Students in the Opera Philadelphia's Sounds of Learning program saw Verdi's Nabucco at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on September 25th, 2013. This production of Nabucco travels back in time to bring us to the premiere of Nabucco at the La Scala opera house in Italian during the turbulent times of 1842, when Italy was not a unified country yet, and the Italian states were ruled mostly by Austrians. The students saw chorus and extras dressed as 19th century Italian stagehands and dressers, and Austrian patrons and soldiers used as an integral part of the staging of the opera to make them feel like they were witnessing the first showing of this opera in 1842. The dramatic warrior princess Abaigaille, played by the Hungarian singer Csilla Borross, captivated students with her callous and evil nature, and eventual repentance in the last act. The characters in Nabucco are very dynamic and they each change in their own way from good to evil from one act to the next! It...
Opera Philadelphia's award-winning Sounds of LearningTM Dress Rehearsal Program was created for students in grades 5-12. This student blog is designed as a teaching tool to further enhance the literacy skills of participating students. Students may share their opinions about what they have learned and impressions of the rehearsal they have seen.