Making of Opera: Nabucco - Va Pensiero

Watch the cast of Nabucco, the WNO Orchestra and Chorus perform "Va, pensiero" from the first rehearsal to the glorious stage production, while watching how Director/Set Designer Thaddeus Strassberger and his team painstakingly create the sumptuous world of Verdi's Italian masterpiece. In this stunning production, the epic struggle of the Jews suppressed by Babylon's King Nabucco is echoed in Italy's nationalist conflict with Austria at the time Verdi created the opera. This landmark work is filled with grand and gorgeous music, including one of opera's most famous choruses, "Va, pensiero," adopted as Italy's unofficial national anthem. WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin conducts, and Franco Vassallo and Csilla Boross make their company debuts as Nabucco and Abigaille. Burak Bilgili as Zaccaria Sean Panikkar as Ismaele Géraldine Chauvet as Fenena Washington National Opera Orchestra Washington National Opera Chorus