Newsletter

News about the schedule Personal recommendations Special offers ... Stay well informed!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive 25% off your next ticket purchase.

* Mandatory field





Newsletter

Schedule - Deutsche Oper Berlin

Skip Media Container

Giuseppe Verdi in May

Nabucco

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)

10
Saturday
May
19:30 - 22:15
C prices: € 108.00 / 90.00 / 64.00 / 40.00 / 26.00
Buy tickets
Information about the work

Dramma lirico in four parts
Libretto by Temistocle Solera
First performed on 9. March, 1842 at Milan
Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 8. September, 2013

2 hrs 45 mins / 1 interval

In Italian language with German and English surtitles

Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance

recommended from 14 years
Share this post
Cast
Our thanks to our partners

Kindly supported by Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin e. V.

10
Saturday
May
19:30 - 22:15
C prices: € 108.00 / 90.00 / 64.00 / 40.00 / 26.00
Buy tickets
Cast
the content

About the work
Giuseppe Verdi’s third opera was his break-out work. By the end of the gestation of NABUCCO the 29-year-old had found his musical style, one that audiences latched onto immediately. It was first and foremost the sheer impact of the chorus scenes and the daringly loud orchestral movements that announced a new chapter in the history of opera. NABUCCO was the first opera to make the chorus one of the main protagonists and the material was ideal for this, with the liberation of the Israelites from Babylonian captivity providing ample occasion for crowd scenes conveying the yearnings and stirrings of an oppressed people. And to top it all, it was not an aria but the “Va, pensiero” Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, sung by the Jewish deportees on the banks of the Euphrates, that became the best known number in the opera – and the most famous Verdi tune of all.

Aside from this NABUCCO reveals Verdi’s feel for situations that lend themselves to being staged and his predilection for eccentric characters. NABUCCO is namely not simply an opera with choral sections; it is also a drama about the disintegration of a family in the form of half-sisters Fenena and Abigaille, who are polar opposites, and their father Nabucco, the authoritarian patriarch [Engl.: Nebuchadnezzar]. On the one hand we have Fenena, who is in love with Ismaele, a Jewish prince, and has converted to Judaism. Meanwhile a jealous Abigaille is scheming to usurp the throne of her father. In a fit of megalomania, Nabucco declares himself an earthly king but also a god, upon which God strikes him down and he becomes crazed and incoherent. Abigaille seizes her chance, crowns herself queen with the support of the army and has her father arrested.

While in jail, Nabucco hears that Abigaille has resolved to have her sister Fenena executed. He regains his reason and beseeches the Jews’ own god to help him. Freed, he gathers his troops, rescues Ferena and sets the Israelites free.


About the production
This dramatic tale beginning with the Israelites’ captivity in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar is one of Verdi’s most popular operas. Hans Neuenfels’s controversial production in 2000 was the last time that the work has been mounted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2013, the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth, Keith Warner, a leading light in the international opera community, presented his version of the opera, referencing the period in which it was written, a time of transition from feudalism to an industrialised society. Warner focuses on the differences between the two nations: the Hebrews with their writing system and a culture of democratised education, and the militaristic Babylonians with their concept of power wielded by an autocratic ruler.

Our recommendations

Macbeth
Don Carlo
La traviata
Rigoletto
Les Vêpres Siciliennes
Enter Onepager
1

slide_title_1

slide_description_1

slide_headline_2
2

slide_title_2

slide_description_2

slide_headline_3
3

slide_title_3

slide_description_3

slide_headline_4
4

slide_title_4

slide_description_4

Create / edit OnePager
03
DEC

Adventskalender in der Tischlerei: Das 3. Fensterchen

Today in the Tischlerei: ‘Christmas Carols’
with Thomas Cilluffo (tenor) and Chris Reynolds (piano)
5:00 p.m. / Tischlerei
Duration: approx. 25 minutes / Free admission


In the 1940s, a new era of Christmas songs began in the United States: hits like ‘White Christmas’, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and ‘Let it snow!’ succeeded in translating the contemplative Advent mood into a popular style that suited the modern lifestyle. Today, they have established themselves as classics that are an integral part of the Christmas season. The tenor Thomas Cilluffo presents some of these world-famous melodies, along with classic Christmas songs from different countries and eras. Our solo repetiteur Chris Reynolds accompanies him on the grand piano.

During the 2022/23 season, Cilluffo made his European debut at both the Teatro Regio Torino and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he initially enriched the ensemble as a scholarship holder of the Opera Foundation New York. He has been a member of the ensemble here at the house since the 2024/25 season and has appeared in roles such as The Mouth that Speaks Great Words / ANTICRUST, Count Elemer / ARABELLA, Fatty / THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY , Pong / TURANDOT, Malcolm / MACBETH, Arturo / LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Monostatos / DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE or as a guest in the big New Year's Concert of the BigBand ‘Swingin’25’.
In recent years, Thomas Cilluffo has been highly successful in prestigious competitions, winning first place in the Premiere Opera Foundation International Singing Competition in 2022, among others. He was a finalist in the George London Foundation Competition in 2022, the Gerda Lissner Opera Competition in 2022 and the Gerda Lissner Song Competition in 2021. His roles also include Belfiore / LA FINTA GIARDINIERA , Almaviva / IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, Spoletta / TOSCA, the Witch / HÄNSEL UND GRETEL, Adolfo Pirelli / SWEENEY TODD, Don Ottavio / DON GIOVANNI, Puck / A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and the title role in ROMÉO ET JULIETTE at opera houses such as Portland Opera, Pittsburgh Festival Opera and Opera Colorado. Thomas Cilluffo received his BM/MM from the University of Michigan, where he studied with tenor George Shirley.