Conductor(s):
Antonio Pappano

Orchestra(s):
Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Artist(s):
Sonya Yoncheva; Sonia Ganassi; Joseph Calleja; Brindley Sherratt; David Junghoon Kim; Vlada Borovko; Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House; Antonio Pappano

"Sonya Yoncheva commands the stage in Bellini’s classic - The Royal Opera have a powerful production, and soprano Yoncheva is hugely impressive in the title role: Yoncheva, making her role debut as Norma, is hugely impressive. She is affecting when sharing the pain of her fellow-suffering priestess Adalgisa, she blazes with vengeful anger and she commands the assembled company at the end with both vocal and physical authority.... Sonia Ganassi and Brindley Sherratt make admirable contributions as Adalgisa and Oroveso. A master of bel canto, Antonio Pappano conducts with superlative style and sensitivity." (Evening Standard ★★★★)

"Sonya Yoncheva’s Norma is remarkable." (The Stage)

"Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role with magnificent authority, and the duets between her and Sonia Ganassi, as the young priestess Adalgisa, are intensely dramatic. Joseph Calleja as Pollione may spend much of the evening in recital-mode, but his timelessly beautiful voice has never sounded better. Thanks to Antonio Pappano in the pit and a chorus on resonant form, the work takes wing gloriously at the close." (The Independent)

"This contemporary religious fantasy of a Norma creates a striking spectacle." (The Arts Desk)

"Recitatives were darkly coloured, the verbal assaults on Pollione, her erstwhile lover, full of scorn, unleashed like a snarling tigress. “Casta diva” – quite simply the emblematic bel canto aria – was gorgeously phrased with silken legato, Yoncheva's teasing rubato as hypnotic as the giant thurible which swung back and forth. Shafts of moonbeams shot through the woodwind section in an accompaniment sensitively shaped by Sir Antonio Pappano... Joseph Calleja's warm vibrato and liquid golden tone is a throwback to the age of Björling, Gigli and Tagliavini – a far cry from the clarion tenors often associated with the role of the Roman proconsul Pollione.... Àlex Ollé and his Fura dels Baus team stage a spectacular looking show. A thousand crucifixes become the “timeless oaks” of the Druids' grove, enveloping – asphyxiating – the stage... A striking production and a terrifically enjoyable evening, especially for Yoncheva's superb assumption of the title role. " (Bachtrack ★★★★)

"Sonya Yoncheva could become one of the most commanding Normas of our time - Antonio Pappano conducts with a fine sense of the score’s brash brilliance as well as its sinuous lyricism, and both chorus and orchestra start the new season sounding invigorated.... Joseph Calleja was back in cracking form as Pollione, a viciously uningratiating role of which he never made heavy weather – I’ve seldom heard 'Meco all’altar di venere’ so confidently dispatched.... Yoncheva could blossom into one of the most commanding Normas of our time." (The Daily Telegraph)

"Sonya Yoncheva: impressively beautiful singing... In her early thirties, the Bulgarian soprano is younger than many singers of the role, which means that her voice is still fresh and lustrous. Where others sound strained, she pours out an unceasing flow of lambent tone, ample enough to lend stature to her Druid priestess, while just flexible enough to run around Bellini’s coloratura. Sung so beautifully, her Norma becomes the archetypal romantic heroine" (The Financial Times)

"Sonya Yoncheva triumphs as Bellini's heroine. Musically, indeed, this Norma is an all-round triumph." (WhatsOn Stage)

"In updating the action from the time of the Gauls c. 50BC to a contemporary time, Ollé focused on the themes of occupation, fear, fanaticism, intolerance, the pervasiveness of religion and the place of ritual in everyday life. Initial misgivings that this might be too much of a stretch for Bellini’s bel canto score, however, were quickly allayed.... Yoncheva’s Norma is one that does not fetishize the role’s many highlights for their own sake, but integrates them into the whole. ‘Casta Diva’ ’s ritualistic authority was timeless without having Callas’ imperiousness, Sutherland’s remote standoffishness or Bartoli’s self-conscious carefulness about it. Instead, there was a warmth of tone and a subtle way with the text that was unexpected for a role debut. She was woman who wore the trousers, too, with her forthright and gloriously assured urgings of peace and, later, vengeful bloodletting – vocally Yoncheva is in superb voice and has the stamina for the role too. But it was Norma the woman that made Yoncheva entirely worth hearing: the heart and soul of the character was caught memorably in the delicately yet precisely placed asides in duets and trios that pepper the role and capture the inner anguish of a woman betrayed by one she has loved. That is all one needs to articulate how relevant and contemporary opera remains as an art form." (Musicomh.com)