Norma (2007)

Bellini, unlike many of his colleagues - among them Donizetti - did not have to endure the disappointments and difficulties of rising from the ranks. His Bianca e Gernando, in 1826, was well received at Naples's Teatro San Carlo, and one year later, at the age of twenty-six, the composer triumphed at Milan's La Scala with Il Pirata. Norma is not only the high point of Bellini's artistic parabola but also the quintessence of Italian belcanto. The present DVD, filmed at the Sferisterio Opera Festival of Macerata in August 2007, features, in the title role, the famous Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, one of today's best interpreters of Norma.