Festival appearance is ‘dream come true’ for Italian opera star

Italian opera star Cecilia Bartoli has described her eagerly-anticipated appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival as a dream come true.

Speaking ahead of her sold-out appearance in Bellini’s masterpiece Norma, the mezzo-soprano revealed she had harboured long-held ambitions to perform at the event.

Tickets have long-since sold out for the opera’s five-night run at the Festival Theatre, despite costing up to £140-a-head.

The production – first staged at Bartoli’s own Salzburg Whitsun Festival, where she is artistic director – is set in occupied France during the Second World War.

The main character is torn between loyalty towards her community and her illicit love for the chief of the occupying forces.

Bartoli said: “I’ve actually never been in Edinburgh at all before now.

“I performed in Glasgow many years ago, but of course I always was hoping to get the chance to come to Edinburgh. Suddenly here I am.

“I can remember when I really young watching a wonderful production in Edinburgh of Carmen with Teresa Berganza.

“It was my dream to one day to come here to perform. I’ve heard a lot about the festival, of course. It is an incredible, unbelievable festival with fantastic musicians and artists.”

0 Cecilia Bartoli says she performed in Glasgow years ago