international opera community, presented his version of the opera, referencing the period in which it was written, a time of transition from feudalism to an industrialised society. Warner focuses on the differences between the two nations: the Hebrews with their writing system and a culture of democratised education, and the militaristic Babylonians with their concept of power wielded by an autocratic ruler.
Additional information
In Italian with German and English surtitles
Dramma lirico in four parts
Libretto by Temistocle Solera
First performed on 9. March, 1842 at Milan
Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 8. September, 2013
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance
Participating artists
Paolo Arrivabeni (Musikalische Leitung)
Keith Warner (Inszenierung)
Tilo Steffens (Bühne)
Julia Müer (Kostüme)
Jeremy Bines (Chöre)
Juan Jesús Rodríguez (Nabucco)
Jorge Puerta (Ismaele)
Liang Li (Zaccaria)
Ewa Płonka (Abigaille)
Karis Tucker (Fenena)
Gerard Farreras (Oberpriester des Baal)
Jörg Schörner (Abdallo)
Maria Motolygina (Anna)
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Chöre)
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchester)
Dates
May 2025
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