Premiere and gala performance of Bellini's Norma with the guest appearance of the celebrated soprano Selena ZanettiOpera — 13. October 2025.
We are announcing the premiere of the Italian bel canto opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, on Friday, October 24, 2025. The new production will be directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski, while the conductor will be maestro Pier Giorgio Morandi, the chief conductor of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
The gala performance of Bellini's opera Norma will take place on October 28, and the title role will be sung by the world-renowned artist, Italian soprano Selena Zanetti. She has guested and sung in some of the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Hamburg State Opera, the Stuttgart Opera, the Staatstheater Mainz and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Opera Norma, a musical tragedy in two acts, premiered in 1831 at La Scala in Milan, stands out as one of the most important bel canto works, and each new performance is an opportunity for a new interpretation of the vocal and dramatic demands of the score. Based on the libretto by Felice Romani, inspired by the tragedy by Alexandre Soumet, Bellini created a deeply emotional story about the Gallic priestess Norma, a woman torn between her spiritual duty and her forbidden love for the Roman commander Pollione. Norma is one of the most complex female roles in the operatic repertoire, and Casta diva, a dedication to the goddess of the moon, is one of the most performed arias in bel canto literature.
In the new Zagreb production of Norma, the roles will be sung by: Martina Gresia, Nataša Kátai and Selene Zanetti as Norma, the seasonal guest of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb Tomislav Mužek and Filip Filipović as Pollione, Ivica Čikeš and Luciano Batinić as Oroveso, Emilia Rukavina and Roxana Constantinescu as Adalgisa (Iva Krušić-understudy), Petra Cik, Josipa Gvozdanić and Hana Ilčić as Klotilda and Ivo Gamulin, Lovre Gujinović and Josip Švagelj as Flavius.
