Norma

When, in 2013, soprano Angela Meade and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton teamed up for two performances of Bellini’s Norma, the dynamic pair caused a sensation. Audiences were understandably delighted, then, when they returned to the opera in late 2017. With her ample, burnished timbre and penetrating high notes, Meade commands the stage as the title druid priestess. Barton’s rich mezzo-soprano is an ideal match for Meade’s intensity, and the two go toe to toe in multiple thrilling duets. Tenor Joseph Calleja is Pollione, the Roman pro-consul who comes between Norma and the young Adalgisa, with bass Matthew Rose as the war-hungry chief Oroveso. Maestro Joseph Colaneri conduct’s Bellini’s scintillating score, which contains the instantly recognizable soprano aria “Casta diva.”