-
Description
-
Csilla Boross – Opera Singer
NABUCCO
We welcome our audience this season with grand opera premieres once again! True to our tradition, we have invited outstanding international and Hungarian singers to perform the leading roles in our two opera stars who have sung Verdi’s emotionally charged Nabucco on the world’s greatest opera stages.
Opera Stars in Leading Roles
The title role of Nabucco, King of Babylon, will be performed by Mihály Kálmándy. He made his debut at the beginning of his career as a student at the Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, singing the title role in Verdi's Nabucco.
The excellent Hungarian leading baritone made his international debut with the title role in Verdi's Nabucco. Later, his international career began with the production of Nabucco at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. Mihály Kálmándy has performed in Rome, Naples, Vienna, Stockholm, London, Warsaw, Seoul, New Zealand and other cities. Meanwhile, he sang major baritone roles at the Hungarian State Opera House.
Nabucco is a real historical figure: the second king of the New Babylonian Empire, the builder of the Istar Gate, the 6th century BC Nabu-kudurri-uzur II, who invaded Judea and settled the Jews in his empire.
Csilla Boross, a Hungarian dramatic coloratura and spinto soprano with an impressive voice, winner of numerous Hungarian and international awards, launched her international reputation with Abigail from Verdi's Nabucco in Rome in 2011, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Since then, she has sung the role more than140 times in the world's most prestigious opera houses and festivals, and wherever she appears, this phenomenon is greeted with ovations and applause.
Her rich repertoire includes iconic female characters from masterpieces of opera, such as Tosca, Aida, Odabella, Minni, Maddalena, Gioergetta, Gioconda, and Venus and Elisabeth from Tannhäuser, ranging from Baroque to contemporary works.
Csilla Boross has sung in performances by world-famous stage directors such as Zeffirelli, La Fura dels Baus, Hugo de Ana, Thaddeus Strassberger, Werner Herzog, and under the baton of great conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Nicola Luisotti, Will Humburg, Asher Fisch, Tomaš Hanus, among others.
The role of Fenena, Nabucco’s daughter, will be sung by Azerbaijani mezzo-soprano Elmina Hasan, who performed this role in Paris in 2024 alongside the world-renowned Plácido Domingo. Her enchanting voice has already won acclaim at international venues such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera House in London.
In the role of Ismaele, the nephew of the King of Jerusalem, we will see the young and charismatic Venetian tenor Riccardo Gatto, considered one of the most talented tenors of his generation.
Nabucco unfolds along two intertwined storylines: one follows the madness and miraculous recovery of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and a personal family drama, while the other depicts the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people.
About Nabucco
At the age of 27, Verdi had decided never to write another opera. He was in the depths of both personal and professional despair. In this seemingly hopeless situation, it was only at the urging of his agent that he agreed to read the libretto—and from that moment came an opera that would change his life and ultimately unite a nation.
The unquenchable love of freedom and loyalty to one’s nation is most memorably expressed in the Hebrew slaves’ chorus—one of the most iconic moments in musical history. Inspired by the plight of the Jewish people, Verdi’s music became a beacon for nations. The golden-winged thought of Psalm 137 journeys through time, traveling from ancient Israel and Babylon to 19th-century Europe and beyond.
By the spring of 1842, all of Milan was humming “Va, pensiero...” The opera was soon performed at the most prominent theaters across the continent and premiered in America as well. The Hungarian premiere took place in January 1847 at the National Theatre in Budapest.
Csilla Boross – Opera Singer
-
Csilla Boross first graduated as a piano teacher only after she received her Master of Music degree as a soloist singer from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. From September 2003 onwards she has been a permanent guest artist of the Hungarian State Opera. For several years, starting in August 2008 she was a member of the Brno Janácek Opera, the Janáčkovo Divadlo, where she sang, among others, Tatiana from Tchaikovsky’s Onegin, Venus from Tannhäuser (the latter in Japan -including Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo - as well), the lead roles of La Traviata, Tosca, Macbeth, Madame Butterfly, Nabucco and Aida. In 2009 she was the guest artist of the Prague National Theatre performing the roles of Elettra (Idomeneo), Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Cio-Cio San,T osca, Aida and Abigaille for the benefit of the music loving audience of Prague. On March 20. in 2010 she was awarded the highest cultural award in the field of opera, the so-called Thalie 2009 Award for her outstanding performance of Madama Butterfly. In the same year she also received the professional award of the Brno Theatre, the Diva 2009 Prize.
Her international career took off in Trieste in 2010 with La Traviata’s Violetta. In the same year she debuted as Abigaille of Nabucco at the Palm Beach Opera House. In 2011 on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Italian national unity she sang the role of Abigaille of Verdi’s Nabucco. The performance was conducted by Riccardo Muti, her partner was Leo Nucci and the event was broadcast live by the Italian Radio and Television and the ARTE TV. In the same year she was hugely successful as Manon in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut on the stage of the Berlioz Opera House in Montpellier; the production was directed by Jean-Paul Scarpitta. She also sang the role of Tosca at the Rome Caracalla with Carlo Guelfi as Scarpia. The latter performance was directed by Arnaud Bernard, the conductor was Ascher Fisch.
In 2012 the audience of the Opera de Lyon could see her as Sister Angelica and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro as part of the Puccini Triptychon performances directed by David Pountney and broadcast live by MEZZO TV as well as shown on ARTE TV at a later date. Her debuts at the Washington National Opera (conductor Philippe Auguine) and at the Philadelphia Opera House as Abigaille of the monumental Nabucco performances of Thaddeus Strassberger were also extremely well-received. In the summer of the very same year, she sang Aida at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, her partner was Johan Botha; in Ravenna she was Sancta Susanna in Hindemith’s opera conducted by Riccardo Muti. In October she debuted as Tosca at the Macao International Music Festival, her partner was Roberto Aronica, the performance was conducted by Lü Jia.
2013 brought her four new Verdi lead roles: in Rome, once again conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Werner Herzog, she was Lucrezia Contarini in I due Foscari, then at the Melbourne Opera as Amelia of the Un Ballo in Maschera (conductor: Andrea Molino) directed by La Fura dels Baus – for which she won the prestigious Green Room Award in 2014. In Shanghai she also sang the role of Odabella of Attila (conductor Daniel Oren), and finally she appeared on the stage as Amelia from Simon Boccanegra at the Hungarian State Opera. In the summer she returned to the Savonlinna Opera Festival as Lady Macbeth. The Palm Beach Opera audience could see her in 2014 as Lady Macbeth; in Geneva she was Abigaille in a production conducted by John Fiore and directed by Roland Aeschlimann and broadcast live by the Swiss Radio. These performances were followed by singing the role of Tosca at the Hungarian State Opera where her partner was José Cura. In June she sang the title role of Norma in Palermo at the Teatro Massimo Opera conducted by Will Humburg.
In the summer she saved the first night of Giordano’s opera, Andrea Chénier by learning Maddaléna’s role in a matter of days for the hugely successful performance at the Peralada Opera Festival where the conductor was Marco Armiliato and her partners were Carlos Alvarez and Marcelo Alvarez. In the second half of the season, she was once again triumphant as Lady Macbeth in Henning Brockhaus’s ambitious direction at the Muscat Royal Opera House under the conductor, Donato Renzetti. Returning to her home country, she had a unique achievement singing both female lead roles (Venus and Elisabeth) of Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Hungarian State Opera. In the second half of the season audiences in Budapest and Rome had the unique experience of seeing her as Aida with Johan Botha and Fabio Sartori as her respective partners.
Her 2015-16 season was launched with Verdi’s Nabucco – as Abigaille she had a roaring success at the first night of Opera Pittsburgh. Returning to Budapest, she had her debut as Elisabetta di Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlos at the Erkel Theatre in November, and in February as Leonora in La Forza del destino in Geneva(broadcast worldwide ). At the end of the season, she made her house debut in Opera de Marseille as Lady Macbeth after which she returned for the fifth time to Rome, this time with her beloved Abigaille of Nabucco. In 2016 November she sang Tosca with Marcello Giordani at the Erkel Theatre in Budapest, where she turned back later as Aida and Suor Angelica. In February 2017 she made her debut as La Gioconda in Brno with outstanding success. In April she made her house debut as Norma in the Teatro Fondazione di Verona. In July she returned to Rome as her beloved Abigaille in Nabucco.
In 2016 she received the prestigious Hungarian Order of Merit Knight's Cross for her outstanding performances abroad and in Hungary. In 2017-18 she started with two house debuts in China , Zeffirelli's Aida with the Teatro alla Scala in Guangzhou under the baton of Maestro Renzetti and Andrea Chenier in Macau with Teatro Regio Torino led by Maestro Guidarini. This season is followed by Tosca in Budapest and her successful debut as Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's castle at the Opera Limoges.
The season 2018-19 included Macbeth in Mexico,Nabucco in Plzeň, Tosca in Rome , Il Tabarro and Gioconda in Budapest, Brno and Banska Bystrica and Aida cover at the Metropolitan Opera just to mention a few.
2019-20 started with Madama Butterfly at the Hungarian Opera in Cluj , which was followed by Nabucco in teatro Regio Torino under the baton of Maestro Renzetti.
During the”pandemic” summer of 2020 she performed her iconic role of Abigaille at Brno's Open Air Opera Festival. She even made a role debut as Senta on Mr Tomasz Konieczný's side as Holländer in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer in Mikulov.
Sadly, the following performances were cancelled that season due to pandemia : In Brno Aida and Gioconda , at the MET covering Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Aida in Verdi's Aida ; Abigaille in Marseille , Lady Macbeth in Plzeň Open Air Opera Festival, Turandot in Szeged . From June she’s been seen as Abigaille in a new production at Janáčkovo Divadlo in Brno. In the season 2021- 2022 she made two role debuts, such as Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda, and Minni in Puccini's masterpiece La fanciulla del west. Besides she's been seen as Aida, Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra and her signature role Abigaille in Nabucco. The end of the season was crowned by a jump in as a successful Gioconda at Chorégies d'Orange under the baton of M°Daniele Callegari.
The season 2022-23 started with a very interesting, political Tosca debut in Budapest, which was followed by Abigaille and Tosca in Brno, Cio-Cio-San in Prague, then another Tosca at the Stockholm Royal Operahouse, (Kungliga Operan), Abigaille in Marseille , Butterfly in Budapest.
Season 2023-24 started with Nabucco in Brno, followed by Verdi’s Attila in Marseille, and a role debut as Milada in Smetana’s Dalibor in Brno, the season ended with a new production of Butterfly in Bratislava. Season 2024-25 started with Adriana Lecouvreur in with Pittsburgh Festival Opera under the baton of Christopher Franklin, followed by Nabucco in Brno and Butterfly in Bratislava, in December she performed at the centennial concert of Opera Marseille , after which she had the premiere of Macbeth at the Hungarian Operahouse in Budapest, then comes Dalibor in Brno and in Bydhošť, Aida in Bratislava, Suor Angelica and Giorgetta (Il tabarro) in Mannheim , the season ends with Nabucco in Regensburg and in Budapest on the Margaret Island Openair Theater.
