'An Unboring Story' Opera 'Norma' Yeojin Yeo "Happy to Meet Korean Audience"

30th Anniversary Performance of the Entire Seoul Arts Center
26-29, Royal Opera Production from the UK
"Performing While Controlling the Whirlwind of Emotions"
"Please Enjoy It Comfortably Like a Morning Drama"

"'Norma' is a technically challenging work for vocalists and emotionally complex, so if not performed properly, it can leave the audience puzzled. However, from the audience's perspective, it is an easy-to-understand opera with plenty of food for thought. It features emotions such as love, friendship, and sacrifice, as well as a love triangle that could appear in a morning drama, making it a story with no dull moments."

On the morning of the 16th, soprano Yeo Ji-won is giving a greeting at the press conference for the opera "Norma" held at the Mugunghwa Hall of the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Soprano Yeo Ji-won (43), the lead in the opera 'Norma' staged to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of the entire Seoul Arts Center, expressed her ambition by saying, "I will present a powerful stage."

Considered a masterpiece of Vincenzo Bellini, a master of bel canto opera, 'Norma' was presented as the opening work of the 2016 season by the Royal Opera House in the UK, gaining attention for its innovative production. In Korea, this will be the fourth performance following those in 1986, 1988, and 2009, and it will be performed from the 26th to the 29th at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center.

At a press conference held on the 16th at the Mugunghwa Hall of the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Yeo Ji-won said, "I am very happy and excited to sing 'Norma,' which can be called the essence of Italian opera, here in Korea." Italian vocalist Desiree Rancatore is double-cast as Norma.

Yeo Ji-won, who began living abroad in 2005 and has been active mainly on Italian opera stages in Europe, will be performing in her first full-length opera production in Seoul with 'Norma.' She previously appeared as Liu in 'Turandot' at the Daegu International Opera Festival in 2014 and met domestic fans in 2017 during the 'Muti Verdi Concert' hosted by the Gyeonggi Arts Center, conducted by the Italian maestro Riccardo Muti.

On the morning of the 16th, at the Mugunghwa Hall of the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, soprano Desiree Rancatore, who was double-cast in the role of Norma in the opera "Norma," is giving a greeting at the press conference.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Earlier, Yeo Ji-won made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, considered the world's top summer music festival, in 2015 as Elvira in 'Ernani,' a role she was unexpectedly selected for by conductor Riccardo Muti, earning her the title of 'Muti's Prima Donna' on the world stage. In 2017, she appeared as Aida in 'Aida' alongside world-renowned soprano Anna Netrebko at the Salzburg Festival, and in 2018, she performed the 'Requiem' with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the United States. In 2019, she expanded her career as a vocalist by collaborating with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Baden-Baden Festival in Germany.

Yeo Ji-won said, "I have mainly taken on dramatic roles that explode with emotion, but in this production, I hide strong power and focus inwardly, expressing it through singing, which offers a different kind of enjoyment."

She added, "'Norma' is a character who, as a religious and political leader of her people, had to suppress all human emotions, but she begins to reveal her feelings as she falls in love, has a child, and experiences betrayal. The most challenging part was acting while restraining that tremendous emotional turmoil."

Soprano Desiree Rancatore, who will meet Korean audiences as Norma alongside Yeo Ji-won, is a highly skilled vocalist selected in 2021 by an Italian broadcaster as "the greatest living Italian soprano."

At the press conference, she said, "'Norma' is a strong woman and a sacred religious leader, but I focus on Norma as a woman and try to show her inner self on stage as a woman. I hope Korean audiences will feel the intense emotions in the work together."

At the press conference for the opera 'Norma' held at the Seoul Arts Center on the 16th, soprano Desiree Rancatore (from left), Yeo Ji-won, conductor Roberto Abbado, mezzo-soprano Teresa Iervolino, and bass Park Jong-min are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Seoul Arts Center]

Norma is a complex character: a priestess leading the Druid religion in the Gaul region who is required to remain pure but falls into a forbidden love with the Roman governor, bears a child, is betrayed by the man she loves, and reveals ambivalent feelings toward the children born from the man who betrayed her. The aria symbolically representing Norma, 'Casta Diva,' is widely known as the signature piece of both the work and the character.

Conductor Roberto Abbado emphasized, "This work is especially difficult to cast, and if there is no suitable singer, it is better not to perform it."

Abbado continued, "The score written by Bellini is very intricate and clear, and the work is romantic yet very classical. Norma's pain and self evolve to a higher dimension like lava, delivering catharsis through passionate music." He added, "It is a difficult work that causes musical problems without technique, but we have a fantastic cast. Choosing these leads was an excellent decision."

Alongside Yeo Ji-won and Desiree Rancatore as Norma, mezzo-soprano Teresa Iervolino will perform as Adalgisa, tenor Massimo Giordano as Pollione, and bass Park Jong-min as Oroveso, Norma's father.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.