The NBR New Zealand Opera has announced its 2012 Season, revealing an exciting and diverse programme for audiences.
Three operas will be staged in 2012: two main-stage productions in Auckland and Wellington – a new production of Verdi’s much-loved Rigoletto, and Smetana’s comic masterpiece The Bartered Bride; and Hōhepa, a new opera, having its world première at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington.
Hōhepa
The true story of the friendship between Maori chief Hōhepa and Pakeha settler Thomas Mason during the New Zealand Wars is told in Jenny McLeod’s ground-breaking new work Hōhepa, premièring at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington.
Rigoletto
Opera doesn’t get more melodramatic than Rigoletto, Verdi’s heart-breaking tale of love and deception. Rigoletto is also a firm favourite with audiences, and amid a flow of glorious melody features one of opera’s most recognisable arias, “La donna è mobile”.
The Bartered Bride
Bedřich Smetana’s dream to establish a Czech national opera was realised with The Bartered Bride, his second opera, and the first Czech opera to become a worldwide hit. An effervescent, comic look at Bohemian life, The Bartered Bride is a tale of true love prevailing despite the best efforts of a scheming marriage broker and a couple of social-climbing parents.
