Salzburg Festival's NORMA Heads to Edinburgh International Festival 2016

Today the Edinburgh International Festival revealed it will present the Salzburg Festival's internationally acclaimed production of Bellini's NORMA as part of Festival 2016.

Starring world renowned mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli in the title role, Patrice Caurier's and Moshe Leiser's staging of NORMA will open the Festival's opera programme with three performances at the Festival Theatre from 5 to 9 August 2016. Tickets go on sale this week, ahead of the full Festival programme launch which will take place in April 2016.

Bartoli leads a stellar cast including John Osborn as Pollione -- who sang in the Festival 2014 concert performance of William Tell with Teatro Regio Torino -- Rebeca Olvera as Adalgisa and Péter Kálmán as Oroveso. Diego Fasolis conducts the I Barocchisti orchestra on period instruments, as well as the Swiss Radio and Television Chorus, Lugano.

The production premiered to international acclaim at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in May 2013, later winning 'Best New Production of 2013' at the International Opera Awards. It was revived by the summer Salzburg Festival in 2015 and is now on a European tour, of which the Edinburgh performances mark the first time it will have been seen in the UK.

The production sets the story in occupied France during the Second World War, pitting members of the Résistance against the troops of the military administration. It uses a new critical edition by Maurizio Biondi and Riccardo Minasi based on the autograph score, which restores Bellini's original tempi, dynamics and phrasing. The choice to reinstate the vocal colours as Bellini had intended them made it possible to return to the original keys and tonalities and to open up traditional cuts.

Cecilia Bartoli said: 'It is a joy to be making my opera debut at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival with these performances of NORMA. I look forward to sharing our new vision of Bellini's masterpiece with the Festival public. It is a role that represents a milestone in my career and a production that is very dear to my heart'.

Fergus Linehan, Festival Director added: 'We are thrilled to bring this remarkable reworking of NORMA to Edinburgh where it can be enjoyed by opera fans in the UK for the first time, as well as marking the Festival debut of Cecilia Bartoli. We look forward to welcoming Ms Bartoli and the NORMA company to the 2016 Festival with this landmark production'.

Councillor Richard Lewis, the City of Edinburgh Council's Festivals and Events Champion, said: 'This announcement is just one glimpse into the Edinburgh International Festival's 2016 programme and suggests another thrilling year is in store for classical music fans. Mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli is one of the world's greatest and most versatile opera performers, and in the title role from Bellini's NORMA, the Festival Theatre performances will be her Edinburgh debut.'

NORMA
Opera by Vincenzo Bellini
New critical edition by Maurizio Biondi and Riccardo Minasi

Conductor Diego Fasolis
Directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser
Stage design Christian Fenouillat
Costumes Agostino Cavalca
Lighting design Christophe Forey
Chorus master Gianluca Capuano

NORMA Cecilia Bartoli
Adalgisa Rebeca Olvera
Pollione John Osborn
Oroveso Péter Kálmán
Clotilde Liliana Nikiteanu
Flavio Reinaldo Macias

Orchestra I Barocchisti
Chorus Swiss Radio and Television Chorus, Lugano

IF YOU GO:

Friday 5 - Tuesday 9 August 2016, 7.15pm
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
+44 (0)131 473 2000
eif.co.uk/norma
Tickets £30 - £140

Priority booking for NORMA opens from Wednesday 11 November online and by phone, and goes on public sale on Saturday 21 November. Members of the public can sign up now to become a Friend or Patron of the Festival and gain access to tickets earlier through priority booking. More information on how to become sign up is available at eif.co.uk/join-us.

The full 2016 Festival Programme will be announced on Wednesday 6 April 2016 with details of all music, theatre, dance and opera performances for next August. Tickets go on sale to priority bookers from 6 April and to the general public on 16 April. The Festival runs from Friday 5 to Monday 29 August 2016.

Every August, the world's greatest artists gather in the stunning city of Edinburgh for the International Festival. For three exhilarating weeks the city becomes an international cultural epicentre with the finest creators and performers from the worlds of classical music, theatre, opera and dance from around the globe offering intense, personal and exciting experiences to those who come from Scotland, the UK and overseas.

As a vibrant, innovative and energetic organisation, involved in commissioning and producing new work from the very best artists working internationally, while also nurturing grass roots arts engagement on its doorstep, the Festival contributes to many aspects of life, be it culture, economy, education and society, and enhances the lives of people not just in Edinburgh and Scotland, but around the world.

Photo Credit: Hans Jo?rg Michel