New Productions in the New Year

From the beginning of 2013, the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall will present new productions, which the Zagreb audience will have an opportunity to see within Lisinski’s Metropolitan Programme. The repertoire includes Trojans by Hector Berlioz on January 5th, Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti on January 19th, and the Vienna Boys Choir on January 26th.

The new year, 2013, will feature excellent new music productions at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. The first will be Hector Berlioz’s Trojans, which will take place on January 5th, as part of the Metropolitan Programme at Lisinski.

Berlioz’s famous opera about Troy and the Trojan War was last put on stage in 2003 by Francesca Zambelli, while the new production is directed by Fabio Luisi. The opera was already performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and the Zagreb audience will have an opportunity to enjoy it at the beginning of the year. The part of the hero, Aeneas, is performed by Marcello Giordan, while the role of the cursed prophet, Cassandra, is once again being played by opera diva Deborah Voigt.

Apart from this one, the Metropolitan Programme at Lisinski will also feature another new production on January 19th – the opera Maria Stuarda, one of the three great works by Gaetano Donizetti. It is the second in his famous opera trilogy about the historic Tudor dynasty. While the first opera, Anna Bolena, shows the dynasty’s historic importance, Maria Stuarda heavily relies on the romantic side of the story, and features a greater visual and musical freedom of interpretation. The role of Scottish Queen Maria is played by Joyce Di Donato, and her rival, Queen Elizabeth I, is played for the first time by South African soprano Elza van den Heever.

Among the other shows in January, we would like to mention an always attractive performance by the Vienna Boys Choir, who will sing in Zagreb on January 26th, as part of the traditional Lisinski on Saturdays Programme.

The singing magic of one of the best known choirs in the world will surely enchant audiences, and it will feature performances of vocal miniatures Love Songs, as well as works by Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, Hatze and Rossini, as well as an occasional European folk song.