From April 10
th to 14
th, 2019, the NCPA production
Un Ballo in Maschera will unveil the NCPA Opera Festival 2019. LÜ Jia (Music Director and Artistic Director of the NCPA) will cooperate with Amadi Lagha, Warren Mok, Svetla Vassileva, SUN Xiuwei, Sergey Murzaev, ZHANG Yang and other prestigious Chinese and foreign singers.
Un Ballo in Maschera is adapted based on the real historical event of assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden in 1792, which presents more intense dramatic savors through the fictional odd story about the affective ambivalence between Gustav III and Amelia, his subordinate Renato’s wife.
In order to impress Chinese audiences with the traditional style of Italian opera, in 2012, the NCPA invited the renowned director and stage artist Hugo De Ana to roll out the NCPA version of Un Ballo in Maschera. It is worth mentioning that this version of Un Ballo in Maschera adopts “Stockholm Style”. For instance, in terms of stage presentation, Hugo De Ana revives the history and culture of Stockholm in the 18th century, which can best reveal Verdi’s creative intent. Gorgeous dancing party, magical hut of witch Ulrika, dazzling costumes and masks in different colours not only give the audiences enormous visual impacts, but also leave them with unforgettable impressions.
This round of performances will be under the baton of LÜ Jia. Many of the starring singers hold the spotlight in world-class opera houses. Among them, Tunisian French singer Amadi Lagha and Chinese tenor Warren Mok will play the role of “King Gustav III”. Famous Bulgarian soprano Svetla Vassileva and SUN Xiuwei will play the role of “Amelia”. The famous Russian baritone Sergey Murzaev, who performed well in many repertoires of NCPA and ZHANG Yang (NCPA resident opera singer) will play the role of “Renato”. In addition, Anna Maria Chiuri, NIU Shasha, Damiana Mizzi, ZHANG Wenqin and other singers will also respectively play other roles.