Opera: Norma

With the moon already high in the sky, a crowd of worshippers is buzzing with rumors. Will the one they so eagerly await come to practice her mysterious art before them? Some doubt it, others feverishly await her appearance. Finally, the silence falls and their idol steps forward to lend herself to the ancestral cult, eyes closed and arms crossed over a sublime ornament. Time seems suspended on her lips, which form an enigmatic smile on her impenetrable face. The long-awaited miracle takes place: her golden voice rises in the deepest contemplation to intone her eternal hymn, "Casta Diva", dedicated to the lunar goddess. Behind this flawless assurance, however, lie the wounds of a woman betrayed in her love and weary of her priesthood.

Of all the romantic bel canto roles, Norma is reputed to be one of the most demanding, requiring exceptional qualities from its interpreter. Neglected at the beginning of the 20th century, it was Maria Callas who rescued her from relative oblivion and made her cavatina a signature aria, going so far as to proclaim: "Bellini composed Norma for me. Since then, the greatest interpreters have seized upon it. Now it's Karine Deshayes' turn to perpetuate this legacy in a new production by Marie-Eve Signeyrole, directed by Andrea Sanguineti.

6-96€

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