Sunday 27 August at 6.00pm on RNZ Concert
BELLINI: Norma
The priestess Norma loves Pollione, leader of the occupying force suppressing her people, and has borne two children by him. But Pollione’s love has withered, and he now loves Norma’s fellow priestess Adalgisa. Meanwhile, the people urgently look to Norma to lead their rebellion.
Norma.......................... Sonya Yoncheva
Oroveso....................... Brindley Sherratt
Pollione....................... Joseph Calleja
Flavio.......................... David Junghoon Kim
Adalgisa...................... Sonia Ganassi
Clotilde........................ Vlada Borovko
Children....................... Niamh Worrell, Matteo DiLorenzo
Chorus and Orchestra of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Antonio Pappano (EBU)
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.