On 22 May one of the most anticipated premieres in recent years will take place on the New Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre: Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece Norma will finally receive its long-awaited stage production. The production is directed by the renowned stage director Sergey Novikov. The grand premiere of Norma will formally open the XXXIII Music Festival Stars of the White Nights, the theatre’s most important annual event and the highlight of the season. Further performances will follow on 23 and 24 May (at 13:00 and 19:00).
A benchmark of bel canto, Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma is widely recognised as his most perfect work. The opera was deeply admired by Richard Wagner – despite his being a composer of an entirely different style and artistic ethos – and Bellini himself regarded Norma as his crowning achievement, famously saying that if he could save only one of his operas from a shipwreck, it would be Norma.
The world premiere of the opera took place on 26 December 1831 at La Scala in Milan, and it became a defining moment not only for Italian opera but for the history of music as a whole. That outcome was far from obvious at the time: the singers were exhausted from the demanding preparations, and the audience responded with caution to the innovations in musical language and dramatic structure. However, the opera’s success grew with each subsequent performance, and Norma soon began its triumphant journey across Europe’s great musical stages.
At the Bolshoi (Stone) Theatre, the forerunner of the Mariinsky, the opera was first performed in 1843 by the Imperial Italian Opera Company. At the Mariinsky Theatre, which today is known as the Historic Stage, Norma was first heard in 1861, just one year after the theatre’s new building opened.
Throughout the 20th century Norma disappeared from the Mariinsky stage. It was only a little over a decade ago that its revival began in the theatre’s modern history. The upcoming premiere has been preceded by a series of concert performances, showcasing one of the Mariinsky’s greatest assets – the kaleidoscope of world-class voices within its opera company.
“In the world of opera, Norma truly is a benchmark of performance – a summit that, once reached, lifts both singers and theatre to a new level of artistry: a place of interpretive freedom built on proven technical mastery,” says Sergey (Gennadievich) Novikov, the director of the long-awaited staging. His acclaimed productions of Delibes’ Lakmé, Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos and Musorgsky’s Salammbô have already won over the discerning St Petersburg public.
The production’s set and costume designer is Sergey (Sergeyevich) Novikov, the director’s namesake and collaborator on the striking Ariadne auf Naxos. Lighting design is by Ruslan Mayorov, and video design by Dmitry Ivanchenko. The musical director of the production is Valery Gergiev.
The setting of the opera – as in Felice Romani’s original libretto, based on Alexandre Soumet’s French tragedy of the same name – is Roman-occupied Gaul, in the sacred grove of the Druids. Although the story is rooted in the early years of our era, its dramatic heritage reaches back to Euripides’ Medea.
“Norma is an opera about the collapse of ideals,” says director Sergey Novikov. “The very name Norma, from Latin, means ‘standard’ or ‘model’. To grasp the dramatic stakes of the plot, you must imagine a revered figure falling from her pedestal: the saint becomes a sinner, the prophetess – a deceiver, the maiden of pure beauty – the concubine of the enemy. The opera makes it clear that the desacralisation of a leader is a true national tragedy, one that verges on existential loss. And yet, alongside this story of historical conflict, Bellini writes a hymn to sacrificial love – a love that redeems and forgives all. This is the opera’s central theme.”
The roles are being prepared by a distinguished cast: Norma – Albina Shagimuratova, Maria Bayankina, Irina Churilova, Inara Kozlovskaya, Anzhelika Minasova, Ekaterina Sannikova, Yekaterina Savinkova; Adalgisa – Ekaterina Lukash, Zinaida Tsarenko, Diana Kazanlieva, Daria Ryabokon, Irina Shishkova, Daria Tereshchenko, Daria Rositskaya; Pollione – Sergei Skorokhodov, Igor Morozov, Alexander Mikhailov, Roman Shirokikh, Yaramir Nizamutdinov; Oroveso – Mikhail Petrenko, Yuri Vorobyov, Miroslav Molchanov, Maharram Huseynov, Gleb Peryazev; Clotilde – Varvara Solovyova, Mairam Sokolova; Flavio – Oleg Balashov, Savva Khastaev, Mikhail Makarov.
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