Giuseppe Verdi NABUCCO Opera Premiere

 

 

 

The Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kodály Choir Debrecen

 

Conductor: István Dénes

 

We welcome our audience this season with grand opera premieres once again! True to our tradition, we have invited outstanding international singers to perform the leading roles in our two opera productions—stars who have sung Verdi’s emotionally charged Nabucco on the world’s greatest opera stages.

 

The title role of Nabucco, King of Babylon, will be performed by one of today’s most sought-after Verdi baritones, George Petean. The Cluj-Napoca born baritone sings lead roles on the world’s top opera stages, including the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Zurich Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bavarian State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona, and La Scala in Milan. The title character is based on a real historical figure: Nebuchadnezzar II, the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and builder of the Ishtar Gate, who lived in the 6th century BC and led the conquest of Judah, deporting the Jewish people to Babylon.

In the role of Abigaille, Nabucco’s adopted daughter, the audience will see Oksana Dyka, a soprano with a stunning voice who regularly performs title roles in Turandot, Aida, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly at the MET, Arena di Verona, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and other major opera houses around the world.

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.

 

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.