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The Vienna Opera's production of Vincenzo Bellini's "La Sonnanbula" has ended on a high note with standing ovations for its star, Russian diva Anna Netrebko.
The soprano, who also acquired Austrian citizenship this summer, seduced public and critics alike with her command, voice and grace during a series of three performances of Bellini's 1831 opera which closed on Wednesday.
The Viennese critics also praised Michele Pertusi, the Italian barytone with the warm voice in the role of Count Rodolfo and Romanian soprano Simina Ivan as Lisa, the rival of Netrebko's character. The rest of the cast, including the weak-voiced Antonino Siragusa as Elvino, failed to impress them however.
A masterpiece of bel canto, in which divas like Maria Malibran, Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas gave shining performances, "La Sonnanbula" tells the story of the young servant girl Amina, whose sleep-walking -- sonnanbula means sleep-walker in Italian -- almost prevents her marriage to the jealous Elvino.
The couple are finally reunited when Amina, again in a dream state, sings of her love for her fiance, thereby proving her innocence.
Stage director Marco Arturo Marelli set his production in the wealthy Swiss resort of Davos of the 1920s and 1930s, possibly inspired by Thomas Mann's 1924 novel "The Magic Mountain."
But it is Anna Netrebko, whose performances at the Salzburg festival have often already won her praise, who captured the hearts of the public.
In the last scene, rendering her last aria radiant in a red dress, the diva was greeted with standing ovations.
"She is so beautiful and she sings like a dream," a woman visiting from Linz said of this dreamy Netrebko.
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AFPEntertainment-Austria-music-opera
AFP 301142 GMT 11 06
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