For the first time in its 85-year-history ENO will stage an opera by one of the greatest masters of the Italian Bel canto style, Vincenzo Bellini. His widely-acknowledged masterpiece Norma will be performed in the staging by award-winning director Christopher Alden which was first seen at Opera North in 2012 where it was described as ‘alive, energising and absorbing ‘ by the Daily Telegraph. It was subsequently seen in Chemnitz and Bordeaux.
The production relocates the setting from Gaul under Roman occupation to an imagined American Mid-West of the late 19th Century where a close-knit community’s way of life is threatened by unstoppable change. The people want war. Their priestess Norma, secretly in love with one of the enemy Pollione, resists. But now he has a new love and in the face of his betrayal it seems Norma is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Norma is a high-point of the Bel canto style with the drama expressed through vocal lines of extraordinary beauty and grandeur yet which demand exceptional technical control. Its most famous aria Casta Diva has been a showcase for many of opera’s most acclaimed sopranos including Giuditta Pasta who created the role, Rosa Ponselle, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé and Cecilia Bartoli. But the work is also noted for its powerful choral episodes and two magnificent duets for the two sopranos.
Christopher Alden directs his sixth production for ENO. Known for his striking interpretations, his dramatic staging ofNorma ‘pierces to the heart of the drama’ (The Guardian). Alden’s creative team includes set designer Charles Edwards, costume designer Sue Willmington and lighting designer Adam Silverman.
Stephen Lord, Music Director of the Opera Theatre of St Louis and a noted interpreter of the Bel canto repertory, returns to lead the orchestra and chorus having previously conducted Rigoletto, La Boheme and Tosca for ENO.
Rising star soprano Marjorie Owens makes her UK, ENO and role debut in the demanding title role. A recent Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Marjorie was also a company member of Semperoper in Dresden where her roles included Daphne, Senta, Ariadne, Amelia Grimaldi and Elisabetta in Don Carlo.
American soprano Jennifer Holloway returns to ENO in the role of Adalgisa, which she sang in this production in Bordeaux. Previously here she has sung Musetta and Prince Orlofsky.
British tenor Peter Auty debuts in the role of Pollione. He has previously sung for ENO in The Girl of the Golden West,Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto and La bohème. Formerly a company principal at the Royal Opera House he has also performed with Grange Park Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera North and Scottish Opera. Peter’s professional musical career started at the tender age of 13, when as a choir boy at St Paul’s Cathedral he was chosen to sing ‘Walking in the Air’,the theme to the 1982 animated film of The Snowman.
Celebrated American bass James Creswell is Norma’s father Oroveso, a role he performed in this production with Opera North in 2012 and in Bordeaux. His previous roles for ENO include Padre Guardiano in The Force of Destiny, Pogner in Richard Jones’s Olivier Award-winning production of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and Sarastro in Simon McBurney’s production of The Magic Flute, a role he will reprise in its revival in February 2016.
Scottish mezzo-soprano Valerie Reid sings the role of Norma’s friend Clotilde. For ENO she has previously sung in numerous productions including La traviata, Juiletta , Peter Grimes, and Katya Kabanova and will perform the role of Mayor’s Wife in David Alden’s revival of Jenufa in June 2016.
Completing the cast is Australian tenor Adrian Dwyer as Pollione’s companion Flavio. Adrian recently sung the role of Trabuco in The Force of Destiny and has also performed in The Girl of the Golden West, Fidelio, Death in Venice, The Passenger, Wozzeck, Parsifal and Lucia di Lammermoor all for ENO.
Norma opens on Wednesday 17 February 2016 at 7.30pm for 7 performances –24, 27 February, 2, 7, 11, March at 7.30pm, 20 February at 6.30pm.
Pre-performance talk: Wednesday February 5.15-6pm, £5/£2.50 concs.
Originally created by Opera North in a co-production with Die Theater Chemnitz
New production supported by the English National Opera Trust and the American Friends of ENO.