Verdi’s earliest great success, Nabucco, remains a perennial favourite and as fresh as ever.

Gozo’s Astra Opera House put on a two-night production worthy of any opera house anywhere. In fact, this is what one expects and gets from both Gozo’s opera houses, which leave foreign visitors in disbelief until they sample the level of productions.

Artistic director Enrico Stinchelli’s interpretation of this gem was, to say the least, lavish. Manuel Grima and George Farrugia’s costumes were superb.

Yet, there were a few ‘buts’ in the first of the two performances under review here. Visual projections add to create atmosphere, but this time things were a little bit over the top.

This could be a matter of opinion and taste, but what is to me a definite no-no is to have the clashing sound of lightning and rumble of thunder interfering with the music as happened in the overture.

The music was splendidly performed by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) under the experienced baton of Joseph Vella. Indeed, it could be said right from the start that the MPO performed very well and direction obtained all the nuances of the music and required balance.

The Astra Opera Chorus, very ably trained by Maria Frendo, was crisp and on cue and on best cohesive form ever. The chorus was well-handled and directed in the frequent crowd scenes.

Of course, one of the longest applauses of the evening came in the wake of the immortal Va Pensiero, which held the audience in such magical thrall that the choir was allowed to project to the full that last, very long-sustained note.

This stood out because, unfortunately, some impatient elements in the audience had this irritating habit of applauding before the last note sounded.

The principal characters were well-interpreted by what was virtually a star-studded cast with a budding star gaining more and more exposure in local opera.

One of the longest applauses of the evening came in the wake of the immortal Va Pensiero, which held the audience in such magical thrall

The latter refers to tenor Cliff Zammit Stevens as Ismael, who did very well. Astra first engaged him in minor roles and then he was moved on to main second principal as Cassio in Otello last year.

His Ismael came across well, although one wished a dash more ardour in the scenes with Fenena. The latter role was taken by mezzo-soprano Olga Sliepnova, whose Emilia in that same Otello revealed her as one worthy of a bigger role and she got it this time.

Lesser, but well-performed, roles were those of soprano Dorienne Portelli as a Priestess, baritone Louis Andrew Cassar as the High Priest of Baal and tenor Mario Portelli as Nabucco’s faithful retainer Abdallo.

Bass Carlo Colombara’s Zaccaria, the High Priest of the Hebrews, initially suffered in the upper reaches but eventually settled down superbly. This leaves us with the two remaining lead characters in the opera.

Firstly, there is the title role taken by baritone Piero Terranova. It was a mistake to have him appear too high up and too far back on the stage when he makes his first entrance as conqueror as this made him sound too weak.

However, when Nabucco arrogantly declares himself “god”, Divine wrath strikes him down. That knocking about brought out his lovely, rich, mellow real Verdian baritone, because he was in a position where he could project his voice to the full. He never looked back after that.

The role of Abigaille could be a voice-killer. It requires a vast vocal range as powerful as it could be gentle.

Silvia Dalla Benetta has the incredible voice and temperament to carry off the role of this vicious, cruel and supremely ambitious woman who stoops at nothing to usurp her father’s throne. Having her cast as a flaming redhead made her a rather unlikely Babylonian, yet this added dash to the character.

She covered the wide gamut required of her and even if at times her topmost notes sounded a bit shrill, they were sustained and her shift to the lower reaches was pretty astounding.

She acted and sang the role so well that while disliking Abigaille for the cruel schemer she was, one felt pity for her when she got her just desserts. This and other elements together made of this production another memorable Astra operatic experience.

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