The first premiere of this year at the Mariinsky Theater is a production of Nabucco, a famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi that launched the career of the great Italian composer. In March there will be 6 performances: on March 5 at 14:00 and 19:00, on March 12 at 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00, and on March 31 at 19:00. The production is mounted by the director Anna Shishkina, set designer Pyotr Okunev, lighting designer Anton Nikolaev, costume designer Antonia Shestakov and video designer Vadim Dulenko. The musical director and conductor of the new production is Valery Gergiev.
The world premiere of the opera took place more than 180 years ago, likewise in March. On March 9, 1842, Nabucco enjoyed triumphant success on the stage of Milan's Teatro alla Scala. During the season, it was shown seven more times, to return to the repertoire next season. There was another take on the production, and in three months the updated Nabucco withstood fifty-seven performances. The third opera of a young, then little-known composer turned him into a very important player in the musical world.
In Russia, Nabucco was first presented to audience in 1851, by the Italian troupe on the stage of the Bolshoi (Stone) Theater. The title role was given to Giorgio Ronconi who performed it at the premiere in Milan. In total, there were four performances, and after that the composition would be waiting for another boost of interest for another 150 years.
In 2005, the Mariinsky presented a stunning premiere of Nabucco staged by Dmitry Bertman, artistic director of the Moscow Helikon Opera. The production was also shown in 2013, the year of the bicentenary of Verdi's birth. The Nabucco of 2023 is a new production long-awaited by the public. The roles are being prepared by several casts of the theatre’s leading soloists.
This opera is considered the first truly “Verdiesque” opera and one of the best works of the Italian composer. The plot is based on the biblical story of the cruel Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who embarked on the path of truth after triumph, betrayal, and madness. This is a complex, multidimensional work, both in plot and in music. In Nabucco, for the first time, we can see an authentic Verdi heroine – the temperamental Abigail, and it was for her that Verdi created the part of a "fierce soprano".
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