"Norma" returning to the Teatro del Maggio after more than 45 years

New staging

Sunday, March 9th 2025 at 5 pm, more than 45 years after the last production of "Norma", the belcanto masterpiece by Vincenzo Bellini returns to the scenes of the Teatro del Maggio with a new staging.

On the podium of the Sala Grande, at the head of the Maggio Orchestra and the Chorus, maestro Michele Spotti; the direction is by Andrea De Rosa.

Norma is Jessica Pratt, on her debuts in the role; Maria Laura Iacobellis as Adalgisa; Mert Süngü plays Pollione and Riccardo Zanellato is Oroveso.

The performance of March 9th will be broadcast on Rai Radio 3

Florence, March 4th 2025 - The Maggio's opera season, after Rigoletto, is concretized with the first new production of 2025 with Norma, one of the great masterpieces by Vincenzo Bellini, and one of the cornerstones of Belcanto, which returns to the stage at the Teatro del Maggio 45 years after the last performances in Florence. The first performance is scheduled for Sunday, March 9th at 5pm; three other shows are scheduled: on March 11th and 14th at 8pm and on March 16th at 3:30pm.

On the podium, at the head of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus, maestro Michele Spotti, at his third engagement in Florence in the last months after the symphonic concerts of last December and the one held on March 7th. The direction is by Andrea De Rosa. The maestro of the Maggio Chorus is Lorenzo Fratini. The scenes are by Daniele Spanò, the costumes by Gianluca Sbicca, the lights design are by Pasquale Mari and the choreographic movements are by Gloria Dorliguzzo.

Norma - the protagonist of the story - is Jessica Pratt, on her debut as the priestess of Gaul. Maria Laura Iacobellis, also returning a few months after the Cenerentola of last autumn, plays Adalgisa; Mert Süngü, on his Maggio debut, is Pollione and Riccardo Zanellato, who debuted in the Teatro’s seasons in the fall of 1996, is Oroveso. The vocal cast ends with two talents from the Accademia del Maggio: Elizaveta Shuvalova in the part of Clotilde and Yaozhou Hou in that of Flavio.

Michele Spotti, back on the podium after just few months after his concert last December, defined the difficulty in facing a similar score, and how it is rich in nuances, power and intensity: "Norma is one of the greatest masterpieces of bel canto and perhaps what, together with Rossini’s Semiramide, can be considered a true encyclopedia on the style of the time. From the musical point of view, Bellini’s work is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pages ever written, for creativity and intensity that surpass any imagination. To relate to such a masterpiece gives the feeling of directing a chimera enclosed in an exoskeleton too small to contain its greatness. The power and intensity of each individual chroma, also present in the continuous accompaniments typical of the Bellini style, are the essence of the work, but the element that absolutely most excites me about Norma is the connection between the musical numbers. The drama flows inexorably without interruption in a flow of emotions and sensations that keep the musical discourse always alive. From the point of view of orchestration, the genius of Bellini reaches his pinnacle in some scenes that seem to be nothing short of futuristic. The tension must be kept constant, but at the same time the music must flow, so that a balance is found and one can give emphasis to the most famous passages".

Talking about this new production Andrea De Rosa - who is back to curate a show in Florence after being assistant to Mario Martone for the Antigone that opened the 70th Maggio Festival and having staged Enrique Granados’s Goyescas of January 2016 - said as 'his' Norma (title with which he has already compared to Caracalla in 2012) does not aim at reconstructing the environments described in the booklet but even at updating it in an excessive way: "I would call my staging of Norma a reinterpretation, that is to say the translation of the context of the work into modern perspective. So we are not exactly in Gaul invaded by the Romans, but we are still in some country occupied by foreign militias". Another very important aspect is the commissioning of the new mobile bridges in the Maggio's Main Hall, essential for this new show: "The opera requires a double scenography, that is, an external one for the historical plot, that of the Roman domination on Gaul, the other internal one for the private plot, the intimate story of Norma, Pollione and Adalgisa, in which I asked the singers to act as prose actors: to quickly switch from one setting to another, the Teatro del Maggio is putting into operation for the first time the new system of mobile bridges. Thinking instead of invading soldiers, who are an essential part of the story, and to give body to their ferocity, we remembered the abuses perpetrated by the US military against prisoners in the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib".

Another return, which marks a debut also very expected, is that of an artist now 'on her home' here at the Teatro del Maggio, Jessica Pratt, again protagonist on stage after the amazing night of presentation of his album Delirio, recorded at Maggio with the Orchestra and the Chorus of the Theatre: "It is always a great pleasure to be here again in Florence, which I now feel like my city, and to be able to work again with this formidable Orchestra and with the Maggio Choir. Norma’s part, as you know, is really very complex; it is challenging from a dramatic point of view and a real challenge from the vocal point of view. It takes a great skill not only lyrical, but also belcantista, and this to be able to embrace all the nuances required by this great masterpiece of Bellini. For me it will be the debut as Norma and I found in this character a great strength, but at the same time it is very vulnerable: it is really a fascinating work that I can not wait to face. Together with Andrea De Rosa, with whom I have already collaborated on an opera by Bellini (The Puritans), we are doing a really remarkable job because I am very much reflected in his approach to this production where the director tried to 'dig' into the character’s soul, Avoiding a simple caricature. Also working with the maestro Spotti has amused me a lot, in fact there are very few cuts to the score: exactly my vision on how you should do - and interpret - the belcanto".