The Opera Festival will commence on June 25 and end on July 5 and the spectators will be able to see the great opera hits of Croatian national theatres as well as of the Slovene National Opera in Ljubljana.
The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as a theatre with a long opera tradition and artists who have earned international acclaim, deserves its own opera festival so it is logical to found the Opera Zagreb Festival. The festival concept is to present the best opera productions of Croatian and European theatres.
The Opera Zagreb Festival will open on June 25, 2023 with opera Nabucco of Giuseppe Verdi, that premiered at the CNT in Zagreb on October 2022 with Pier Giorgio Morandi as conductor in the direction of Giancarlo del Monaco. The Opera ensemble of the CNT Ivan noble Zajc from Rijeka will perform Tchaikovskyꞌs opera Queen of Spades conducted by Valentin Egel and directed by Christian Romanowsky and Dunja Vejzović on July 3, 2024. The Croatian National Theatre Split will present its opera Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni on June 29, with Jure Bučević as conducto in the direction of Jelena Bosančić. The CNT in Osijek will perform Lꞌelisir dꞌamore by Donizetti on July 1, with Mladen Tutavac as conductor in the direction of Ozren Prohić. International guests – the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana will perform opera Faust by Charles Gounod with Ayrton Desimpelaere as conductor in the direction of Frank Van Laeck on July 5, 2023.
The spectators from Zagreb, Croatian and abroad along the main program in the theatre will be able to participate in the rich accompanying programs that will complement the rich summer cultural offer of Zagreb.
The accompanying festival content commences on the day of the performance at 6 p.m. in the open, on the eastern side of the theatre. Besides taking part in conversations and interviews with the program hosts, after the performances spectators will be able to mingle with the soloists and artists. In direct communication with the performers, the audience will find out more information about the roles, performance, guest theatre and prizes and quizzes are also planned.
