This week’s Sunday Opera (11/17 3:00 p.m.) is the beginning of another series from Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts that features Vincenzo Bellini’s “La Sonnambula.”
Amina (Dilbèr Yunus) has a problem. She lives in a small Swiss village where they’re celebrating the forthcoming marriage of Amina and the wealthy farmer Elvino (Antonino Siragusa). It all seems iperfect except that Amina sleepwalks, and that’s going to cause some issues for the rest of the evening.
The action is set into motion when the feudal lord Rodolfo (ZHANG Wenwei) returns home after the death of his father and arrives to stay at the inn, where he flirts with the hostess Lisa (LI Xintong) who is jealous of Amina’s engagement to Elvino.
When the window to Rodolfo’s room opens and Amina enters, Lisa hurries off to tell Elvino that his fiancé appears to be having an assignation with Rodolfo. Rodolfo, however, realizes that Amina is sleepwalking, and he leaves her on his couch. Lisa and Elvino arrive to denounce Amina as an adulteress, and Elvino calls off the wedding.
At least, that’s what happens in the first act.
Amina does some more sleepwalking in the second act, but everything works out, and we do have a happy ending.
Other members of the cast include YANG Yanting as Teresa, WANG Meng as Alessio, and KOU Jing as The Notary. Daniel Oren conducts the NCPA Orchestra and Chorus.
After the opera, we’ll be celebrating a few birthdays taking place on the 17th with works by Carl Maria von Weber, Gaetano Donizetti, Alexander Borodin, and Aaron Copland including a symphony or two, dances, a concerto, and some music for the theatre.
