Nabucco

I must say - I absolutely love opera and try to see every one of them shown in Brisbane. Some of them are spectacular, such as 'Madama Butterfly' - singing, costumes, decorations, the whole athmosphere and voices - everything is amazing!

Others are like 'Nabucco'. Beautiful Verdi's opera with a story about Babylon's conflicts with Assyria 600 BC. Loved the chorus performance and the music. The thing which I could not understand and which made me quite irritated - why does Australian Opera constantly modernise classical pieces? Why was Assyrian King wearing Ostap Bender's suit and hat and Babylonians looked like Russian communists? Hmm..

I understand that their land has not been in piece for thousands of years - Assyria, Persia and now Iraq, but why ruin beautiful classical opera with decorations showing planes, helicopters and flying rockets? I guess pure classic art doesn't excite people these days and they need something that reflects modern life. Shame...