Exhibition Puccini 100 – Puccini at the Zagreb OperaFrom the theatre — 27. November 2024.
Exhibition on the occasion of the 100th death anniversary of Giacomo Puccini prepared by Zrinka Matić will open on Friday, November 29, 2024, at 5 p.m. in the CNT Foyer
The 100th death anniversary of Giacomo Puccini (November 29, 1924 – November 29, 2024) is an opportunity to look more deeply into Puccini's repertoire at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and at the Zagreb Opera that at the time worked within the Croatian Land Theatre, Royal Land Croatian Theatre, National Theatre, Croatian State Theatre in Zagreb and finally the Croatian National Theatre.
Zagreb presented his La Bohème only two years after the world opening night. Several years later, in 1910 and 1911 Zagreb had performances of Madama Butterfly and Tosca. For the first time in 1916 Zagreb saw La Fanciulla del West, only 6 years after its premiere in New York. The modern, contemporary Puccini in the following decade already became a classic with uninterrupted performances of La Bohème and Madama Butterfly. Puccini's death in 1924 shocked the entire musical world and Zagreb did not wait long to stage his other works: in 1926 Manon Lescaut and the following year the three one-act operas, the triptych – Il Tabarro, Sister Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and in 1928, two years after the world opening night in Milan, Turandot was staged in Zagreb. Only La Rondine of his repertoire works was not staged for a long time, but in 2021 it finally arrived to the stage of the CNT in Zagreb.
Except for his two early works, Le Villi and Edgar which are considered more as a curiosity than repertoire titles and were never shown in Zagreb, Puccini's operas had a rich life on the Zagreb stage. Puccini's heroines and heroes and the fascinating worlds of his masterpieces have been coming to life for the past 126 years, from the first La Boheme until today, at numerous premieres and revivals that displayed generations of singers, conductors, chorus and orchestra musicians, stage directors, costume and set designers and many other participants. Using the available archival material, with this exhibition Puccini 100 – Puccini at the Zagreb Opera, we attempt to show the rich and uninterrupted presence of his performances at the Zagreb Opera.
At the exhibition opening, members of the Opera of the CNT in Zagreb will sing several arias from his opera La Boheme.
Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème – Che gelida manina, Filip Filipović
Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème – Si mi chiamano Mimì, Lana Kos
Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème – O soave fanciulla, Lana Kos and Filip Filipović
Piano accompaniment: Helena Borović
