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Stage director Günter Krämer mounted Giuseppe Verdi's 1842 opera Nabucco at the Wiener Staatsoper on June 9, 2001, starring Leo Nucci in the title role, Miroslav Dvorsky as Ismaele, Giacomo Prestia as Zaccaria and Maria Guleghina as Abigaille, and backed by the choir and orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper. Alfons Wassmuth shot the production live; it is now available in the home release, Nabucco. The opera itself - Verdi's third - put him on the cultural map as a European composer. Through it, he recounts, in aria form, the Biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar, who first attacks the Jews and later attempts to singlehandedly drive them into exile from the Promised Land.