Opera

La sonnambula

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini’s opera »La sonnambula«, which premiered in Milan in 1831, is con-sidered his most important work alongside »Norma«, which was completed only six months later. Composed in an elegiac, supple style, this opera semiseria is set in an idyllic and remote Alpine village where superstition and backwardness almost rob the young orphan Amina of her life’s happiness… due to her sleepwalking.

One night, after ending her dozy perambulation in a strange man’s room, she is accused of infidelity by her lover Elvino, who promptly drops her. Only Rodolfo, the apparent seducer and none other than the returned son of the deceased count, has the requisite knowledge to explain the phenomenon: he confirms Amina’s innocence and ensures the tale’s happy end. In the staging by Rolando Villazón, Amina’s story is presented as an attempt to escape the confines of her village into another, inner world.

Melodramma in two acts
Libretto by Felice Romani

Performed in Italian with German and English surtitles

Premiere
19. March 2023,

No further performances in the current season.

Premiere cast

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
 Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

A co-production with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur

Generously supported by the Semperoper Foundation


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La sonnambula

Making-of

Making-of »La sonnambula« (2)

A premiere with numerous debuts: Emily Pogorelc makes her house and role debut as the sleepwalking Amina, Maxim Mironov makes his role debut as the amorous Elvino, Rosalia Cid is on a German stage for the first time ever with her house and role debut as Lisa, Georg Zeppenfeld makes his role debut as Rodolfo, and Reut Ventorero makes her house debut on the Semperoper stage as Teresa.
Making-of

Making-of »La sonnambula« (3)

Making his house debut, Italian conductor Evelino Pidò, an expert in the historically-informed performance of bel canto opera, will ascend the Staatskapelle podium to interpret Vincenzo Bellini’s brilliant score, which features large-scale choruses and thrilling coloratura passages.
Making-of

Making-of »La sonnambula« (1)

In his production of Vincenzo Bellini’s multifaceted masterpiece, Rolando Villazón will once again demonstrate to Semperoper audiences his talent for bringing to operatic works profound psychological insights and emotional nuances that reflect our current social ills. In the upcoming production, Villazón spotlights the lurking resentments of a close-knit farming community, whose staunch conservatism is a source of superstition and repression. The eerily beautiful love story about the sleepwalking Amina and her jealous lover Elvino is, at heart, the tale of a spirited woman’s struggle to break free of the constraints of a hidebound society to determine the course of her life.
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