Skopje, 10 May 2023 (MIA) — The National Opera and Ballet's 51st May Opera Evenings began Tuesday evening with the sounds of Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida: Triumphal March" and the lighting of the festival fire.

Speaking at the opening of the opera festival, ahead of the performance of Verdi's "Nabucco," Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska linked the opera with May 9, Victory Day and Europe Day. She compared its story to "a longing, a cry of all nations for freedom and communion in lasting peace."

Music critics, she added, have written about "Nabucco" that the opera can be performed only by opera houses with real vocal power. "Our Opera and Ballet has this power, which we will witness tonight thanks to all those who founded it, developed it and elevated it to a top national institution," Kostadinovska Stojchevska said.

This year's festival marks the 210th birth anniversary of Verdi, and "Nabucco" was staged by a team from Italy. The conductor was Daniele Agiman and the stage director was Renato Bonajuto.

The cast included Marjan Jovanoski, Zlata Toshevska, Irena Kavkalevska, Zoran Sotirov, Igor Durlovski, Dime Petrov, Katerina Stojanovska, and Jane Dunimagloski. The opera singers were accompanied by the NOB choir, orchestra, women’s ballet ensemble and ballet students from “Ilija Nikolovski – Luj” music and ballet school.

Other works to be performed during the festival include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" ballet, Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," and Verdi's "Requiem" as well as his operas "La Traviata" and "Aida," which will close the festival on May 31. mr/