by MK
The Teatro Verdi will celebrate the 225th anniversary of its opening with a 2026–27 season that balances grand opera, ballet, contemporary works, and symphonic programming, while highlighting the theater’s historical ties to the European operatic tradition.
The season opens in November with a new production of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin, conducted by Enrico Calesso and directed by Arnaud Bernard. The choice is symbolic: the opera debuted at the theater in 1876 and was first performed in German on Italian-speaking territory in Trieste in 1917.
A December production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, presented in collaboration with Naples’ Teatro San Carlo, will be followed by a new staging of Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by veteran Italian director Pier Luigi Pizzi. Other operatic highlights include Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore in Damiano Michieletto’s acclaimed Valencia production, Puccini’s La Bohème, Verdi’s Aida, and Bellini’s Norma.
The season will also feature a contemporary double bill centered on Joan of Arc: Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher and Fabio Vacchi’s Jeanne Dark, in a new production created with Trieste’s Rossetti theater.
Leading singers scheduled to appear throughout the season include Jessica Pratt, Anna Pirozzi, Fabio Sartori, Daniela Barcellona, Giorgio Caoduro, Antonino Siragusa and Ambrogio Maestri.
Alongside the opera and ballet offerings, the Verdi’s 2026–27 symphonic season will run from September through May, featuring 11 concerts and guest artists including pianist Jan Lisiecki, conductor Ton Koopman and saxophone ensemble Signum Quartet. The programs will combine established repertoire by Beethoven, Mahler, Bach and Gershwin with works by contemporary composers such as Ezio Bosso, Silvia Colasanti and Fabio Massimo Capogrosso.
Subscription sales begin June 23, with single tickets available from September 29.
