The choir during the performance of the opera 'Nabucco' at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Máximo parpagnoli / Teatro Colón
On March 12, 2020, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires had scheduled the penultimate rehearsal of
Nabucco
, Giuseppe Verdi's opera with which he was to open the lyrical season five days later.
The costumes were already in the dressing rooms and the white and majestic set was waiting behind the curtain.
But that rehearsal did not take place and the futuristic staging designed by the Italian Stefano Poda was suspended on stage for seven months.
The cessation of activities decreed by the Government due to the covid-19 pandemic forced the premiere to be postponed for more than two years.
On May 31st, under the musical direction of Carlos Vieu, the new staging of
Nabucco
finally debuted at the Colón.
The enormous stage of the Argentine lyrical coliseum was presented to the public converted into an austere cube through which Hebrews and Assyrians passed on a rotating platform, in constant movement.
The Jews, dressed and made up in white;
the Babylonian king Nabucco and his daughters Fenena and Abigaille, in black.
Poda, also responsible for the costumes, lighting and choreography, chose to move away from the more religious references of the script and offer an abstract stage show, very different from the last
Nabucco
that had been performed at the Colón, directed by Roberto Oswald in 1991.
The great visual beauty of some scenes, especially those in which the lighting filtered through the translucent fabrics of the extras, was accentuated by the appearance of large scenographic elements, such as a Moebius strip, a symbol of infinity, that is suspended over the choir when he sings the famous “Va pensiero”.
Among the soloists, the deep voices stood out.
Romanian baritone Sebastian Catana fulfilled his role with flying colors, while Polish bass Rafal Siwek admired the audience as Zaccaria for his vocal and scenic authority in one of the most arduous bass roles in the entire Italian repertoire.
Slovenian soprano Rebeka Lokar, on the other hand, sounded uneven, with excessive vibrato clouding her interpretation of the difficult role of Abigaille.
The impeccable performance of the mezzo-soprano Guadalupe was recognized with a strong applause, although not as much as that received by the choir, the true protagonist of the work, and Vieu, who led the orchestra to perfection.
'Nabucco' at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, staged by the Italian Stefano Poda.Arnaldo Colombaroli / Teatro Colón
In limbo
In the lapse between the date the premiere was planned and the one that took place,
Nabucco
was still there.
With the main room of the theater in the dark, during the first months of strict quarantine, the scenery that had been made in the set workshops of the Colón hung from the ceiling, waiting for the action to begin from one moment to the next.
It was a long time of rehearsal to come so close to discovering the impact that the opera would have on the hearts of the public.
That unsatisfied desire led the musicians of the stable orchestra to rescue a 1988 recording of the opening of this early Verdi work to make a video from their homes, share it on the Internet, and thus remember that
Nabucco
was still waiting.
The home stretch for last May's premiere was unusual.
Interpreters and musicians returned to rehearse a work that they already knew perfectly.
The scenery was put back on the stage and the costumes, to be uploaded from the closets of the tailoring workshop.
The necessary touch-ups were minimal, such as the wig made for Lokar due to the impossibility of bleaching his hair, as planned in the initial production.
With the curtain up, the jubilation and uncertainty contained for two years reappeared.
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