Nabucco - Grand Théâtre de Genève

Politics. Religion. Nabucco is Verdi's retelling of the Old Testament story of King Nebuchadnezzar II's religious conversion. On one side, the fiery Hebrew priest Zaccaria, battling to lead his people from oppression. On the other, Nabucco, the tyrannical Babylonian king and his adopted daughter Abigaille, who will stop at nothing to get her father's throne and her sister's lover. Will King Nabucco's ambition rob him of his beloved daughter as well as his kingdom?

Rossini Opera Gala

Rossini: Guillaume Tell

The hero of this admirably complete August 2013 Guillaume Tell from Pesaro is homegrown maestro Michele Mariotti. The inimitable overture is (mercifully) unstaged and terrifically played, with splendid cello and flute solos: the fine standard never flags. Rossini’s extraordinary 1829 score audibly presages Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Glinka, Verdi and Wagner, among many others. Graham Vick’s direction privileges class conflict, with a clenched fist on the red-and-white forecurtain. The Edwardian costumes place Austrians in white evening garb; the bl...